Parables from the Upanishads

The Story of Rishi Yajnavalkya

(I)

Yajnavalkya was one of the great Brahmins and a supreme master of the Knowledge of Reality during the Upanishadic age. But it was not that he was only a man of Knowledge, deep and serious; he was also a fine humorist. That is, he combined his Knowledge with a keen sense of irony and fun. Here are some stories about him.

King Janaka was his contemporary. That would seem to place his story in the Upanishads about the time of the Ramayana although Rama or Sita does not figure anywhere there. King Janaka too was a man of Knowledge, a sage-king, rājarṣi. But he had not taken any disciples. The seekers would come to him for the solution of their problems, and he used to hold the seat of umpire at the sessions of Rishis and men of knowledge.

As he sat in his royal court at one such session, and numerous were the seekers and men of knowledge who had assembled there to see him, Rishi Yajnavalkya suddenly made his appearance. The king greeted the mighty sage with due ceremony and respect, and asked him, "Yajnavalkya, what is the object that brings you here? Is it the acquisition of Knowledge or of kine?" Yajnavalkya said, "Both, my king, — ubhayameva samrāṭ!" with a smile.

There was a previous history to this "both", to which the king had been referring. It happened like this.

King Janaka had been celebrating a sacrifice, and had arranged for the gifts to be on a generous scale. The lure of

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the gifts had brought together a number of Brahmins from the surrounding country too. The measure of the gifts he had announced, that is to say, the first prize, like the gold medal offered by our Academies, consisted of a thousand kine; and not only that, for each of these thousand cows was to have, tied to each horn, a ten pāda weight, equal to about three tolas of our measure, of purest gold, kaṣita kāñcana, not the fourteen-carat variety. A thousand cows meant two thousand horns; so you can figure out how much gold that would be. King Janaka had it announced that the Brahmin men of learning and knowledge who had assembled there were all invited to participate : the prize would go to him who proved to be most proficient in the Vedic lore. The best among these Brahmins was called upon to come up and lead those kine home. But none among the learned Brahmins had the courage to declare himself the best; they all sat in silence. Then Yajnavalkya stood up, and called upon his band of disciples to take the herd of kine to his home. This created a sensation among the Brahmin crowd. What was this Yajnavalkya doing? How very insolent of him! One of them came up - he was a priest of King Janaka's, Asvala by name. He called out to Yajnavalkya, "Yajnavalkya, do you then happen to be the best among us Brahmins ?" Yajnavalkya replied with folded hands, "Salutations to the best of Brahmins! We have taken the cows because I need them. I am a seeker of kine, not that I have the most Knowledge."

But Asvala was insistent. He said, "You have taken the cows, now you have to prove that you are the best. I am putting you some questions, let us see what answers you can give.... All you see here is subject to Death. Then how does the sacrificer, yajamāna, manage to escape from the clutches of Death ?" Yajnavalkya gave answer, "Sacrifice implies the four : the priest of the offering and the priest of the call, Fire and the Word, ṛtvika, hotā, agni, vāk. It is by virtue of these that the sacrificer escapes from Death.

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But Fire alone is the Priest of the Gall, he is the One who makes the Offering, the Word is no other than He. Fire means freedom, not ordinary freedom but the supreme Liberation. Fire is the Conscious-Force, the Power of Austerity." But there was no end to Asvala's questionings; he went on asking and Yajnavalkya gave due reply. This dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Asvala forms a chapter in the Upanishadic Science of Reality.

