The Setting
Six seekers from different parts of India arrive at the hermitage of sage Pippalāda, each carrying a profound question about existence. The sage tests their sincerity by asking them to live with him for a year in brahmacharya (student discipline). After the year, satisfied with their dedication, he invites them to ask their questions.
The Dialogue
First Question: The Origin of Creation (Kabandhin)
KABANDHIN: O Revered Master, from where are all these creatures born?
PIPPALĀDA: The Lord of creation (Prajāpati) desired offspring. He meditated on matter (rayi) and energy (prāṇa). From these two, he created all the varieties of creatures.
The sun is prāṇa (the life principle), and the moon is rayi (matter). All that has form and all that is formless is matter. Therefore, form is indeed matter.
Now, the sun when it rises enters the eastern quarter and thereby gathers all living beings in its rays. When it illumines the south, the west, the north, below, above, and the middle regions, it illumines everything. It is prāṇa in the form of light, the Self of all that exists.
KABANDHIN: This prāṇa and rayi—they are the foundation of all existence?
PIPPALĀDA: Yes. The year itself is Prajāpati. It has two paths: the southern and the northern. Those who worship through ritual and charity, believing “This is all,” win only the lunar world and return. Therefore, sages who desire offspring follow the southern path.
But those who seek the Self through austerity, faith, knowledge, and brahmacharya win the solar world through the northern path. This is the support of life, the immortal, the fearless. From this they do not return. This is cessation (of rebirth).
KABANDHIN: I understand, master. Creation springs from the desire of consciousness, manifesting as energy and matter, and the wise transcend this cycle through knowledge.
Second Question: The Powers That Sustain Life (Bhārgava)
BHĀRGAVA: Master, how many powers (devas) support a creature? Which of them illumine it? And who is the greatest among them?
PIPPALĀDA: These powers are: space (ākāśa), air (vāyu), fire (agni), water (āpaḥ), earth (pṛthivī), speech (vāk), mind (manas), sight (cakṣus), and hearing (śrotra). They all declared, glorifying themselves: “We support and sustain this body.”
But prāṇa, the chief vital force, superior to them all, said: “Do not fall into delusion. I alone, dividing myself into five, support and sustain this body.”
They did not believe him. So prāṇa, in pride, rose upward as if to leave the body. When it began to leave, all the others began to leave as well. When prāṇa settled down again, they all settled down.
Just as bees follow their queen—when she flies, they fly, when she settles, they settle—so did speech, mind, sight, and hearing follow prāṇa. Then, satisfied, they praised prāṇa.
BHĀRGAVA: What is this prāṇa that has such power?
PIPPALĀDA: Prāṇa is the life force. It burns as fire, shines as the sun, rains as clouds, blows as wind. It is earth, matter, the divine, being and non-being, immortality.
Like spokes in the hub of a wheel, everything is established in prāṇa: the verses of the Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas, the sacrifice, the warrior class, and the priestly class.
You move in the womb as Prajāpati through prāṇa. It is to you, dwelling in the body, that offerings are made.
Prāṇa is the carrier of offerings to the gods. Prāṇa is the ancestors’ offerings. Prāṇa is the seers, the practice, the teaching.
Whatever creatures exist, they exist through prāṇa. Prāṇa is indeed the immortal breath. One who knows this conquers death and attains complete longevity.
BHĀRGAVA: I bow to prāṇa, the supreme life force that sustains all existence!
Third Question: The Nature and Functions of Prāṇa (Satyakāma)
SATYAKĀMA: Master, from where is this prāṇa born? How does it enter this body? How does it divide itself and remain? How does it depart? How does it support what is outside and what is inside?
PIPPALĀDA: You ask difficult questions, but you are a supreme seeker of Brahman. Therefore, I will answer.
This prāṇa is born from the Self (Ātman). Just as a shadow extends from a person, so this prāṇa extends from the Self.
Through the action of mind, it enters this body. Just as a king appoints officers to rule different regions, so prāṇa distributes the other vital forces (vāyus) in their respective places:
- Prāṇa itself in the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose
- Apāna in the organs of excretion and generation
- Samāna in the middle, digesting food and distributing it through the seven flames (the senses)
- Vyāna pervading the entire body
- Udāna in the throat, leading upward at death
The Self dwells in the heart. Here there are 101 nāḍīs (subtle channels). From each of these branch 100 smaller channels. From each of these branch 72,000 still smaller channels. In these circulates vyāna.
