Maitreyi

Next follows the teaching of Brahman by... no no for there is nothing else higher than this if one says it is not so then comes the name the true of the true the senses being the true and he the brahman the true of them fourth now when yajna valkia was going to enter upon another state he said my three verily i am going away from my house into the forest for sooth let me make a settlement between thee and kathayini my other wife my three said my lord If this whole earth, full of wealth, belonged to me, tell me, should I be immortal by it? No, replied Yajna Valkya, like the life of rich people will be thy life, but there is no hope of immortality by wealth.

And Maitreyi said, what should I do with that by which I do not become immortal? what my lord knoweth of immortality tell that to me yajnavalkya replied thou who art truly dear to me thou speakest dear words come sit down i will explain it to thee and mark well what i say and he said verily a husband is not dear that you may love the husband but that you may love the self therefore a husband is dear verily a wife is not dear that you may love the wife but that you may love the self therefore a wife is dear verily sons are not dear that you may love the sons but that you may love the self therefore sons are dear verily wealth is not dear that you may love wealth but that you may love the self therefore wealth is dear Verily, the Brahman class is not dear that you may love the Brahman class, but that you may love the Self, therefore the Brahman class is dear.

Verily, the Kshatra class is not dear that you may love the Kshatra class, but that you may love the Self, therefore the Kshatra class is dear.

verily the worlds are not dear that you may love the worlds but that you may love the self therefore the worlds are dear verily the devas are not dear that you may love the devas but that you may love the self therefore the devas are dear verily creatures are not dear that you may love the creatures but that you may love the self therefore are creatures dear verily everything is not dear that you may love everything but that you may love the self therefore everything is dear verily this self is to be seen to be heard to be perceived to be marked o my three when we see hear perceive and know the self then all this is known whosoever looks for the brahman class elsewhere than in the self was abandoned by the brahman class whosoever looks for the kshatra class elsewhere than in the self was abandoned by the kshatra class whosoever looks for the worlds elsewhere than in the self was abandoned by the worlds whosoever looks for the devas elsewhere than in the self was abandoned by the devas whosoever looks for creatures elsewhere than in the self was abandoned by the creatures whosoever looks for anything elsewhere than in the self was abandoned by everything this brahman class this kshatra class these worlds these devas these creatures this everything all is that self now as the sounds of a drum when beaten cannot be seized externally by themselves but the sound is seized when the drum is seized or the beater of the drum and as the sounds of a conch shell when blown cannot be seized externally by themselves but the sound is seized when the shell is seized or the blower of the shell and as the sounds of lute when played cannot be seized externally by themselves but the sound is seized when the lute is seized or the player of the lute as clouds of smoke proceed by themselves out of a lighted fire kindled with damp fuel thus verily o my three has been breathed forth from this great being what we have as rig veda yajur veda sama veda adharvangi rasas itihasa legends purana cosmogonies knowledge the upanishads slokas verses sutras prose rules anuvakyanas glosses vyakyanas commentaries from him alone all these were breathed forth As all waters find their centre in the sea, all touches in the skin, all tastes in the tongue, all smells in the nose, all colours in the eye, all sounds in the ear, all percepts in the mind, all knowledge in the heart, all actions in the hands, all movements in the feet, and all the Vedas in speech, as a lump of salt when thrown into water becomes dissolved into water and could not be taken out again but whatever we taste the water it is salt thus verily o my three does this great being endless unlimited consisting of nothing but knowledge rise from out these elements and vanish again in them when he has departed there is no more knowledge name i say o maithrey thus spoke yajnavalkya then maithrey said here thou hast bewildered me sir when thou sayest that having departed there is no more knowledge But Ajnavalkya replied, O Maitreyi, I say nothing that is bewildering.

This is enough, O beloved, for wisdom.

for when there is as it were duality then one sees the other one smells the other one hears the other one salutes the other one perceives the other one knows the other but when the self only is all this how should he smell another How should he see another? How should he hear another? How should he salute another? How should he perceive another? How should he know another? How should he know him? By whom he knows all this? How, O beloved, should he know himself, the knower? Fifth Brahmana This earth is the honey, Madhu, the effect of all beings.

Fearless is Brahman.

And he who knows this becomes verily the fearless Brahman.

In all our deeper love, getting and non-getting run ever parallel.

In one of our Vaishnav lyrics, the lover says to his beloved, i feel as if i have gazed upon the beauty of thy face from my birth yet my eyes are hungry still as if i have kept thee pressed to my heart for millions of years yet my heart is not satisfied this makes it clear that it is really the infinite whom we seek in our pleasures our desire for being wealthy is not a desire for a particular sum of money but it is indefinite and the most fleeting of our enjoyments are but the momentary touches of the eternal the tragedy of human life consists in our vain attempts to stretch the limits of things which can never become unlimited to reach the infinite by absurdly adding to the rungs of the ladder of the finite it is evident from this that the real desire of our soul is to get beyond all our possessions surrounded by things she can touch and feel she cries i am weary of getting ah where is he who is never to be got we see everywhere in the history of man that the spirit of renunciation is the deepest reality of the human soul when the soul says of anything i do not want it for i am above it it gives utterance to the highest truth that is in her when a girl's life outgrows her doll when she realizes that in every respect she is more than her doll is then she throws it away by the very act of possession we know that we are greater than the things we possess it is a perfect misery to be kept bound up with things lesser than ourselves This it is that Maitreyi felt when her husband gave her his property on the eve of leaving home.

She asked him, Would these material things help one to attain the highest? Or, in other words, Are they more than my soul to me? When her husband answered, They will make you rich in worldly possessions.

She said at once, Then what am I to do with these? It is only when a man truly realizes what his possessions are that he has no more illusions about them.