After Asvala had finished, another got up. This was the Rishi Artabhaga of the family of Jaratkaru. The dialogue that ensued between him and Yajnavalkya forms another chapter of the Upanishadic lore. Then arose Rishi Bhujyu of the Lahya family. He began with a rather amusing story. "Yajnavalkya," he said, "when in my student days I was travelling round the country, I happened to be in the Madra region once. I was the guest of a householder whose name was Patanjala. Patanjala had a daughter who was possessed by an evil spirit. We were familiar with this particular one — it was a Gandharva. I asked him, 'Who are you?' The Gandharva replied, 'I am Sudhanvan born of the family of Angiras.' From this Gandharva, we had learnt a few things about the other worlds. That is why I am going to ask you, Yajnavalkya, a few questions about those other worlds. If your answers tally with those of the Gandharva, then I shall admit that you really know." Yajnavalkya repeated exactly what the Gandharva had said. After Bhujyu it was the turn of Ushasti Chakrayana, who was followed by Kahola Kaushitakeya.

And now there arose Gargi, the daughter of Vachaknu. Gargi began with the question, "Yajnavalkya, all this here is permeated by the waters. What then permeates the waters?"

"The waters are permeated by air," said Yajnavalkya. "And what contains the air?" "The heavens."

"And where are the heavens contained?"

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"In the world of the Gandharvas."

"And the world of the Gandharvas?"

"In the regions of the Sun."

"And the solar regions?"

"In the worlds of the Moon."

"And the lunar worlds?"

"In the regions of the stars."

Gargi went on thus with her seemingly endless questions, but Yajnavalkya had to cry halt when he came to the world of Brahman. Yet Gargi asked him again, "And what contains this world of Brahman?" Thereupon Yajnavalkya exclaimed, "Your questions are now going beyond the limit, Gargi. You have been asking too much, and if you ask more, your head will fall off."

But she was going to make one last attempt. She told the learned assembly that she was going to put her last questions to Yajnavalkya, and this would be his final test. She then called out to Yajnavalkya, "Yajnavalkya, I am going to put two more questions to you. They are like a couple of arrows. When the king of Videha goes to war, he pulls the bowstrings and shoots his arrows. In like manner, I am aiming these arrow-like questions at you. Let us see how you will ward them off with the appropriate answers." Yajnavalkya said, "Very well, try." Then Gargi said, "Can you tell me what is above the sky and what is below the earth, and what is in between the earth and sky?" To this Yajnavalkya replied, "That is called sūtrātman, He binds all from within as by a thread and puts everything on as it were ; He is Brahman." This satisfied Gargi and she repeated her question to Yajnavalkya, - the very same question again; and Yajnavalkya gave the self-same reply.

Now Gargi turned to the learned men and addressed them thus, "You had better bow down to Yajnavalkya and take your leave. No one among you has the power to get the better of him in the matter of learning or wisdom."

What Yajnavalkya had really sought to convey in his

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final reply to Gargi was this. Brahman is the supreme Seer, though He be invisible. He is beyond all hearing and yet is Himself the Hearer. He is beyond the ken of mind, but is Himself the supreme Thinker. He is Unknowable, but is the supreme Knower. There is none other than He who sees, hears, thinks and knows.

(2)

In that very assembly, during all this discussion and deliberation there took place an incident that was rather sad, and of a lugubrious nature. It looks so unseemly to us, but perhaps to the seekers of the Truth in that distant age the whole thing might have appeared quite natural.

I think I have already mentioned the name of Sakalya. He was very fond of argument and his series of questions one after another made Yajnavalkya almost lose his patience. Finally, Yajnavalkya had to warn him, "You are straying from the path of logic and are arguing beside the point. Since you have been asking so many questions, let me put to you now one single question. If you can give answer, so much the better. But if you can't, then your head will fall off." You may recall this manner of warning in connection with the Gargi episode. Perhaps this was the natural consequence of arguing beside the point; perhaps it is so even today, though not in such a gross form but in a subtler way.

Yajnavalkya continued, "You have been raising so many points of inquiry in connection with the Science of Reality. Now, can you tell me this: what is this Reality in its essence?" Sakalya merely said that he did not know and held his peace. And immediately his head fell off. His retinue of disciples got up in a flurry and carried off the truncated corpse of their teacher, — ostensibly for the funeral rites, but actually in the hope of bringing it back to life by joining the head on. But here too they had ill luck.