Through one of these—the suṣumṇā—udāna leads the virtuous to the higher worlds, the sinful to the lower, and the mixed to the human realm.
SATYAKĀMA: This is clear, master. Prāṇa is the shadow of the Self, the divine organizing principle that operates through five main functions.
PIPPALĀDA: Yes. And the sun is the external prāṇa. It rises and thereby favors the prāṇa in the eye. The earth deity supports apāna. The space between (ākāśa) is samāna. Air (vāyu) is vyāna.
Fire is udāna. Therefore, when fire is extinguished (at death), one is reborn according to their thoughts at that moment, entering a new body through the mind accompanied by prāṇa.
SATYAKĀMA: And one who knows this?
PIPPALĀDA: One who knows this becomes the ancestor of offspring, is honored among the learned, and becomes united with prāṇa (the Self).
Fourth Question: Sleep, Dreams, and Waking (Sauryāyaṇin)
SAURYĀYAṆIN: Master, what sleeps in a person? What remains awake? Which power sees dreams? Whose is this happiness (in deep sleep)? In what are all these established?
PIPPALĀDA: O Sauryāyaṇin, just as the rays of the sun, when it sets, all become one in that orb of light, and when it rises they spread out again, so all the senses become one in the highest deity—the mind.
Therefore, at that time a person does not hear, does not see, does not smell, does not taste, does not touch, does not speak, does not grasp, does not enjoy, does not evacuate, does not move. They say “he sleeps.”
Only the fires of prāṇa remain awake in this city (the body):
- Gārhapatya fire is apāna
- Anvāhārya-pacana is vyāna
- Āhavanīya is prāṇa (because it carries the offering upward)
Samāna is the equalizer, balancing the offering (inhalation) and the oblation (exhalation). The mind is the sacrificer. Udāna is the fruit of the sacrifice, leading the sacrificer to Brahman daily in deep sleep.
SAURYĀYAṆIN: And dreams, master?
PIPPALĀDA: In the dream state, the mind experiences its greatness. Whatever has been seen, it sees again. Whatever has been heard, it hears again. What has been experienced in different places and quarters, it experiences again. Both the seen and the unseen, the heard and the unheard, the real and the unreal—it sees all. Being all, it sees all.
SAURYĀYAṆIN: And the bliss of deep sleep?
PIPPALĀDA: When it (the mind) is overcome by light (consciousness), then this deity (mind) sees no dreams. At that time, this happiness arises in the body.
As birds, my friend, go to the tree for rest, so all this goes to rest in the supreme Self:
Earth and the earth element, water and the water element, fire and the fire element, air and the air element, space and the space element, the eye and what is seen, the ear and what is heard, the nose and what is smelled, the tongue and what is tasted, the skin and what is touched, speech and what is spoken, the hands and what is grasped, the organ of generation and what is enjoyed, the organ of excretion and what is excreted, the feet and what is walked, the mind and what is thought, the intellect and what is known, the ego and what is possessed, the memory and what is remembered, prāṇa and what is to be sustained.
SAURYĀYAṆIN: This Self—it is the witness of all states?
PIPPALĀDA: Indeed. It is the seer of seeing, the hearer of hearing, the smeller of smelling, the taster of tasting, the thinker of thinking, the knower of knowing, the doer. It is the Self consisting of consciousness. It is established in the supreme, immutable Self.
One who knows this immutable Self, shadowless, bodiless, colorless, pure—reaches the supreme, all-knowing puruṣa. They become all-knowing, they enter into all.
Fifth Question: The Meditation on Om (Śaibyā)
ŚAIBYĀ: Revered one, if someone among mortals meditates on the syllable Om until death, what world does he win by that?
PIPPALĀDA: O Śaibyā, the syllable Om is indeed the higher and the lower Brahman. Therefore, one who meditates on it with this support attains one of the two.
If he meditates on one mātrā (the letter A), being enlightened by that alone, he quickly comes back to earth after death. The Ṛg Veda verses lead him to the human world. There, endowed with austerity, brahmacharya, and faith, he experiences greatness.
