Shloka 9
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
अन्तरात्मनि चाप्येते नियता: पठच वायव: । वाड्मनोबुद्धिभि: सार्द्धमिदमष्टात्मके जगत्
antarātmani cāpy ete niyatāḥ pañca vāyavaḥ | vāṅmanobuddhibhiḥ sārdham idam aṣṭātmake jagat ||
Vāyu-deva dit : «Au sein du Soi intérieur (l’être incarné) demeurent, selon un ordre réglé, ces cinq souffles vitaux—prāṇa, apāna, udāna, samāna et vyāna. Parce qu’ils sont contenus dans le corps, ils sont subtils. Comptés avec la parole, le mental et l’intellect, ils sont au nombre de huit. Ces huit-là constituent le fondement matériel primordial à partir duquel ce monde est façonné.»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches an eightfold framework of embodied existence: five vital airs (prāṇa, apāna, udāna, samāna, vyāna) together with speech, mind, and intellect. These are presented as subtle inner constituents and as the material basis (upādāna) through which the world of experience is constituted.
Vāyu-deva is instructing the listener in an inner, yogic-cosmological analysis of the person. He identifies the regulated vital functions within the body and then expands the count by adding the cognitive and expressive faculties, framing them as foundational principles that underlie worldly manifestation and experience.