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1. Then Vidagdha Sâkalya asked him 2: 'How many gods are there, O Yâgñavalkya?' He replied with this very Nivid 3: 'As many as are mentioned in the Nivid of the hymn of praise addressed to the Visvedevas, viz. three and three hundred, three and three thousand 4.'
'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?'
'Thirty-three,' he said.
'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?'
'Six,' he said.
'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?'
'Three,' he said.
'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?'
'Two,' he said.
'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?'
'One and a half (adhyardha),' he said.
'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?'
'One,' he said.
'Yes,' he said, and asked: 'Who are these three and three hundred, three and three thousand?'
2. Yâgñavalkya replied: 'They are only the various powers of them, in reality there are only thirty-three gods 1.'
He asked: 'Who are those thirty-three?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Âdityas. They make thirty-one, and Indra and Pragâpati make the thirty-three 2.'
3. He asked: 'Who are the Vasus.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Agni (fire), Prithivî (earth), Vâyu (air), Antariksha (sky), Âditya (sun), Dyu (heaven), Kandramas (moon), the Nakshatras (stars), these are the Vasus, for in them all that dwells (this world) 3 rests; and therefore they are called Vasus.'
4. He asked: 'Who are the Rudras?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'These ten vital breaths (prânas, the senses, i.e. the five gñânendriyas, and the five karmendriyas), and Âtman 1, as the eleventh. When they depart from this mortal body, they make us cry (rodayanti), and because they make us cry, they are called Rudras.'
5. He asked: 'Who are the Âdityas?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The twelve months of the year, and they are Âdityas, because they move along (yanti), taking up everything 2 (âdadânâh). Because they move along, taking up everything, therefore they are called Âdityas.'
6. He asked: 'And who is Indra, and who is Pragâpati?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Indra is thunder, Pragâpati is the sacrifice.'
He asked: 'And what is the thunder?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The thunderbolt.'
He asked: 'And what is the sacrifice?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The (sacrificial) animals.'
7. He asked: 'Who are the six?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Agni (fire), Prithivî (earth), Vâyu (air), Antariksha (sky), Âditya (sun), Dyu (heaven), they are the six, for they are all 3 this, the six.'
8. He asked: 'Who are the three gods?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'These three worlds, for in them all these gods exist.'
He asked: 'Who are the two gods?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Food and breath.'
He asked: 'Who is the one god and a half?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'He that blows.'
9. Here they say: 'How is it that he who blows like one only, should be called one and a half (adhyardha)?' And the answer is: 'Because, when the wind was blowing, everything grew (adhyardhnot).'
He asked: 'Who is the one god?'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Breath (prâna), and he is Brahman (the Sûtrâtman), and they call him That (tyad).'
10. Sâkalya said 1: 'Whosoever knows that person (or god) whose dwelling (body) is the earth, whose sight (world) is fire 2, whose mind is light,--the principle
of every (living) self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. This corporeal (material, earthy) person, "he is he." But tell me 1, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ 2 (deity)?'
Sâkalya replied: 'The Immortal 3.'
11. Sâkalya said: 'Whosoever knows that person whose dwelling is love (a body capable of sensual love), whose sight is the heart, whose mind is light.--the principle of every self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. This love-made (loving) person, he is he." But tell me, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ?'
Sâkalya replied: 'The women 4.'
12. Sâkalya said: 'Whosoever knows that person whose dwelling are the colours, whose sight is the eye, whose mind is light,--the principle of every self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. That person in the sun, "he is he." But tell me, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ?'
Sâkalya replied: 'The True 5.'
13. Sâkalya said: 'Whosoever knows that person
whose dwelling is ether, whose sight is the ear, whose mind is light,--the principle of every self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. The person who hears 1 and answers, "he is he." But tell me, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ?'
Sâkalya replied: 'Space.'
14. Sâkalya said: 'Whosoever knows that person whose dwelling is darkness, whose sight is the heart, whose mind is light,--the principle of every self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. The shadowy 2 person, "he is he." But tell me, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ?'
Sâkalya replied: 'Death.'
15. Sâkalya said: 'Whosoever knows that person whose dwelling are (bright) colours, whose sight is the eye, whose mind is light,--the principle of every self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. The person in the looking-glass, "he is he." But tell me, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ?'
Sâkalya replied: 'Vital breath' (asu).
16. Sâkalya said: 'Whosoever knows that person whose dwelling is water, whose sight is the heart, whose mind is light,--the principle of every self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. The person in the water, "he is he." But tell me, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ?'
