The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - ch-II, 4TH, : Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday,March 07, 2022. 20:00.

Chapter- II

FOURTH BRAHMANA: THE CONVERSATION OF YAJNAVALKYA AND MAITREYI ON THE ABSOLUTE SELF

Spoken on 8 February 1977.

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The present section is a narration of the conversation that appears to have taken place in ancient times between the Sage Yājñavalkya and his consort Maitreyī.


1.maitreyī, iti hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ, ud yāsyan vā are 'ham asmāt sthānād asmi; hanta hanta, te 'nayā kātyāyanyāntaṁ karavāṇīti.

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Maitreyī, iti hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ : The great Master Yājñavalkya speaks to Maitreyī: ud yāsyan vā are 'ham asmāt sthānād asmi; hanta hanta, te 'nayā kātyāyanyāntaṁ karavāṇīti.


 "I am going to retire from the life of a householder and enter into the fourth order of life, and therefore am now intending to arrange the division of property between you and Kātayāni before taking to the final stage of life, the life of renunciation." This is the expression of Sage Yājñavalkya to his consort Maitreyī. "Between Maitreyī and Kātayāni, two consorts, I shall make the division of property."


When the idea of property arose, immediately it appeared to have stirred up a brainwave in the mind of the wise Maitreyī. She queries, "You speak of entering the fourth order of life, embracing a new perspective of living altogether, and therefore you propose to divide the property between the two of us here, so that we may be comfortable and happy. Is it possible for us to be happy, ultimately, through property? Is it possible to be perpetually happy by possession of material comfort and property?" This is Maitreyī's question.


The intention of Yājñavalkya to leave secular property to his consorts naturally means that he proposes to leave them in a state of satisfaction and immense comfort. But is this practicable? Can we be eternally happy, unbrokenly satisfied? Can there be a cessation of our happiness at any time? The question simply put is: Is it possible to give immortality through wealth?

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2. "sa hovāca maitreyī, yan nu ma iyam, bhagoḥ, sarvā pṛthivī vittena pūrṇā syāt, kathaṁ tenāmṛtā syām iti. na, iti hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ; yathaivopakaraṇavatāṁ jīvitam, tathaiva te jīvitaṁ syād amṛtatvasya tu nāśāsti vitteneti."


Sa hovāca maitreyī, yan nu ma iyam, bhagoḥ, sarvā pṛthivī vittena pūrṇā syāt, kathaṁ tenāmṛtā syām iti: "If I am the owner of the entire earth, the wealth of the whole world is mine, will I be perpetually happy, or will there be some other factor which will intrude upon my happiness in spite of my possession of the values of the entire world?" This is the question. Na, iti hovāca yajñavalkyaḥ: "No," replies Yājñavalkya. "You cannot be happy. You will be very comfortable, as is the case with people who own a lot of wealth, but you would be in the same state in other respects, as is the condition of well-placed people in society. Immortality is not possible through possessions. It is a different status altogether, which has no connection with any kind of relativistic association." Amṛitatvasya tu nāśāsti vitteneti: "There is no hope of immortality through wealth."

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3. sa hovāca maitreyī, yenāhaṁ nāmṛtā syām, kim ahaṁ tena kuryām, yad eva bhagavān veda tad eva me brūhīti.


"Then, what is the good of all this? If one day, death is to swallow me up, and transiency is to overwhelm me, impermanence of the world is to threaten us, and if everything is to be insecure at the very start; if all that you regard as worthwhile is, after all, going to be a phantom; because it is not going to assure us as to how long it can be possessed, how it may not be taken away from us and at what time we shall be dispossessed of all the status that we have in life; if this is the uncertainty of all existence, what good can accrue to me from this that you are bestowing upon me, as if it is a great value?" Sa hovāca maitreyī, yenāhaṁ nāmṛtā syām, kim ahaṁ tena kuryām: "What am I to do with that thing which is not going to make me perpetually happy, immortal, satisfied?" Yad eva bhagavān veda tad eva me brūhīti: "Whatever you know in this context, O Lord, tell me that. Let me be cured of this illness of doubting in my mind, so that I may know what it is that I have to engage myself in if I am to be eternally happy; so that there can be no fear from any source. Is it a possibility? If it is a possibility, what is the method that I have to adopt in the acquisition of this Supreme final satisfaction?" Very wonderful question! Yājñavalkya was highly pleased with this query. "I never expected that you will put this question to me when I am leaving you immense property, bestowing upon you a lot of wealth."

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NEXT : 4. "sa hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ, priyā bata are naḥ satī priyaṁ bhāṣase; ehi, āssva, vyākhyāsyāmi te; vyācakṣāṇasya tu me nididhyāsasva iti."

To be continued .....



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