Once all the sense organs and the mind quarreled and claimed supremacy. Then, the Lord asked them to take a year's rest and see how the jiva lives! If the jiva can survive without you, the matter is settled. The one by one they left the jiva for a year; let's see what happened.
The organ of speech departed. After being away for
a whole year, it came back and said: How have you been able to live without me?
The other organs replied: We lived just as dumb people live, without
speaking, but breathing with the prana (nose), seeing with the eye, hearing
with the ear and thinking with the mind. Then the organ of speech entered the
body.
The eye departed. After being away for a
whole year, it came back and said: How have you been able to live without me?
The other organs replied: We lived just as blind people live, without seeing,
but breathing with the prana, speaking with the tongue, hearing with the ear
and thinking with the mind. Then the eye entered the body. The ear went out.
After being away for a whole year, it came back and said: How have you been
able to live without me? The other organs replied: We lived just as deaf people
live, without hearing, but breathing with the prana. Speaking with the tongue,
seeing with the eye, and thinking with the mind.
Then the ear entered the body. The mind went
out. After being away for a whole year, it came back and said: How have you been
able to live without me? The other organs replied: We lived just like children
whose minds are not yet formed, without thinking with the mind, but breathing
with the prana, speaking with the tongue, seeing with the eye and hearing with
the ear. Then the mind entered the body.
Then as the vital breath was about to
depart, he uprooted the organs from their places just as a noble horse tears up
the pegs to which its feet are tied. They came to him and said: Revered Sir, be
thou our lord; thou art the best among us. Do not depart from us.[Sama Veda,
Chan. Upa. V, I - The Supremacy of the Prana, 8 -12].
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