If he meditates on two mātrās (A and U), being uplifted by the Yajur Veda verses, he reaches the lunar world, the mental sphere. Having enjoyed the celestial pleasures there, he returns again to earth.
But if he meditates on all three mātrās—A, U, and M—on the supreme person, he becomes united with the sun. As a snake is freed from its skin, so he is freed from evil. He is led by the Sāma Veda verses to the world of Brahmā. From this aggregate of beings, he sees the puruṣa dwelling in the heart, higher than the highest pra��a.
ŚAIBYĀ: What is the difference between these meditations?
PIPPALĀDA: The difference is in the depth of understanding:
- A (one mātrā): Meditation on Om as the waking world, the physical reality—leads to rebirth as a wise human
- A-U (two mātrās): Meditation on Om as the subtle world, the mental realm—leads to heavenly enjoyment then return
- A-U-M (three mātrās): Meditation on Om as the causal, the transcendent—leads to liberation, no return
PIPPALĀDA (continuing): On this there are these verses:
*“The three mātrās, employed separately, are mortal.
But when employed together, in external, internal, and middle actions,
The wise person is not shaken.
Through Ṛg verses, this world; through Yajur, the mental sphere;
Through Sāma verses, that which the seers know—
The meditator, having Om as support, reaches that which is tranquil, unaging, deathless, fearless—the supreme.”*
Sixth Question: The Sixteen Parts of the Person (Āśvalāyana)
ĀŚVALĀYANA: Master, Hiraṇyanābha, a prince of Kosala, once asked me: “Āśvalāyana, do you know the person of sixteen parts?” I replied to the prince, “I do not know him. If I knew, how would I not tell you? Surely one who speaks falsehood withers to the root. Therefore, I cannot speak untruth.”
Silently, the prince mounted his chariot and left. Now I ask you: Where is that person?
PIPPALĀDA: Friend, that person in whom these sixteen parts arise is right here, within the body.
He reflected: “What is that, by whose departure I shall depart, and by whose staying I shall stay?”
He created prāṇa. From prāṇa, faith (śraddhā). From faith, the elements (space, air, fire, water, earth), the senses, mind, food. From food, vigor, austerity, mantras, action, the worlds. And in the worlds, name.
As these rivers flowing toward the ocean, on reaching it, disappear, their names and forms destroyed, and are simply called “ocean”—
So these sixteen parts of the seer, moving toward the person (puruṣa), on reaching him, disappear. Their names and forms are destroyed, and they are simply called “person.” This one becomes partless and immortal.
ĀŚVALĀYANA: What is this person to whom the parts go?
PIPPALĀDA: On this, know:
“The person is this one, O seeker, in whom these parts are established—
Know that very one who is to be known.
Let not death disturb you.”
To them (all six seekers), Pippalāda then said:
“This much I know of the supreme Brahman. There is nothing higher than this.”
They praised him saying:
“You are our father, who carries us across the ocean of ignorance to the further shore.
Salutations to the supreme seers!
Salutations to the supreme seers!”
