16. On account of scriptural statement of difference...

16. On account of scriptural statement of difference, and on account of difference of characteristics.

Texts such as 'from him is born prâna, and the internal organ, and all organs' (Mu. Up. II, 1, 3) mention the vital breath separately from the organs, and this shows that the breath is not one of the organs. The passage indeed mentions the internal organ (manas) also as something separate; but in other passages the manas is formally included in the organs, 'the (five) organs with mind as the sixth' (Bha. Gî. XV, 7). That the vital breath differs in nature from the organ of sight and the rest, is a matter of observation. For in the state of deep sleep the function of breath is seen to continue, while those of the eye, and so on, are not perceived. The work of the organs, inclusive of the manas, is to act as instruments of cognition and action, while the work of breath is to maintain the body and the organs. It is for the reason that the subsistence of the organs depends on breath, that the organs themselves are called prânas. Thus Scripture says, 'they all became the form of that (breath), and therefore they are called after him prânas' (Bri. Up. I, 5, 21). 'They became

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its form' means--they became its body, their activity depended on it.--Here terminates the adhikarana of'the organs.'