Shloka 4
Skanda-janma: Śivā/Svāhā, Agni, and the Manifestation of Guha
Mahābhārata 3.214
भूतं भव्यं भविष्यं च सर्व प्राणे प्रतिष्ठितम् । श्रेष्ठ तदेव भूतानां ब्रह्मयोनिमुपास्महे,भूत, वर्तमान और भविष्य--सब कुछ प्राणके ही आश्रित है, वह प्राण ही समस्त भूतोंमें श्रेष्ठ है।। अतः परब्रह्मसे उत्पन्न होनेवाले प्राणकी हम सब उपासना करते हैं;
bhūtaṁ bhavyaṁ bhaviṣyaṁ ca sarvaṁ prāṇe pratiṣṭhitam | śreṣṭha tadeva bhūtānāṁ brahmayonim upāsmahe ||
O passado, o presente e o futuro—tudo repousa sobre prāṇa, o sopro vital. Esse prāṇa é o mais elevado entre todos os seres; por isso veneramos prāṇa, que nasce do Brahman supremo, como a fonte que sustenta a vida e a ordem.
व्याध उवाच
Educational Q&A
All temporal experience—past, present, and future—depends on prāṇa, the life-sustaining principle. Recognizing prāṇa as the highest support of embodied existence, the speaker directs reverence toward prāṇa as rooted in Brahman, linking everyday life to a supreme metaphysical source.
In the Vana Parva’s dialogue where the hunter (vyādha) instructs a seeker in dharma, he emphasizes a foundational principle: life and all activity are sustained by prāṇa. He frames this as an object of reverence, grounding ethical and spiritual life in awareness of the life-breath’s divine origin.