Question 4

1 Then Gargya Sauryayani asked him, “Venerable sir, what sleeps in this person, and what stays awake? Which god sees dreams? To whom does this happiness belong? In what do they all come to rest?”

2 He told him, “Gargya, as all the rays of the setting sun become one in its luminous disk and spread out again when it rises, so all these become one in the highest god, the mind. Therefore at that time a person does not hear, see, smell, taste, touch, speak, grasp, enjoy sexual pleasure, discharge, or move about. People say, ‘He sleeps.’

3 “Only the fires of life-breath stay awake in this city. The downward breath is the household fire; the pervasive breath is the southern fire. The life-breath is the offering fire, since it is led forth from the household fire.

4 “The equalizing breath bears equally these two offerings, the out-breath and the in-breath. The mind is the sacrificer; the ascending breath is the very fruit of sacrifice. It brings this sacrificer to Brahman day after day.

5 “Here, in dream, this god experiences its greatness. What it has seen it sees again; what it has heard it hears again. What it has experienced in other lands and directions it experiences again and again. Seen and unseen, heard and unheard, experienced and unexperienced, real and unreal—it sees everything; becoming all, it sees.

6 “When it is overwhelmed by light, this god no longer sees dreams. Then this happiness arises in the body.

7 “As birds, dear one, come to rest in their roosting tree, so all this comes to rest in the highest Self:

8 “Earth and the subtle element of earth; water and the subtle element of water; fire and the subtle element of fire; air and the subtle element of air; space and the subtle element of space; the eye and what is to be seen; the ear and what is to be heard; smell and what is to be smelled; taste and what is to be tasted; skin and what is to be touched; speech and what is to be spoken; hands and what is to be grasped; the organ of generation and what is to be enjoyed; the organ of excretion and what is to be discharged; feet and where they are to go; mind and what is to be thought; understanding and what is to be understood; the sense of ‘I’ and what is claimed as ‘I’; consciousness and what is to be perceived; light and what is to be illuminated; life-breath and what is to be sustained.

9 “For this is the seer, the toucher, the hearer, the smeller, the taster, the thinker, the understander, the doer: the person whose self is knowing. He comes to rest in the highest, imperishable Self.

10 “Whoever knows that shadowless, bodiless, colorless, pure imperishable attains the highest imperishable itself, dear one. He knows all and becomes all. Of this there is a verse:

11 “Where the knowing self, with all the gods,the life-breaths and the elements, comes to rest—whoever knows that imperishable, dear one,knows all and has entered everything.”

Thus ends the fourth question in the Prashna Upanishad.

1 Then Gargya Sauryayani asked him, "Sir, which things in a person sleep, and which stay awake? Which divine power sees dreams? Who experiences this happiness? And in what do all of them come to rest?"

2 He told him, "Gargya, when the sun sets, all its rays come together in its circle of light. When it rises again, they spread out again. In the same way, all these powers come together in the mind, the higher divine power. Then the person does not hear, see, smell, taste, touch, speak, grasp, enjoy sexual pleasure, pass waste, or walk. People say, 'The person is asleep.'

3 "Only the fires of life-breath stay awake in this city of the body. The downward breath is the household fire, Garhapatya. The spreading breath is the southern cooking fire, Anvaharyapachana. Life-breath is the offering fire, Ahavaniya, because it is taken from the household fire and carried forward.

4 "The balancing breath gets its name because it carries the two offerings, breathing in and breathing out, evenly. The mind is the person making the sacrifice. The rising breath is the sacrifice's reward. Every day it leads the person making the sacrifice to Brahman.

5 "Here, in dreams, this divine power experiences its greatness. It sees again what it has seen. It hears again the very things it has heard. What it has experienced in other places and directions, it experiences over and over again. It sees what has been seen and what has not been seen, what has been heard and what has not been heard, what has been experienced and what has not been experienced, what is real and what is not real. It sees everything, being everything.

6 "When this divine power is overcome by light, it sees no dreams. Then this happiness arises in the body.

7 "My friend, birds settle in a tree where they roost. In the same way, all of this settles in the highest Self:

8 "Earth and the subtle element of earth; water and the subtle element of water; fire and the subtle element of fire; wind and the subtle element of wind; space and the subtle element of space; sight and what can be seen; hearing and what can be heard; smell and what can be smelled; taste and what can be tasted; skin and what can be touched; speech and what can be said; hands and what can be grasped; the sexual organ and what can give sexual pleasure; the anus and what can be expelled; feet and where one can go; mind and what can be thought; understanding and what can be understood; the sense of 'I' and what can be taken as 'I'; awareness and what can be noticed; light and what can be lit up; life-breath and what it supports.

9 "This is the one who sees, touches, hears, smells, tastes, thinks, understands, and acts: the conscious Self, the person. This one comes to rest in the highest, imperishable Self.

10 "My friend, whoever knows that shadowless, bodiless, colorless, pure, imperishable reality reaches the highest imperishable reality itself. That person knows everything and becomes everything. There is this verse about it:

11 "'The conscious Self, together with all the divine powers,the life-breaths, and the elements come to rest in it.My friend, whoever knows that imperishable realityknows everything and has entered everything.'"

Here ends the fourth question of the Prashna Upanishad.