ప్రశ్నోపనిషద్ - షష్ఠః ప్రశ్నః

The Sixth Question. Then Sukesa, son of Bharadvaja, asked him, "Lord, Hiranyanabha, the Prince of Kosala, came to me and asked this question: 'O Bharadvaja, do you know the Person consisting of sixteen parts?' I told that prince, 'I do not know Him; if I knew Him, why would I not tell you? He who speaks untruth withers away at the very root; therefore, I dare not speak an untruth.' He silently mounted his chariot and departed. Now I ask you, where is that Person?"

He said to him, "Right here within this body, my dear boy, is that Person in whom these sixteen parts originate."

He reflected, "By the departure of what, shall I depart? And by the staying of what, shall I stay?"

He created Prana (life-force); and from Prana, he created faith, space, air, light, water, earth, the senses, the mind, and food. From food came vigor, austerity, sacred hymns, sacrificial rites, the worlds, and in the worlds, the name.

Just as these flowing rivers, whose destination is the ocean, reach the ocean and disappear, their name and form being lost so that they are called merely the ocean—in the same way, these sixteen parts of the Seer, whose destination is the Person, reach the Person and disappear, their name and form being lost so that they are called merely the Person. He becomes partless and immortal. Regarding this, there is this verse:

"He in whom the parts are established, like the spokes in the hub of a chariot wheel—know Him, the Person to be known, so that death may not afflict you."

He said to them, "Thus far only do I know this Supreme Brahman; there is nothing higher than this."

They honored him, saying, "Truly, you are our father, for you have carried us across to the farther shore of our ignorance." Salutations to the supreme seers, salutations to the supreme seers.