The Sun Sucks the Water of the Entire World

 According to the Brahmanda Purana (chapter 22, 12), "Presided over by Dhruva, the sun takes up water and showers it."  

 The lungs suck, as it were, the "water" of deoxygenated blood coming in to the heart from the systemic circulation. This oxygen-deprived flow enters the lungs by means of the pulmonary trunk ("presided over by Dhruva"). The deoxygenated blood of the body enters into pulmonary circulation. The sun (lungs), in this manner, sucks the water of the entire world:

With the mass of his rays [bronchial conduits] and accompanied by the wind [pulmonary artery] all round, the sun takes away the water of the entire world.

This "water" of deoxygenated blood is reoxygenated in the lungs – in the acinar region – and the "water" now returns to the heart for re-entering into systemic circulation as a rich and vivifying liquid. It is the pulmonary vein – the moon of the Puranas – that does this work of completing the pulmonary circulatory loop. 

The moon [pulmonary veins] transmits the entire water [flow of blood] drunk by the sun [lungs].

Therefore the function of the lung is not to change the volume of the "water" coming into it but to change the character of the liquid flowing through it: 

There is no total destruction of water. The same water gets transformed.

The terms "usna" (hot) and "sita" (cold) undoubtedly refer to deoxygenated and oxygenated blood respectively. The deoxygenated flow is always imagined as "deadly," as "fierce," "fiery" and "hot" – the pulmonary arterial conduit, as noted elsewhere, is given the code of "fire" – while the polar opposites of these concepts are associated with the oxygenated flow. 

The Usna (hot virility) [deoxygenated blood] oozes out of the sun [bronchial tree], and the Sita (chill virility) [oxygenated blood] functions from the moon [pulmonary veins].

The next few lines declare the supreme fact that this entire apparatus of the lungs is a peerless – almost magical – creation of the Lord:

 It is for the sake of sustenance of all the worlds [bodies / regions of the body] that this cosmic Maya has been created (by the lord).

Cloud Formation 

But the "sun" does not merely take up "water" and shower it (v. 12 above). Before such showering can take place, the "clouds" need to be formed. There is a process of combining of entities. The bronchial conduit and the pulmonary arterial conduit taken together, are referred to as "cloud" and it is the showering of these two entities in unison that gives rise to "rain" (oxygenated blood). 

The concept of "cloud," properly speaking, pertains to the respiratory zone (the acinus) and not the conducting zone. However, reading the extracts from the Puranas, one gets the impression that even the conduits in the conducting zone are referred to as "clouds." 

For clouds to be formed, both the bronchial conduits and the pulmonary arterial flows would need to be "vaporized." This means that the bronchial tubes have now, at the acinus, become so thin and wispy that they have become as subtle as vapor. Correspondingly the pulmonary flows  too have become extremely "emaciated."

The pulmonary arterial conduit is seen as a great cosmic heater (in contrast to the pulmonary veins which are imagined as a cooler) which is transforming the liquid poured into it – the deoxygenated blood – into smoke. 

At the same time, by virtue of its close proximity to the bronchial tree, it is also seen as incinerating the entire creation. We will see later how this image forms the basis of the practice of the yajna. 

The bronchial tree comprises both weighty conduits like the bronchi which are relatively unmoving. These make up the "immobiles" of the creation (such as the mountains and the giant trees). On the other end, we have the smaller bronchial conduits divested of cartilage – the bronchioles and the respiratory bronchioles – which are like birds. They are light and relatively "moving" – they dilate and constrict much. These are the "mobiles" of the creation. 

22. (The Ganga), the great rivers [pulmonary arterial flows] beginning with Bhadrasoma and the waters [ deoxygenated blood] (humids) that flow within the bodies [bronchial conduits] of all living beings mobile and immobile, become smoke (i.e. vapour).

23. When the mobiles and immobiles [bronchi and the bronchioles] get heated (and burnt) they spread everywhere as vapour.

As a result of this "vaporization" of conduits within the lungs, the clouds are formed in the respiratory zone: 

24. Clouds are formed thereby. It is remembered that the abode (waters) is full of clouds (or, is in the form of clouds).

It may be because the respiratory zone of the lung is full of "clouds" that it is referred to as the "waters" in the Puranic texts.This line seems to give the definition of the "waters."

Deciphering the Clouds

 

"Clouds" rain in the acinar region 

The central axes, 7-8 in number, as we have seen already in the chapter on geography, are referred to as the Meru and the heavenly regions. These regions are Ramyaka, Kimpurusa and the rest. In these regions, it is said that Indra never pours down rain. Therefore there can be no question of sighting clouds in this portion of the bronchial lotus. Therefore it is said that the sun merely draws the water from these places, through the pulmonary artery. This is the heavenly water that is being drawn and the pulmonary flow is given the name of the heavenly Ganga or Ganga in the sky. It is only in the levels of the bronchial tree following these levels that the clouds are imagined. This would be the bronchiolar region; from this region onwards, the sun (bronchial conduit) no longer sucks but only pours. Different kinds of clouds are imagined. 

Movements Along the Bronchial Conduit : Creation, Destruction, Day and Night

 The bronchial conduit is regarded as the sun in the same sense as it is regarded as a dik gaja. It is in the sense of "anatomical compass." The bronchial conduits illuminate the interior of the lung, as it were, by making clear the "directions." As the bronchial lotus expands and unfolds, we have the movement of day synonymous with vivification and creation; and as it contracts and folds back, we have the movement of destruction and expiration of the universe. 