The Teaching
The Six Questions
- Creation: What is the origin of all creatures? (Matter and energy from consciousness)
- Powers: What sustains a living being? (Prāṇa is supreme among all faculties)
- Life Force: How does prāṇa function? (Born from Self, operating through five functions)
- Consciousness: What are sleep, dream, and waking? (Dissolution into Self, mental replay, sensory engagement)
- Om: What is attained through meditation on Om? (Depends on depth—human rebirth, heaven, or liberation)
- The Sixteen Parts: What is the person beyond all parts? (The partless, immortal Self)
The Systematic Structure
Cosmology → Life → Consciousness → Practice → Liberation
This Upaniṣad moves from:
- The macrocosm (creation) to the microcosm (individual)
- From the gross (body) to the subtle (prāṇa) to the causal (Self)
- From intellectual understanding to meditative practice
- From relative knowledge to absolute realization
The Central Teaching: Prāṇa
Prāṇa as bridge:
- Between consciousness and matter
- Between Self and body
- Between the transcendent and the immanent
The five prāṇas:
- Prāṇa: Inward breath, sensory functions
- Apāna: Downward breath, elimination
- Samāna: Equalizing breath, digestion
- Vyāna: Diffused breath, circulation
- Udāna: Upward breath, speech, departure at death
Practical Application
Meditation on Om
Practice the three levels:
Level 1 (A):
- Focus on the gross, waking reality
- See Om in the physical world
- Develops character and wisdom for good rebirth
Level 2 (A-U):
- Focus on the subtle, dream reality
- See Om in the mental sphere
- Develops insight and experiences higher states
Level 3 (A-U-M):
- Focus on the causal, deep sleep reality
- See Om as the transcendent Self
- Leads to liberation from rebirth
The complete practice:
- Chant Om with awareness of all three
- Let the sound dissolve into silence
- Rest in the silence—this is the Self
Understanding the States
Use Pippalāda’s teaching in daily life:
In waking:
- Recognize you are the witness of all activity
- The senses operate, but you remain unchanged
- Be like the sun illumining all without attachment
In dreaming:
- Recognize the mind’s creative power
- See how you create your experience
- Question: Is waking also a dream?
In deep sleep:
- Recognize you touch the Self each night
- That peace and rest—that is your nature
- Carry that peace into waking life
Working with Prāṇa
Daily practice:
- Observe your breath—the link to prāṇa
- Notice how prāṇa animates the body
- See prāṇa as the sun’s energy in you
- Realize prāṇa comes from the Self
In meditation:
- Follow the breath to its source
- Where does prāṇa come from?
- It comes from That—the Self
- You are That
Questions and Answers
Q: Why did Pippalāda make them wait a year before answering?
A: To test their sincerity and prepare them through discipline. Knowledge without readiness is useless. The year of practice made them fit vessels for the teaching.
Q: Are these answers still relevant today?
A: Absolutely. The questions are eternal: Where do we come from? What sustains life? What are consciousness and its states? How do we attain liberation? The answers are as fresh now as 3,000 years ago.
Q: What is the practical value of knowing about the sixteen parts?
A: It shows that what we think of as “self” is actually a collection of parts. Recognizing this, we can let go of identification with them and realize the partless Self beyond.
Q: Can I practice meditation on Om without a teacher?
A: You can begin, but deep practice benefits from guidance. Start with the three mātrās, observe what happens, and seek a teacher when you’re ready to go deeper.
Q: How does one “win the sun” through meditation?
A: This is symbolic language. The sun represents the light of consciousness. To “win the sun” means to realize your identity with pure consciousness—luminous, warm, life-giving, unchanging.
The Significance
Historical Importance
The Praśna Upaniṣad:
- Is one of the ten principal Upaniṣads commented on by Śaṅkara
- Provides systematic answers to fundamental questions
- Contains detailed prāṇa vidyā (knowledge of life force)
- Gives complete teaching on Om meditation
- Bridges philosophy and practice
Philosophical Contributions
Unique features:
- Question-and-answer format (praśna means “question”)
- Six different students, six approaches
- Integration of cosmology, psychology, and soteriology
- Practical meditation instructions
- Teacher-student relationship model
Influence on Later Traditions
- Foundation for prāṇāyāma practices
- Basis for Om meditation techniques
- Framework for understanding consciousness states
- Model for spiritual education
- Integration of Vedic and Upaniṣadic wisdom
Contemplation
*Six seekers came to the sage
With questions burning in their hearts:
Where do we come from?
What sustains us?
How does life work?
What are these states of consciousness?
How do we meditate?
What lies beyond?
And the sage, seeing their sincerity,
Revealed the ancient wisdom:
You come from That,
You are sustained by That,
Life is That expressing itself,
Consciousness is That aware of itself,
Meditation returns you to That,
And beyond all parts—you are That.
The rivers flow to the ocean
And lose their names,
Becoming simply ocean.
So too, the sixteen parts
Flow back to the Self
And lose their separate existence,
Becoming simply Self—
Partless, immortal, free.
This is the teaching:
Inquire sincerely,
Practice with discipline,
Meditate on the sacred Om,
And realize—
You are That
Which you seek.*
May you, like the six seekers, find answers to your deepest questions and realize the partless, immortal Self. 🙏✨