Universal Energy In Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad

All the basic spiritual principles of India that in a later age were going to get the foremost expression in the sacred texts of Bhagavad-Gita or the systems of Samkhya-Yoga and Vedanta can be found, stated in one form or another, in Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, possibly the oldest of the Upanishads. Among these principles, the existence and functions of the prana, the universal breath, gets a special treatment, since a whole chapter deals with it, namely Chapter I,III.

The above mentioned Chapter III presents, successively, the valences of the prana, regarded as some kind of universal energy, a magic force that breathes life into all things and sets them in motion. Thus, after recounting the way in which, by incantation, the prana settles the conflict between the gods (deva) and demons (asuras) in favour of the former (I,III,7), the prana is expounded in succession in all of its aspects.

Food, for instance, is periodically recreated by virtue of the generating power of the same universal prana. Chap.I, III,17 describes how food was obtained in illo tempore:

”Next it (the vital breath) obtained eatable food for itself by chanting. For whatever food is eaten, is eaten by the vital breath alone and it (the vital breath) rests on that (the food).” (eng. transl. Swami Nikhilananda)

At the mythic time of the beginnings, food had been therefore utterly seized by the prana, by virtue of a magic deed. The emergence of the "universal" food from the stage of a potential principle into the phenomenal universe takes place following an amicable discussion between the gods and the prana, during which the gods, as recounted at shloka I, III,18, all sit down around the prana, facing it (or “entering into it”, according to an alternate translation provided by S. Radhakrishan), in order to receive a share of food. Thus, the prana is established as an exemplary model of getting and sharing food. Thence, the periodic generative agent for food is constituted, besides the mechanic process of sowing, reaping etc., by the reiteration of the archetypal ritualistic gesture, from illud tempus, of the prana, i.e. fulfilment of the prescribed rituals, capable to facilitate the cyclic replay of the vegetal process. The same Chap. III,18 establishes the initiatory nature of food ingestion through the prana, in the context of the (equally) essential mystery of food creation (and digestion):

 “ […]whatever food one eats through the vital breath satisfies the organs. So do his relatives sit around facing him who knows this; he becomes the supporter of his kinsmen, the greatest among them and their leader, a good eater of food and their lord”- I,III,18

Chapter III states subsequently the capacity of the prana as essence of the limbs of the human body, at shloka III,19:

 ”the prana is the essence of the limbs. From whichever limb the vital breath departs, that limb withers right there; therefore it is verily the essence of the limbs.” (cf. also I,III,8),

And then, moreover, the fact that the prana is the Logos itself (Brihaspati):

 “Speech is Brihati [Rig] and the vital breath is its lord (pati). Therefore it is called Brihaspati”- I,III,20, cf. also I,III,21.

At I,III,22 there can be read the assertion of the equality between the prana and the Universe and the fact that the former is one and the same with Sama Veda but, beside this, at the end of this shloka, a soteriological character of the knowledge of this principle is stated: ”He who knows this vital breath to be such attains union with it or lives in the same world with it ”. The text does not say what exactly this knowledge consists of, nor any specific technique is given, by which it could be obtained (such as, for example, pranayama), however what is certainly is that, as early as eight or seven century BCE, which is when this Upanishad was dated (see S. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads, London 1968, p. 22,), the knowledge of the equality between the vital breath and the Universe itself was recognized as a spiritual path.

As a conclusion to these brief observations and since there is a large amount of disscussion on the oneness of Atman and Brahman as a specific feature of Indian spirituality, I think it is obvious that a feature as important  can be found in Chapter III of the oldest of the Upanishads, i.e. Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, namely the equality between the Prana, the vital breath or universal energy and the Universe itself, which, in turn, as a totality, is upheld by virtue of the Prana.