Sâkalya replied: 'Varuna.'
17. Sâkalya said: 'Whosoever knows that person whose dwelling is seed, whose sight is the heart, whose mind is light,--the principle of every self, he indeed is a teacher, O Yâgñavalkya.'
Yâgñavalkya replied: 'I know that person, the principle of every self, of whom thou speakest. The filial person, "he is he." But tell me, Sâkalya, who is his devatâ?'
Sâkalya replied: 'Pragâpati.'
18. Yâgñavalkya said: 'Sâkalya, did those Brâhmanas (who themselves shrank from the contest) make thee the victim 1?'
Sâkalya said: 'Yâgñavalkya, because thou hast decried the Brâhmanas of the Kuru-Pañkâlas, what 2 Brahman dost thou know?'
19. Yâgñavalkya said: 'I know the quarters with their deities and their abodes.'
Sâkalya said: 'If thou knowest the quarters with their deities and their abodes,
20. 'Which is thy deity in the Eastern quarter?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'Âditya (the sun).'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does that Âditya abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the eye.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the eye abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the colours, for with the eye he sees the colours.'
Sâkalya said: 'And in what then do the colours abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the heart 1, for we know colours by the heart, for colours abide in the heart 2.'
Sâkalya said: 'So it is indeed, O Yâgñavalkya.'
21. Sâkalya said: 'Which is thy deity in the Southern quarter?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'Yama.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does that Yama abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the sacrifice.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the sacrifice abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the Dakshinâ (the gifts to be given to the priests).'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the Dakshinâ abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In Sraddhâ (faith), for if a man believes, then he gives Dakshinâ, and Dakshinâ truly abides in faith.'
Sâkalya said: 'And in what then does faith abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the heart, for by the heart faith knows, and therefore faith abides in the heart.'
Sâkalya said: 'So it is indeed, O Yâgñavalkya.'
22. Sâkalya said: 'Which is thy deity in the Western quarter?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'Varuna.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does that Varuna abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the water.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the water abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the seed.'
Sâkalya said: 'And in what does the seed abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the heart. And therefore also they say of a son who is like his father, that he seems as if slipt from his heart, or made from his heart; for the seed abides in the heart.'
Sâkalya said: 'So it is indeed, O Yâgñavalkya.'
23. Sâkalya said: 'Which is thy deity in the Northern quarter?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'Soma.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does that Soma abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the Dîkshâ 1.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the Dîkshâ abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the True; and therefore they say to one who has performed the Dîkshâ, Speak what is true, for in the True indeed the Dîkshâ abides.'
Sâkalya said: 'And in what does the True abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the heart, for with the heart do we know what is true, and in the heart indeed the True abides.'
Sâkalya said: 'So it is indeed, O Yâgñavalkya.'
24. Sâkalya said: 'Which is thy deity in the zenith?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'Agni.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does that Agni abide.'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In speech.'
Sâkalya said: 'And in what does speech abide
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the heart.'
Sâkalya said: 'And in what does the heart abide?'
2 5. Yâgñavalkya said: 'O Ahallika 1, when you think the heart could be anywhere else away from us, if it were away from us, the dogs might eat it, or the birds tear it.'
26. Sâkalya said: 'And in what dost thou (thy body) and the Self (thy heart) abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the Prâna (breath).'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the Prâna abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: In the Apâna (down-breathing) 2.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the Apâna abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the Vyâna (back-breathing ) 3.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the Vyâna-abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the Udâna (the out-breathing) 4.'
Sâkalya said: 'In what does the Udâna abide?'
Yâgñavalkya said: 'In the Samâna 5. That Self
[paragraph continues] (âtman) is to be described by No, no 1! He is incomprehensible, for he cannot be (is not) comprehended; he is imperishable, for he cannot perish; he is unattached, for he does not attach himself; unfettered, he does not suffer, he does not fail.'
'These are the eight abodes (the earth, &c.), the eight worlds (fire, &c.), the eight gods (the immortal food, &c.), the eight persons (the corporeal, &c.) He who after dividing and uniting these persons 2, went beyond (the Samâna), that person, taught in the Upanishads, I now ask thee (to teach me). If thou shalt not explain him to me, thy head will fall.'
Sâkalya did not know him, and his head fell, nay, thieves took away his bones, mistaking them for something else.
