The Six Seekers and Six Questions

The Prasna Upanisad is unique among the Upanisads. It is structured not as a single dialogue but as six distinct questions - each asked by a different seeker, each answered by the same teacher, each revealing a different facet of the ultimate reality. The questions move from the cosmic to the personal, from the external to the internal, from creation to the depths of sleep, from the symbol of OM to the imperishable Self that underlies all.

Six seekers, six questions, one teaching.

The Six Seekers

Six men, each devoted to the knowledge of Brahman, came to the sage Pippalada. They carried sacred firewood in their hands, as was the custom for disciples approaching a teacher.

Pippalada looked at them and said:

“Stay here a year longer, with penance, celibacy, and faith. Then ask your questions according to your desire, and if I know, I will tell you.” (PU 1.2)

They stayed. For a full year they practised tapas, lived as celibates, and cultivated faith. When the year was complete, Pippalada was ready - and so were they.

First Question: Where Do All Beings Come From?

Kabandhi Katyayana asked:

“Lord, from what did all these beings arise?” (PU 1.3)

Pippalada answered: Prajapati, the Creator, desired to create beings. He performed tapas, and from his meditation brought forth two principles: Rayi (matter, the formed, the moon) and Prana (spirit, the formless, the sun).

“The sun is Prana; the moon is Rayi. All beings - whatever has form and whatever is formless - arise from the union of these two.” (PU 1.5)

From their interplay, beings emerge, live, and return. Those who follow the path of the sun (knowledge) attain immortality; those who follow the path of the moon (action) return again.

Second Question: How Many Gods Support the Body?

Bhargava Vaidarbhi asked:

“Lord, how many gods support a created being? How many illumine it? And which is the best among them?” (PU 2.1)

Pippalada listed nine powers - space, air, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, eye, ear - and said they all claimed to support the body. Then Prana, the life-force, challenged them:

“Do not be deceived. I alone, dividing myself fivefold, support and preserve this body.”

The other powers did not believe him. So Prana began to rise upward, as if to leave the body. As he rose, all the other powers rose with him - speech fell silent, the eye could not see, the ear could not hear, the mind could not think. When Prana settled back, they all settled too.

They acknowledged him as the eldest and the best. As bees follow the queen bee, all the powers of the body follow Prana.

Third Question: Where Does Prana Come From?

Kausalya Asvalayana asked:

“Lord, from where is this Prana born? How does it enter the body? How does it divide itself and become established?” (PU 3.1)

Pippalada answered:

“Prana is born of the Self. As a shadow follows a person, so Prana follows the Atman. It enters the body through the work of the mind.” (PU 3.3)

Once inside, Prana divides itself fivefold:

• Prana dwells in the upper body, governing inhalation and the senses
• Apana dwells in the lower body, governing exhalation and elimination
• Vyana pervades the whole body, circulating energy
• Udana rises upward, leading the soul from the body at death
• Samana resides at the navel, digesting food and balancing the breaths

Like a king commanding his officials, Prana directs each to its separate work.

Fourth Question: Dream and Sleep

Sauryayani Gargya asked:

“Lord, which faculties sleep in a person? Which stay awake? Which god sees dreams? In whom is all this established?” (PU 4.1)

Pippalada answered: As the rays of the sun gather back into the sun at sunset, so all the senses merge into the mind when a person sleeps. Only the five Pranas remain awake, tending the body like fires on an altar.

Dreaming: The mind, illumined by the Self, sees again what it has seen, hears again what it has heard, experiences again what it has experienced. It ranges across all directions, recreating the world from within.

Deep sleep: When all desires are dissolved, the mind itself merges into the space within the heart. The Self rests in its own nature.

“As birds go to their roosting tree at night, so all things go to the Supreme Self in deep sleep.” (PU 4.8)

The Self is the witness - the seer behind all seeing, the knower behind all knowing. It is without shadow, without colour, pure and imperishable.

Fifth Question: Meditation on OM

Saibya Satyakama asked:

“Lord, what world does he who meditates on OM until the end of his life attain?” (PU 5.1)

Pippalada answered: OM is both the higher and the lower Brahman. It has three measures (matras): A, U, M.

• A corresponds to the earth, the Rig Veda, the waking state. One who meditates on this alone attains human birth but returns again.
• U corresponds to the mid-region, the Yajur Veda, the dream state. One attains the moon world but returns again.
• M corresponds to heaven, the Sama Veda, the deep sleep state. One reaches the sun, is freed from all evil like a snake shedding its skin, and attains the highest Person.

But the one who meditates on OM with all three matras, knowing the full meaning, is carried by the Sama Veda to the world of Brahman. He reaches that which is Peace, Undecaying, Free from Fear, and Supreme.

Sixth Question: The Person with Sixteen Parts

SukeSa Bharadvaja asked:

“Lord, a prince once asked me: ‘Do you know the Person with sixteen parts?’ I did not know. Please teach me.” (PU 6.1-2)

Pippalada answered: The Person (Purusa) with sixteen parts is the imperishable Self from whom all things proceed - just as the spokes of a wheel are fixed in the hub.

The sixteen parts are: Prana (life-force), Sraddha (faith), Akasa (space), Vayu (air), Jyoti (light), Apah (water), Prthivi (earth), Indriya (senses), Manas (mind), Anna (food), Virya (energy), Tapas (austerity), Mantra (sacred utterance), Karma (action), Loka (worlds), and Nama (name).

These sixteen parts arise from the Purusa and return to the Purusa. When they are known as proceeding from and returning to the imperishable Self, death no longer afflicts the knower. He becomes immortal.

The Teaching

The six questions of the Prasna Upanisad form a complete curriculum:

1. Creation - how the universe arises from the interaction of matter and spirit
2. Life - how Prana, as the chief life-force, organises and sustains the body
3. Breath - how Prana enters, divides, and governs the five vital functions
4. Sleep and Dream - how the senses merge, the mind creates, and the Self witnesses
5. OM - how the symbol of Brahman, meditated upon rightly, leads to liberation
6. The Self - how the imperishable Purusa is the foundation of all sixteen aspects of existence

Each question leads to the next, and all six lead to the same truth: the one Self that is the ground of all, the imperishable Purusa who is known by those who seek with sincerity, discipline, and faith.

Further study: The three states of consciousness explored in the fourth question are discussed on the Avasthatraya page. The imperishable Self that Pippalada taught is examined on the Atman page. The nature of Brahman as the ultimate foundation of all reality is explored on the Brahman page.

Source citations: Prasna Upanisad, Chapters 1-6. Key citations: PU 1.2 (the year of discipline), PU 1.3-16 (creation), PU 2.1-13 (Prana as eldest), PU 3.1-12 (origin and fivefold division of Prana), PU 4.1-11 (dream and sleep), PU 5.1-7 (OM meditation), PU 6.1-8 (Purusa with sixteen parts). Translations consulted: Swami Gambhirananda, Swami Nikhilananda, Max Muller, Swami Krishnananda.