Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Khila Kanda. Adhyaya 5, Brahmana 12. Brahman as food and as breath

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Each mantra is given four ways: the Sanskrit in its Devanagari script, the same sounds in Roman letters, an English translation set in our own voice, and then the line once more in plain words, for a first and unhurried reading.

Not every passage is opened to the same depth. A few central mantras carry the full cross-school commentary, where the schools are set side by side. The rest are kept here whole and faithful, set in their place but not expounded, so the book stays entire and nothing is dropped for being thought minor.

Where the schools read a line differently, the difference is kept open. None is crowned and none is corrected. Each is met on its own terms, and where they contradict, the contradiction is left standing for you to sit with.

॥ 5.12.1 ॥

Food and breath made one

अन्नं ब्रह्मेत्येक आहुः । तन्न तथा । पूयति वा अन्नमृते प्राणात् । प्राणो ब्रह्मेत्येक आहुः । तन्न तथा । शुष्यति वै प्राण ऋतेऽन्नात् । एते ह त्वेव देवते एकधाभूयं भूत्वा परमतां गच्छतः । तद्ध स्माह प्रातृदः पितरम् । किं स्विदेवैवं विदुषे साधु कुर्यां किमेवास्मा असाधु कुर्यामिति । स ह स्माह पाणिना मा प्रातृद । कस्त्वेनयोरेकधाभूयं भूत्वा परमतां गच्छतीति । तस्मा उ हैतदुवाच वीति । अन्नं वै वि । अन्ने हीमानि सर्वाणि भूतानि विष्टानि । रमिति । प्राणो वै रम् । प्राणे हीमानि सर्वाणि भूतानि रमन्ते । सर्वाणि ह वा अस्मिन् भूतानि विशन्ति । सर्वाणि भूतानि रमन्ते य एवं वेद ॥

In transliteration

annaṃ brahmetyeka āhuḥ | tanna tathā | pūyati vā annamṛte prāṇāt | prāṇo brahmetyeka āhuḥ | tanna tathā | śuṣyati vai prāṇa ṛte'nnāt | ete ha tveva devate ekadhābhūyaṃ bhūtvā paramatāṃ gacchataḥ | taddha smāha prātṛdaḥ pitaram | kiṃ svidevaivaṃ viduṣe sādhu kuryāṃ kimevāsmā asādhu kuryāmiti | sa ha smāha pāṇinā mā prātṛda | kastvenayorekadhābhūyaṃ bhūtvā paramatāṃ gacchatīti | tasmā u haitaduvāca vīti | annaṃ vai vi | anne hīmāni sarvāṇi bhūtāni viṣṭāni | ramiti | prāṇo vai ram | prāṇe hīmāni sarvāṇi bhūtāni ramante | sarvāṇi ha vā asmin bhūtāni viśanti | sarvāṇi bhūtāni ramante ya evaṃ veda ||

In English

Some say that food is Brahman. It is not so, for food rots without the vital breath. Some say that the vital breath is Brahman. It is not so, for the vital breath dries up without food. But these two deities, becoming one, attain their highest. So Prātṛda once said to his father, What good could I do to one who knows this, and what harm could I do to him? His father said to him, with a gesture of his hand, Not so, Prātṛda. For who attains the highest by becoming one of these two alone? Then he said this to him: It is vi. Food, truly, is vi, for in food all these beings are lodged. It is ram. The vital breath, truly, is ram, for in the vital breath all these beings rejoice. Into the one who knows this all beings enter, and in him all beings rejoice.

In plain words

Food alone is not Brahman, for food rots without breath. Breath alone is not Brahman, for breath dries up without food. The two together, made one, reach the highest. Food is named vi because all beings are lodged in it; breath is named ram because all beings rejoice in it. Whoever knows this, all beings enter into him and rejoice in him.

In the commentaries

Sri SankaraAdvaita

Neither food nor the vital breath alone is Brahman, since each fails without the other; only the two joined as one deity reach the highest. Food is called vi (from viṣ, to enter) because all beings rest lodged in it, and breath is called ram (from ram, to rejoice) because all beings delight in it; the knower of this union becomes that resting-place and delight of all beings.

Sri Sankara, Brhadaranyaka-bhasya 5.12.1 (via Madhavananda)

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