27. Then Yâgñavalkya said: 'Reverend Brâhmanas, whosoever among you desires to do so, may now question me. Or question me, all of you. Or whosoever among you desires it, I shall question him, or I shall question all of you.
But those Brâhmanas durst not (say anything).
28. Then Yâgñavalkya questioned them with these Slokas:
1. 'As a mighty tree in the forest, so in truth is man, his hairs are the leaves, his outer skin is the bark.
2. 'From his skin flows forth blood, sap from the skin (of the tree); and thus from the wounded
man 1 comes forth blood, as from a tree that is struck.
3. 'The lumps of his flesh are (in the tree) the layers of wood, the fibre is strong like the tendons 2 . The bones are the (hard) wood within, the marrow is made like the marrow of the tree.
4. 'But, while the tree, when felled, grows up again more young from the root, from what root, tell me, does a mortal grow up, after he has been felled by death?
5. 'Do not say, "from seed," for seed is produced from the living 3; but a tree, springing from a grain, clearly 4 rises again after death 5.
6. 'If a tree is pulled up with the root, it will not grow again; from what root then, tell me, does a mortal grow up, after he has been felled by death?
7. 'Once born, he is not born (again); for who should create him again 6?'
'Brahman, who is knowledge and bliss, he is the principle, both to him who gives gifts 1, and also to him who stands firm, and knows.'
139:1 Mâdhyandina text, p. 1076.
139:2 This disputation between Yâgñavalkya and Vidagdha Sâkalya occurs in a simpler form in the Satapatha-brâhmana, XI, p. 873. He is here represented as the first who defies Yâgñavalkya, and whom Yâgñavalkya asks at once, whether the other Brâhmans had made him the ulmukâvakshayana, the cat's paw, literally one who has to take a burning piece of wood out of the fire (ardha. dagdhakâshtham ulmukam; tasya vahirnirasanam avakshayanam vinâsah). The end, however, is different, for on asking the nature of the one god, the Prâna, he is told by Yâgñavalkya that he has asked for what he ought not to ask, and that therefore he will die and thieves will carry away his bones.
139:3 Nivid, old and short invocations of the gods; devatâsankhyâvâkakâni mantrapâdni kânikid vaisvadeve sastre sasyante. Sankara, and Dvivedaganga.
139:4 This would make 3306 devatâs.
140:1 'The glories of these are three and thirty.' Gough, p. 172.
140:2 Trayastrimsau, i.e. trayastrimsatah pûranau.
140:3 The etymological explanation of Vasu is not quite clear, and p. 141 the commentator hardly explains our text. Perhaps vasu is meant for the world or the dwellers therein. The more usual explanation occurs in the Satap. Brâh. p. 1077, ete hîdam sarvam vâsayante tadyad idam sarvam vâsayante tasmâd vasava iti; or on p. 874, where we read te yad idam sarvam &c.
141:1 Âtman is here explained as manas, the common sensory.
141:2 The life of men, and the fruits of their work.
141:3 They are the thirty-three gods.
142:1 I prefer to attribute this to Sâkalya, who is still the questioner, and not Yâgñavalkya; but I am not quite satisfied that I am right in this, or in the subsequent distribution of the parts, assigned to each speaker. If Sâkalya is the questioner, then the sentence, veda vâ aham tam purusham sarvasyâtmanah parâyanam yam âttha, must belong to Yâgñavalkya, because he refers to the words of another speaker. Lastly, the sentence vadaiva has to be taken as addressed to Sâkalya. The commentator remarks that, he being the questioner, one expects prikkha instead of vada. But Yâgñavalkya may also be supposed to turn round on Sâkalya and ask him a question in turn, more difficult than the question addressed by Sâkalya to Yâgñavalkya, and in that case the last sentence must be taken as an answer, though an imperfect one, of Sâkalya's. The commentator seems to think that after Yâgñavalkya told Sâkalya to ask this question, Sâkalya was frightened and asked it, and that then Yâgñavalkya answered in turn.
142:2 The Mâdhyandina text varies considerably. It has the first time, kashur lokah for agnir lokah. I keep to the same construction throughout, taking mano gyotih, not as a compound, but like agnir loko yasya, as a sentence, i.e. mano gyotir yasya.
143:1 Ask me. Comm.
143:2 That from which he is produced, that is his devatâ. Comm.
143:3 According to the commentator, the essence of food, which produces blood, from which the germ receives life and becomes an embryo and a living being.
143:4 Because they excite the fire of love. Comm.
143:5 The commentator explains satya, the true, by the eye, because the sun owes its origin to the eye.