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As they carried the dead body along a deserted road beyond the limits of their hermitage, a gang of robbers made their appearance. The robbers thought they must be carrying some precious treasure. So they attacked and carried off the corpse as booty. Thus did Sakalya meet his end. The moral of the story, as the Upanishad itself has pointed out, is that not by argument can this Knowledge be had, naiṣā tarkeṇa matirāpaneyā.

(3)

Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi

The next story belongs to an earlier stage in the life of Yajnavalkya. He had not yet become a prince among sages, the foremost of Brahmins, although there is evidence that he was even then a seeker of the Truth and had some knowledge of the Reality.

By this "earlier" stage I mean his life as householder. The story relates to the last phase of this life. He was now wanting to give up the householder's state and live the life of a forest recluse. He had been a family man, had two wives in fact, and some property as well. The wives were Katyayani and Maitreyi. Of the two, it was Katyayani who cared most for her position as wife, strīprajñā; Maitreyi's interests were in spiritual things, brahmavādinī.¹

So, one day he called Maitreyi in and said to her, "Maitreyi, I am forsaking all and leaving home. If you so desire, I can make separate provisions for Katyayani and yourself." To these words of Yajnavalkya, Maitreyi gave answer, "If all my possessions were to fill the whole earth, would they

¹ One may recall here the story of the two women devotees who followed the Christ, the two sisters Martha and Mary. Christ had noted in Martha this womanly concern of which the Upanishad makes mention, and said to her one day, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful, and Mary has shown that good part which shall not be taken away from her." (St. Luke, X. 41-42).

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bring me immortality, my lord?" Yajnavalkya had to reply, "No, that could never be, that would be impossible. But you could thereby have a life of enjoyments, like all other people who have wealth. But of immortality there would be no hope." Thereupon Maitreyi exclaimed, "What then am I to do with that which does not make me immortal?" On hearing this reply of Maitreyi's, Yajnavalkya said, "You have been always dear to me, Maitreyi; today you become still more dear. Let me tell you more, in fuller detail. Listen to my words with care."

And Yajnavalkya began, "Not for the sake of the husband does the husband become dear, O Maitreyi; the husband becomes dear for the sake of the Self. It is not because of the wife that she is held dear; it is for the sake of the Self. The son is held dear, not for the sake of the son, but for the sake of the Self. Wealth is dear, cattle are dear, not because of the cattle or wealth, but because of the Self. Spiritual power, military power, are held dear not for their own sakes, but for the sake of the Self. The other worlds are held dear not for their sakes but for the sake of the Self. The gods too are held dear not because they are gods, but because of the Self. The Vedas are dear, all created things are dear, not because of themselves, but because of the Self. Whatever else there be that is held to be dear is so because of the Self. It is this Self that has to be seen, heard about, thought of, meditated upon. The Self being seen, heard of, thought about, meditated upon, all else will be known, O Maitreyi.

"Let me illustrate. You see this lump of salt. It is of one piece both within and without, has one pervading taste, the taste of salt. In exactly the same way, the Self is of one pervading quality or taste; it is a solid mass of Knowledge. If this Self were to depart from created things, then they would vanish into nothingness. It will then leave no form or name. That is the state of release or liberation."

On hearing these words of Yajnavalkya, Maitreyi had to say, "What you say, my lord, about this Knowledge-Self

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leaving no form or name behind makes me perplexed." To this Yajnavalkya made answer, "There is nothing here to be perplexed about, Maitreyi. The Self is an entity that knows no change or destruction, it is left untouched by any kind of change, nor does it ever disappear."

Yajnavalkya had given his answer, but Maitreyi's problem remained unsolved. The world is bound to be reduced to nothingness on attaining Self-knowledge, form must disappear on gaining the true status — these statements of Yajnavalkya, however impartial he might try to be, 'ubhayameva' mantravādī, seem to be wholly in favour of the illusionist view; Maitreyi has hinted at another possible solution.

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