Prashna Upanishad – III – Origin and Nature of Prana – 5   «   »

Prashna Upanishad – III – Origin and Nature of Prana – 5   «   »

पायूपस्थेऽपानं चक्षुःश्रोत्रे मुखनासिकाभ्यां प्राणः स्वयं
प्रातिष्ठते मध्ये तु समानः । एष ह्येतद्धुतमन्नं समं नयति
तस्मादेताः सप्तार्चिषो भवन्ति ॥ ३.५॥
pāyūpasthe’pānaṃ cakṣuḥśrotre mukhanāsikābhyāṃ prāṇaḥ svayaṃ
prātiṣṭhate madhye tu samānaḥ . eṣa hyetaddhutamannaṃ samaṃ nayati
tasmādetāḥ saptārciṣo bhavanti .. 3.5..
Translation by Swami Sivananda
5 Prana engages apana in the organs of excretion and generation; he himself moves through the mouth and nose and dwells in the eye and ear. In the middle is samana; it distributes equally what has been offered as food in the fire in the stomach. From this prana fire arise the seven flames. 

Translation by Max Mueller
5. The Apâna (the down-breathing) in the organs of excretion and generation; the Prâna himself dwells in eye and ear, passing through mouth and nose. In the middle is the Samâna (the on-breathing); it carries what has been sacrificed as food equally (over the body), and the seven lights proceed from it.

deity_Prashna

Sri Shankara’s Commentary (Bhashya) translated by S. Sitarama Sastri

Of its division now; the apâna, an aspect of the chief Prâna, stays in the two lower apertures expelling urine and faeces, etc.; so in the eye and the ear and going out from the mouth and the nose, Prâna, occupying himself the place of the sovereign, stays. In the middle, i.e., between prâna and apâna, i.e., in the navel, samâna (so called, because he distributes food and drink saman, i.e., equally). As this distributes equally, the food and drink thrown into the fire of the body, these seven flames go out from the fire in the stomach fed by food and drink, and reaching the region of the heart through the apertures in the head. The drift is that the objects of seeing, hearing, etc., are enlightened through the prâna.

Links
Various resources on the Prashnopanishad
Upanishad Series – Kena Upanishad Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda

Prashna Upanishad – 5 – Prashna-3-5-pāyūpasthe’pānaṃ – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) – Prashna-3-5