144:1 Read srautra instead of srotra; see Brih. Âr. Up. II, 5, 6.
144:2 Shadow, khâyâ, is explained here by agñâna, ignorance, not by gñâna, knowledge.
145:1 Angârâvakshayana is explained as a vessel in which coals are extinguished, and Ânandagiri adds that Yâgñavalkya, in saying that Sâkalya was made an angârâvakshayana by his fellow Brâhmans, meant that he was given up by them as a victim, in fact that he was being burnt or consumed by Yâgñavalkya. I should prefer to take angârâvakshayana in the sense of ulmukâvakshayana, an instrument with which one takes burning coals from the fire to extinguish them, a pair of tongs. Read sandamsa instead of sandesa. Kshi with ava means to remove, to take away. We should call an angârâvakshayana a cat's paw. The Brâhmanas used Sâkalya as a cat's paw.
145:2 It seems better to take kim as the interrogative pronoun than as an interrogative particle.
146:1 Heart stands here for buddhi and manas together. Comm.
146:2 In the text, published by Dr. Roer in the Bibliotheca Indica, a sentence is left out, viz. hridaya ity uvâka, hridayena hi rûpâni gânâti, hridaye hy eva rûpâni pratishthitâni bhavantîty.
147:1 Dîkshâ is the initiatory rite for the Soma sacrifice. Having sacrificed with Soma which has to be bought, the sacrificer becomes endowed with wisdom, and wanders to the North, which is the quarter of Soma.
148:1 A term of reproach, it may be a ghost or preta, because ahani lîyate, it disappears by day.
148:2 Because the prâna would run away, if it were not held back by the apâna.
148:3 Because the apâna would run down, and the prâna up, if they were not held back by the vyâna.
148:4 Because all three, the prâna, apâna, and vyâna, would run away in all directions, if they were not fastened to the udâna.
148:5 The Samâna can hardly be meant here for one of the five prânas, generally mentioned before the udâna, but, as explained by Dvivedaganga, stands for the Sûtrâtman. This Sûtrâtman abides in the Antaryâmin, and this in the Brahman (Kûtastha), which is p. 149 therefore described next. Could Samâna be here the same as in IV, 3, 7?
149:1 See before, II, 3, 6; also IV, 2, 4; IV, 4, 22; IV, 5, 115.
149:2 Dividing them according to the different abodes, worlds, and persons, and uniting them at last in the heart.
150:1 In the Mâdhyandina-sâkhâ, p. 1080, tasmât tadâtunnât, instead of tasmât tadâtrinnât.
150:2 Sankara seems to have read snâvavat, instead of snâva, tat sthiram, as we read in both Sâkhâs.
150:3 Here the Mâdhyandinas (p. 1080) add, gâta eva na gâyate, ko nv enam ganayet punah, which the Kânvas place later.
150:4 Instead of añgasâ, the Mâdhyandinas have anyatah.
150:5 The Mâdhyandinas have dhânâruha u vai, which is better than iva vai, the iva being, according to Sankara's own confession, useless. The thread of the argument does not seem to have been clearly perceived by the commentators. What the poet wants to say is, that a man, struck down by death, does not come to life again from seed, because human seed comes from the living only, while trees, springing from grain, are seen to come to life after the tree (which yielded the grain or the seed) is dead. Pretya-sambhava like pretya-bhâva, means life after death, and pretyasambhava, as an adjective, means coming to life after death.
150:6 This line too is taken in a different sense by the commentator. According to him, it would mean: 'If you say, He has been born p. 151 (and there is an end of all questioning), I say, No; he is born again, and the question is, How?' This is much too artificial. The order of the verses in the Mâdhyandina-sâkhâ is better on the whole, leading up more naturally to the question, 'From what root then does a mortal grow up, after he has been felled by death?' When the Brâhmans cannot answer, Yâgñavalkya answers, or the Sruti declares, that the root from whence a mortal springs again, after death, is Brahman.
151:1 Sankara explains râtir dâtuh as râter dâtuh, a reading adopted by the Mâdhyandinas. He then arrives at the statement that Brahman is the principle or the last source, also the root of a new life, both for those who practise works and for those who, having relinquished works, stand firm in knowledge. Regnaud (II, p. 138) translates: 'C'est Brahma (qui est) l'intelligence, le bonheur, la richesse, le but suprême de celui qui offre (des sacrifices), et de celui qui réside (en lui), de celui qui connaît.'