Invocation
tvaj-jatah kalitotpatah
mat-pranah santy amitra-bhit etan cadhi tatha deva yatha sat-patha-gaminah
O Supreme Personality of Godhead, O destroyer of enemies, my life-breaths, which are born from You, have left the path of virtue. O Lord, please bring them under control and push them on the path that is right. .pa
Adhikarana 1
The Pranas Are Manifested From the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Introduction by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana
In the Third Pada contradictory scriptural passages describing the elements were harmonized. In the Fourth Pada contradictory passages describing the pranas (life-force and senses) will be harmonized. The pranas are of two kinds: primary and secondary. The secondary pranas are the eleven senses, beginning with the eyes. The primary pranas are the five life-airs, beginning with apana. First the secondary pranas will be examined. In the Mundaka Upanisad (2.1.3) it is said:
etasmaj jayate prano manah sarvendriyani ca "From this are born prana, mind, and all the senses."
Samcaya (doubt): Is this description of the creation of the senses metaphorical, like the description of the creation of the individual souls, or literal, like the description of the creation of ether and the other elements?
Purvapaksa (the opponent speaks): This is explained in the following words of the Sruti-sastra:
asad va idam agra asit tad ahuh kim tad asid iti rsayo vava te asad asit tad ahuh ke te rsaya iti prana vava rsayah.
"He said: In the beginning was non-being. They said: What was that non-being? He said: The non-being was many sages. They said: Who were those sages? He said: Those sages were the pranas."
This passage from the Sruti-sastra clearly shows that the the senses, which are here called pranas or sages, existed before the creation of the material world. Therefore the senses are like the individual spirit souls (and the scriptures' descriptions of the creation of the senses are only allegories.)
Siddhanta (conclusion): In the following words the author of the sutras gives His conclusion.