of every
impurity. Thou hast been freed from the attributes of Passion and
Darkness. Thou stayest now in the attributes of Goodness. Thou beholdest
now thy Soul with thy Soul even as one beholds one's own shadow in a
mirror. Staying thyself on thy own Soul, do thou reflect on the Vedas.
The path of the Supreme Soul is called Deva-yana (the path of the gods).
The path that is made up of the attribute of Tamas is called Pitri-yana
(the path of Pitris). These are the two paths in the world hereafter. By
one, people go to heaven. By the other, people go to hell. The winds blow
on the Earth's surface and in the welkin. There are seven courses in
which they blow. Listen to me as I recount them one after another. The
body is furnished with the senses are dominated over by the Sadhyas and
many great beings of mighty strength. These gave birth to an invincible
son named Samana. From Samana sprang a son called Udana. From Udana
sprang Vyana arose Apana, and lastly from Apana sprung the wind called
Prana. That invincible scorcher of all foes, viz., Prana, became
childless. I shall now recite to thee the different functions of those
winds. The wind is the cause of the different functions of all living
creatures, and because living creatures are enabled to live by it,
therefore is the wind called Prana (or life). That wind which is the
first in the above enumeration and which is known by the name of Pravaha
(Samana) urges, along the first course, masses of clouds born of smoke
and heat. Coursing through the welkin, and coming into contact with the
water contained in the clouds, that wind displays itself in effulgence
among the darts of lightning.[1753] The second wind called Avaha blows
with a loud noise. It is this wind that causes Soma and the other
luminaries to rise and appear. Within the body (which is a microcosm of
the universe) that wind is called Udana by the wise. That wind which
sucks up water from the four oceans, and having sucked it up imparts it
to the clouds in the welkin, and which, having imparted it to the clouds
present them to the deity of rain, is third in the enumeration and known
by the name of Udvaha. That wind which supports the clouds and divided
them into diverse portions, which melts them for pouring rain and once
more solidifies them, which is perceived as the sound of the roaring
clouds, which exists for the preservation of the world by itself assuming
the form of the clouds, which bears the cars of all