The movement of day which is from the hilum of the lung to the region of the acinus, is also the path taken by the oxygen molecules to reach the respiratory zone and, therefore, matches beautifully with all the vivifying aspects associated with "day;" while the movement of night which is from the acinus to the hilum – the path taken by the molecules of carbon-dioxide to exit from the lung – is fittingly described as a movement of destruction. Not only does this movement finish off the bronchial tree anatomically but, physiologically also, it is associated with the carrying of a deadly substance (carbon-dioxide). It also ends a cycle of inspiration and expiration; and the creation of a "new" world is set to begin with a new cycle. 

The Three Divisions of the Ganga

The deoxygenated pulmonary flow, the Ganga, first travels through the "sky," the foremost part of the pulmonary arterial conduit network. Then it is borne by the "wind" in the secondary division of the pulmonary arterial tree (corresponding to the bronchioles?). And, finally, this flow, assuming the name of "Sita," enters the "fire" at the level of the acinus.

She is three-fold as the river of sky, earth, and the lower regions, tripathaga, trilokaga, etc.

Sita's Entering Fire in Lanka 

The deoxygenated flow, enters the "fire" of the pulmonary arterial conduit in the "lower" regions –the acinus –and becomes exceedingly pure. 

God is the Fundamental Controlling Entity

 Reality consists of many fundamental elements -- space, time, mind, matter; there's also such a thing as a fundamental logic. God is the FUNDAMENTAL CONTROLLING ENTITY of this reality who strings together all these disparate elements. What God does *by nature* frames fundamental logic as these actions set the limits of possibility (and impossibility). 

All these fundamental elements of reality do not proceed *literally* from God as some assume. They are not created by God. But this in no way diminishes the exalted nature of God. But, rather, magnifies and pronounces it. For if there were really no entity apart from God and everything proceeded literally from him, then how could

 there be any TRUE supremacy. In the face of these multiple fundamental elements -- which have their own separate existence -- God can now be glorified and praised in a very real sense as the lynchpin of all existence, as the monarch of reality and as the supreme entity to which all other entities are subordinate. Tales and stories glorifying God can now personify entities such as time and matter and depict them as singing his praises and regarding him as their master and controller.

Meru, the Axis of the Lung-Globe

 The two primary bronchi serve as the front and back of Meru. The portion being spoken of in reference to the movement of the sun (to and from Meru) would be viewed as the front of the mountain and automatically, the other bronchus will be its back. 

Meru which is code for the two primary bronchi, is imagined by the ancient poet-anatomists as situated at the centre of the (respiratory) world. It divides the world into two parts, the world lying to the north of Meru and the world lying to its south. 

The sun, in either part, cannot cross the summit of Meru which is a kind of an axis for the microcosm. Its movement is only towards the primary bronchus and back (towards the distalmost end of the lung, relative to the hilum). But of course, when the earth rotates, as it were, with reference to the primary bronchus, the "front" and "back" also are interchanged. The movement of the sun now become defined with respect to the other bronchus. 

Speaking with reference to the bronchus that is "front," as the sun cannot cross this portion of Meru, the other ("back") portion always remains enveloped by darkness. 

Mid-day is defined at the top of Meru. As the sun approaches Meru, its brightness goes on increasing and as it takes the reverse route, towards the alveoli, its brightness goes on diminishing. It is midnight at the level of the alveoli. 

When the sun starts from one side of Meru it is noon there and midnight in the opposite location on the globe ie at the other primary bronchus. Then, as it travels in its chariot through the various spots of the lung, it is as if he gradually moves away from the corresponding locations. His intensity diminishes and he sets and eventually night falls and there is midnight at the level of the alveoli. In the other part of the lung-globe, the denizens of the locations opposite to those where noon, evening, night and midnight occur, experience respectively midnight, dawn, morning and noon! 

Change in the Direction of Movement 

Again, as the sun starts from the region of the alveoli, it is midnight there (and noon in the opposite side of the globe). His intensity increases as he moves towards the primary bronchus (Meru) and he now rises and the denizens of the locations falling on his path witness dawn, morning and noon. The denizens in the opposite part of the lung-globe would now experience evening, night and midnight!

The Animals in the Puranas

 It is the different components and sub-structures of the bronchial tree that masquerade as the different animals like the cow, the bullock, the tortoise, the horse, etc.

In the Mahabharata (Book 6: Bhishma Parva: Jamvu-khanda Nirmana Parva: Section IV), we have Sanjaya narrating to Dhrtarastra the fourteen species of animals:

These fourteen, O king, complete the tale of domestic and wild animals, mentioned, O lord of earth, in the Vedas, and on which the sacrifices rest.

The mobile and the immobile creatures (7 wild animals + 7 non-wild ones + 5 kinds of vegetation = 19) taken together with the five great elements make up the group of twenty four, collectively referred to as the “gayatri:”

Twenty-four in all, these are described as Gayatri (Brahma) as is well-known to all. He who knows these truly to be the sacred Gayatri possessed of every virtue, is not liable, O best of the Bharatas, to destruction in this world.