The sage listened attentively to the earnest seeker’s question—a query that reached beyond the ordinary, filled with devotion to Brahman. With warmth and respect, the sage replied, “Because your inquiry is profound and your heart is devoted, I shall reveal the truth to you.” He began to explain: “From the Self, the vital force known as Prāṇa is born. Just as a person casts a shadow, so does Prāṇa spread forth from the Self. Guided by the mind’s intention, it enters the body and animates it. Much like a king appoints his officers to govern various villages, Prāṇa assigns distinct functions to each of the other life-breaths, arranging them in their proper places. Apāna is stationed in the organs of excretion and generation; Prāṇa itself resides in the eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils; Samāna is established in the middle, distributing nourishment equally throughout the body. Thus, these are known as the seven flames. “The Self dwells within the heart. From there, a hundred and one channels, or nāḍīs, branch out; each has a hundred further branches, and each of those branches divides into seventy-two thousand sub-branches. Through these channels, Vyāna moves, circulating energy throughout the body. “Through one channel alone, Udāna rises upward. By virtue, Udāna leads the soul to the virtuous world; by vice, to the sinful world; and by a mix of both, to the human world. “The sun is the external Prāṇa, rising to support the Prāṇa within the eyes. The earth’s deity sustains Apāna in the person. The space between is Samāna, and the air is Vyāna. “The upward-moving energy is radiance itself. When this radiance is calmed, the senses merge into the mind, and the soul returns once more to rebirth. “With whatever mind one departs from this world, that intention guides him to the life-breath. The life-breath, endowed with radiance and accompanied by the self, leads him to the world shaped by his intention. “Whoever understands the life-breath as I have described—his offspring will not perish, and he himself attains immortality. There is a verse that affirms this: Whoever knows the origin, entry, abode, pervasiveness, and fivefold nature of the life-breath within himself attains immortality. Having known, he indeed becomes immortal.” With the third question thus answered, Sauryāyaṇi Gārgya approached the sage and asked, “Venerable sir, in this person, what things sleep, what remain awake, who sees dreams, whose happiness is this, and in whom do all these rest?” The sage replied, “Gārgya, just as the rays of the sun, when it sets, all converge within its circle of light, and when it rises, they spread out again, so too, all faculties merge in the supreme deity—the mind. Therefore, at the time of sleep, the person neither hears, nor sees, nor smells, nor tastes, nor touches, nor speaks, nor grasps, nor enjoys, nor releases, nor moves; thus, it is said, ‘he sleeps.’ “Only the foremost life-breath remains awake within this city of the body. The downward-moving breath is like the household fire, the diffusive breath is like the cooking fire, and from the household fire, the sacrificial fire is kindled, which is the upward-moving breath. “The equalizing breath brings together the two offerings—exhalation and inhalation. The mind is the sacrificer; the upward-moving breath is the fruit of the sacrifice. Day by day, it leads the sacrificer to Brahman. “In dreams, this deity experiences its greatness. Whatever has been seen, it sees again; whatever has been heard, it hears again; whatever has been experienced in different places and directions, it experiences again and again. It sees both the seen and the unseen, the heard and the unheard, the experienced and the unexperienced, the real and the unreal—it sees all, it sees everything. “When overpowered by radiance, this deity does not see dreams; then, within the body, it experiences happiness. “Just as birds gather on a tree, so indeed do all these faculties rest in the supreme self. “Earth and its essence, water and its essence, fire and its essence, air and its essence, space and its essence; the eye and what is seen, the ear and what is heard, the nose and what is smelled, taste and what is tasted, skin and what is touched, speech and what is spoken, hands and what is grasped, the generative organ and what is enjoyed, the anus and what is excreted, the feet and what is moved, mind and what is thought, intellect and what is understood, ego and what is asserted, consciousness and what is contemplated, radiance and what is illuminated, life-breath and what is sustained—all these rest in the supreme self. “He is the seer, toucher, hearer, smeller, taster, thinker, knower, doer—the self of knowledge, the person. He rests in the supreme, imperishable Self. “He attains the highest imperishable who, O gentle one, knows that which is without shadow, without body, colorless, pure, and imperishable. He becomes all-knowing and all; so the verse declares. “The self of knowledge, together with all the deities, life-breaths, and beings, are established where one knows that imperishable, O gentle one. He becomes all-knowing and enters into all.” Thus, the fourth question was answered. Then, Śaibya Satyakāma asked, “Venerable sir, if someone among men meditates on Om at the time of death, which world does he conquer by that?” The sage replied: “O Satyakāma, Om is both the higher and the lower Brahman. Therefore, the knower, by this means, attains one or the other. “If one meditates on only one measure of Om, by that alone he is quickly born again on earth. The hymns lead him to the world of men, and there, endowed with austerity, celibacy, and faith, he experiences greatness. “If, by means of two measures, Om is merged in the mind, then he is led to the world of the moon through the Yajur-veda. Having experienced greatness in the world of the moon, he returns again. “But whoever meditates upon the Supreme Person with this very syllable Om in its three measures, he is united with the brilliance of the sun. Just as a snake sheds its skin through the opening of its body, so too is he freed from sin. He is led by the Sāma-veda to the world of Brahman, and from that mass of embodied souls, he beholds the Supreme Person, higher than the highest. Concerning this, verses are recited: “The three measures, when applied to the mortal, are mutually connected, never separated. In actions—outer, inner, and intermediate—when rightly applied, the knower does not waver. “With the Ṛg-veda, this is attained; with the Yajur-veda, the intermediate space; with the Sāma-veda, that which the wise discern. By Om alone as the means, the knower attains that which is peaceful, ageless, immortal, fearless, and supreme.” Thus, the fifth question was answered. Then, Sukeśa Bhāradvāja approached the sage and said, “Revered sir, Hiraṇyanābha, the prince of Kosala, once asked me, ‘O Bhāradvāja, do you know the person with sixteen parts?’ I replied, ‘I do not know this.’ For if I had known, I would surely have told him. Whoever speaks falsehood with its root dries up; therefore, I must not speak untruth. He mounted his chariot in silence and departed. Now I ask you: Where is that person?” The sage replied, “Here itself, within the body, O good man, is that person in whom these sixteen parts arise. “He considered: ‘On departing from which shall I depart? On remaining in which shall I remain?’ “He created the vital force; from the vital force, faith, space, air, fire, water, earth, the senses, and the mind; food, from food virility, austerity, Vedic hymns, actions, worlds, and in the worlds, names. “Just as rivers, destined for the ocean, upon reaching the ocean are dissolved, their names and forms are lost and only the ocean is spoken of, so too these sixteen parts, destined for the person, upon reaching the person are dissolved, their names and forms are lost and only the person is spoken of. He becomes partless and immortal. Concerning this, a verse declares: “Like the spokes in the hub of a wheel, the parts are established in him. Know that person, so that death may not trouble you.” The sage concluded, “Thus far alone do I know this Supreme Brahman; there is nothing higher than this.” The seekers worshipped him, saying, “You are indeed our father, who leads us beyond ignorance to the supreme beyond. Salutations to the great seers, salutations to the great seers.