Shloka 7
Pañcahotṛ-Vidhāna and the Dispute of the Five Vāyus (पञ्चहोतृविधानम् — पञ्चवायूनां श्रेष्ठत्वविवादः)
ब्रह्मोवाच यस्मिन् प्रलीने प्रलयं व्रजन्ति सर्वे प्राणा: प्राणभूतां शरीरे । यस्मिन् प्रचीर्णे च पुनश्चरन्ति स वै श्रेष्ठो गच्छत यत्र काम:
brahmovāca yasmin pralīne pralayaṁ vrajanti sarve prāṇāḥ prāṇabhūtāṁ śarīre | yasmin pracīrṇe ca punaś caranti sa vai śreṣṭho gacchata yatra kāmaḥ ||
梵天说道：“你们诸气住于众生之身，其中有一法最为殊胜——彼若寂灭，则一切生命之气皆归于寂灭；彼若运行，则诸气复皆运行。如今随汝所愿，往彼处去。”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies a supreme governing principle in the living body: that upon whose withdrawal all vital functions cease, and upon whose activation they resume. It points to an underlying controller/support of prāṇa and bodily life, establishing a hierarchy among life-forces and their source.
Brahmā delivers a decision in a discussion about the vital forces within embodied beings, declaring which among them is ‘the best’ by the criterion of causing universal cessation and universal reactivation of the prāṇas, and then dismisses them to depart as they wish.