Quotes on prana from upanishads Prana ('vital breath', 'life force') Next follows the edifying repetition (abhyaroha)

only of the hymns called pavamanas. The priest called prastotri indeed chants the saman. While he chants it, let the sacrificer recite these [Yajur verses]: "Lead me from the unreal to the real. From darkness lead me to light. From death lead me to immortality." [saman: one of five vital currents.] When the mantra (verse) says: "Lead me from the unreal to the real," "the unreal" means death, and the "real," immortality; so it says, "From death lead me to immortality," that is to say, "Make me immortal." When it says: "From darkness lead me to light," "darkness" means death, and "light," immortality; so it says: "From death lead me to immortality," that is to say, "Make me immortal." In the verse: "From death lead me to immortality," there is nothing that is hidden. Then come the remaining hymns, with which, by singing them, [the chanter] should obtain food for himself. Therefore while they are being chanted let the sacrificer ask for a boonanything that he desires. Whatever objects this chanter, endowed with such knowledge, desires for himself or for the sacrificer, he obtains by his chanting. This [meditation] by itself wins the world (Hiranyagarbha). He who thus knows the saman (the prana, or vital breath)for him there is no fear of not being admitted into that world. (1.3.28)