The Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana: Second Adhyâya. Fourth Pâda.: II, 4, 6

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6. But (there are also, in addition to the seven prânas mentioned,) the hands and so on. This being a settled matter, therefore (we must) not (conclude) thus (viz. that there are seven prânas only).

In addition to the seven prânas scripture mentions other prânas also, such as the hands, &c., 'The hand is one graha and that is seized by work as the atigraha; for with the hands one does work' (Bri. Up. III, 2, 8), and similar passages. And as it is settled that there are more than seven, the number seven may be explained as being contained within the greater number. For wherever there is a conflict between a higher and a lower number, the higher number has to be accepted because the lower one is contained within it; while the higher is not contained within the lower. We therefore must not conclude that, in deference to the lower

1. As the statements concerning the number of the prânas are of so varying a nature we must therefore distinguish in each case what the object of the statement is. Meanwhile it remains a settled conclusion that that statement which makes the prânas to be eleven is authoritative, on account of the objective effects (being eleven also).

The two Sûtras (referring to the number of the prânas) may be construed in the following manner also. The prânas are seven because scripture mentions the going (gati) of seven only, 'When he thus departs life departs after him, and when life thus departs all the other prânas 2 depart after it' (Bri. Up. IV, 4, 2).--But, it may be objected, this passage says 'all the other prânas;' how then does it declare the going of seven only?--The Sûtra replies, 'on account of their being specified.' Seven senses only, from seeing up to feeling, are specified there because so many only are under discussion; as we see from the enumeration given in the passage, 'When that person in the eye turns away then he ceases to know any forms. He has become one they say. he does not see' &c. The word 'all' refers here only to what is under discussion, i.e. only to the seven prânas mentioned before, not to any other. Analogously when we say 'all the Brâhmanas have been fed,' we mean only those Brâhmanas who have been invited and concern us at the time, not any other.--If it be objected that the passage quoted mentions understanding (vigñâna) as the eighth thing departing, and that we therefore have no right to speak of the departing of seven only, we reply that manas and understanding differ not in essential nature but only in function, and that on this account we are entitled to speak of seven prânas only.--The answer to this

1, as his mark; his bondage consists in being bound by it, his release in being freed from it') shows that the Self is, previous to final release, not freed from the bonds called grahas. And also in the enumeration of the senses and their objects given by the Atharvana Upanishad ('The eye and what can be seen,' &c., Pr. Up. IV, 8), the organs of action such as the hands and so on, together with their objects, are specified as well, 'the hands and what can be grasped; the member and what can be delighted; the anus and what can be evacuated; the feet and what can be walked.' Moreover the passage, 'These ten vital breaths and âtman as the eleventh; when they depart from this mortal body they make us cry' (Bri. Up. III, 9, 4), shows that eleven prânas depart from the body.--Moreover the word 'all' (which occurs in the passage. Bri. Up. IV, 4, 2) must, because connected with the word 'prânas,' denote all prânas, and cannot, on the ground of general subject-matter, be limited to the seven prânas; for a direct statement has greater force than the subject-matter. Even in the analogous sentence, 'all Brâhmanas have been fed,' we have, on the ground of the words, to understand all Brâhmanas living on the earth; but because it is impossible to feed all Brâhmanas in the latter sense, we accept that meaning of

Footnotes

82:1 Sapta prânah prabhavantîty âder gatim âha kvakid iti, ashtau grahâ ityâder gatim sûkayati gatim iti Ân. Gi.

82:2 I.e. seeing, smelling, tasting, speaking, hearing, feeling, and the manas.

83:1 The eightfold aggregate of which the Self is freed in final release only comprises the five prânas (vital airs), the pentad of the five subtle elements, the pentad of the organs of intellect, the pentad of the organs of action, the tetrad of internal organs (manas, &c.), avidyâ, desire (kâma), and karman.