स होवाच, वायुर्वै गौतम तत्सूत्रम्; वायुना वै गौतम सूत्रेणायं च लोकः परश्च लोकः सर्वाणि च भूतानि संदृब्धानि भवन्ति; तस्माद्वै गौतम पुरुषं प्रेतमाहुर्व्यस्रंसिषतास्याङ्गानीति; वायुना हि गौतम सूत्रेण संदृब्धानि भवन्तीति; एवमेवैतद्याज्ञवल्क्य, अन्तर्यामिणं ब्रूहीति ॥ २ ॥
sa hovāca, vāyurvai gautama tatsūtram; vāyunā vai gautama sūtreṇāyaṃ ca lokaḥ paraśca lokaḥ sarvāṇi ca bhūtāni saṃdṛbdhāni bhavanti; tasmādvai gautama puruṣaṃ pretamāhurvyasraṃsiṣatāsyāṅgānīti; vāyunā hi gautama sūtreṇa saṃdṛbdhāni bhavantīti; evamevaitadyājñavalkya, antaryāmiṇaṃ brūhīti || 2 ||
2. He said, ‘Vāyu, O Gautama, is that Sūtra. Through this Sūtra or Vāyu this and the next life and all beings are held together. Therefore, O Gautama, when a man dies, they say that his limbs have been loosened, for they are held together, O Gautama, by the Sūtra or Vāyu.’ ‘Quite so, Yājñavalkya. Now describe the Internal Ruler.’
He, Yājñavalkya, said, etc. The Sūtra, by which the world of Hiraṇyagarbha is at the present moment pervaded, as earth by water, and which can be known only through oral instruction, has to be described. It is for this that Uddālaka’s question in the preceding para-graph has been introduced. So Yājñavalkya answers it by saying, ‘Vāyu, O Gautama, is that Sūtra, and nothing else.’ ‘Vāyu’ is that subtle entity which like the ether supports earth etc., which is the material of the subtle body—with its seventeen constituents—in which the past actions and impressions of beings inhere, which is collective as well as individual, and whose external forms, like the waves of an ocean, are the forty-nine Maruts. That principle of Vāyu is called the Sūtra. ‘Through this Sūtra or Vāyu this and the next life and all beings are held or strung together. This is well known (to those who know the Sūtra); it is also common knowledge. How? Because Vāyu is the Sūtra and supports everything, therefore, O Gautama, when a man dies, they say that his limbs have been loosened.’ When the thread (Sūtra) is gone, gems etc. that are strung on it are scattered; similarly Vāyu is the Sūtra. If the limbs of a man are strung on it, like gems on a thread, it is but natural that they will be loosened when Vāyu is gone. Hence it is concluded: ‘For they are held together, O Gautama, by the Sūtra or Vāyu.’ ‘Quite Yājñvalkya, you have rightly described the Sūtra. Now describe the Internal Ruler, who is within it and controls it.’. Thus addressed, Yājñavalkya said: