Prashna Upanishad – VI – The Purusha of 16 Kalas – 5   «   »

Prashna Upanishad – VI – The Purusha of 16 Kalas – 5   «   »

स यथेमा नद्यः स्यन्दमानाः समुद्रायणाः समुद्रं प्राप्यास्तं
गच्छन्ति भिद्येते तासां नामरूपे समुद्र इत्येवं प्रोच्यते । एवमेवास्य
परिद्रष्टुरिमाः षोडशकलाः पुरुषायणाः पुरुषं प्राप्यास्तं गच्छन्ति
भिद्येते चासां नामरूपे पुरुष इत्येवं प्रोच्यते स एषोऽकलोऽमृतो
भवति तदेष श्लोकः ॥ ६.५॥
sa yathemā nadyaḥ syandamānāḥ samudrāyaṇāḥ samudraṃ prāpyāstaṃ
gacchanti bhidyete tāsāṃ nāmarūpe samudra ityevaṃ procyate . evamevāsya
paridraṣṭurimāḥ ṣoḍaśakalāḥ puruṣāyaṇāḥ puruṣaṃ prāpyāstaṃ gacchanti
bhidyete cāsāṃ nāmarūpe puruṣa ityevaṃ procyate sa eṣo’kalo’mṛto
bhavati tadeṣa ślokaḥ .. 6.5..
Translation by Swami Sivananda
5 As these flowing rivers, bound for the ocean, disappear into the ocean after having reached it, their names and forms being destroyed and are called simply the ocean even so, these sixteen parts of the seer, whose goal is the Purusha, disappear into the Purusha after having reached Him, their names and forms being destroyed and are called simply the Purusha. He becomes free of parts and immortal. On this there is the following verse: 

Translation by Max Mueller
5. As these flowing rivers that go towards the ocean, when they have reached the ocean, sink into it, their name and form are broken, and people speak of the ocean only, exactly thus these sixteen parts of the spectator that go towards the person (purusha), when they have reached the person, sink into him, their name and form are broken, and people speak of the person only, and he becomes without parts and immortal. On this there is this verse:

deity_Prashna

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

How is that illustrated? Just as in this world, these rivers flowing, whose goal is the sea, having reached the sea, suffer a disappearance of their name and form, and when they so disappear their name and form as the Ganges, the Jumna, etc., disappear, and in the absence of all distinction is called ‘the sea,’ and expanse of water; as in this illustration, so of the seer who sees around the Purusha already described treated of here and who has become the self (the active agent ‘seer’ is here used, as the sun is said to be the giver of light everywhere, although his form is light itself) the sixteen kalâs, Prâna and the rest already described, whose goal is Purusha, as the sea is of the rivers, having reached Purusha, i.e., being absorbed into Purusha, disappear; accordingly, their name and form, i.e., their name as Prâna, etc., and their distinct nature are destroyed. The entity that survives understroyed when name and form are destroyed is called Purusha by the knowers of Brahman. He who knows thus, being instructed by the preceptor, how the kalâs are absorbed, becomes devoid of kalâs, when the kalâs produced by ignorance, desire, and karma have been absorbed by knowledge, and becomes immortal, the kalâs produced by ignorance, the cause of death, having been destroyed. To convey that drift is the following verse.

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

Prashna Upanishad – 5 – Prashna-6-5-sa yathemā – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) – Prashna-6-5