Pravahana explains

The Chandogya Upanishad tells the story of Silaka, son of

Salavatya, Dalbhya son of Chikitayana and Pravahana son

of Jaivala. They felt that they were experts in Udgitha, and

so decided to discuss Udgitha. Of the three, Pravahana was

a Kshatriya and the other two were Brahmins.

Pravahana asked the two Brahmins to start the discussion, said M.K. Srinivasan in a discourse. Silaka put many questions to Dalbhya. “What is the goal of Sama?”

Silaka asked. Dalbhya said it was swara. The goal of prana

was food and the goal of food was water. The world above

was the goal of water, said Dalbhya. What is beyond the

world above, asked Silaka. Dalbhya said that saman could

lead only as far as the other world or swarga, but not

beyond that. Silaka told Dalbhya that his knowledge was

incomplete and such incomplete knowledge could result

in his head falling of. Dalbhya then asked Silaka to explain

the same goals that he (Dalbhya) had been asked to

explain.

Silaka said the opposite of what Dalbhya had said.

Dalbhya had said that the goal of this world was the other

world. But Silaka said that this world was the goal of the

other world. Silaka said that Saman did not praise swarga,

but praised this world, for there was nothing beyond this

world.

Pravahana said that Silaka was also wrong and his head

too would fall of for such wrong interpretations.Pravahana said that the goal of this world was Akasa. All sentient and non-sentient beings originate from Akasa and Akasa was the Supreme goal. Akasa here means Brahman. So it was the Kshatriya Pravahana who got it right in the end, by pointing to Brahman as the origin of everything and as the goal to aspire for.