Brahadaranyaka Upanishad - Part 4

The Brahadaranyaka Upanishad (बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्) is one of the principal Upanishads, treasured for its profound dialogues on Brahman (ब्रह्मन्), the Self and liberation (मोक्ष). This fourth part records the celebrated conversations between the sage Yajnavalkya and Janaka, Emperor of Videha, together with the immortal teaching Yajnavalkya gives to his wife Maitreyi.

Chapter I - Partial Definitions of Brahman

Om. Janaka, Emperor of Videha, was seated to give audience when Yajnavalkya arrived. The Emperor said to him: "Yajnavalkya, for what purpose have you come here? With a desire for cattle, or to hear some subtle questions asked?" "For both, Your Majesty," said he.

Yajnavalkya then invited Janaka to share what his teachers had told him, and one by one corrected each partial definition of Brahman, always adding the two missing feet: the abode (body) and the support (akasa).

For each, Yajnavalkya explained why even a partial definition falls short: "As anyone who had the benefit of being taught by a good mother, father and teacher should say, so did the son of Silina say that the organ of speech is Brahman; for what can be attained by a person who cannot speak?" Yet each organ, he insisted, is "Brahman only one-footed" without its abode and support.

• Speech: Through the organ of speech alone are known the Rig-Veda, the Yagur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharvangirasa, history, ancient lore, the arts, the Upanishads, verses, aphorisms, explanations, commentaries, the results of sacrifices, oblations, gifts of food and drink, this world, the next world and all beings.
• Vital breath: For its sake one performs sacrifices and accepts gifts, and "one may go to a quarter where one runs the risk of losing one's life."
• Eye: "If one asks a person who has seen with his eyes: 'Have you seen?' and he answers: 'Yes, I have,' then it is true."
• Ear: "To whatever quarter one may go, one never reaches its end. Hence the quarters are infinite."
• Mind: "With the mind a man desires and woos a woman; then a son resembling him is born of her and he is the cause of bliss."
• Heart: "The heart is the abode of all beings and the heart is the support of all beings."

After each teaching Janaka offered a thousand cows with a bull as large as an elephant, and Yajnavalkya replied: "My father was of the opinion that one should not accept gifts from a disciple without fully instructing him."

Chapter II - Concerning the Self

Janaka rose from his lounge, humbly approached Yajnavalkya and asked to be instructed. Yajnavalkya praised the Emperor's scholarship but asked the decisive question: "Do you know where you will go when you are released from this body?" Janaka confessed he did not.

• The person in the right eye is named Indha; though he is Indha, people call him by the indirect name Indra, "for the gods are fond of indirect names and hate to be addressed directly."
• The person in the left eye is his wife Viraj (matter). Their place of union is the akasa within the heart; their food is the lump of blood in the heart; their wrap is the net-like structure of the heart.
• The path from sleep to waking is the nerve rising upward from the heart, "like a hair split into a thousand parts." The subtle body (Taijasa) therefore receives finer food than the gross body (Vaisvanara).
• The illumined sage identified with Prajna in deep sleep sees all directions as his vital breaths.

"This self is That which has been described as 'Not this, not this' (नेति नेति). It is imperceptible, for It is never perceived; undecaying, for It never decays; unattached, for It is never attached; unfettered, for It never feels pain and never suffers injury." Janaka bowed and offered the Empire of Videha and himself at Yajnavalkya's service.

Chapter III - Investigation of the Three States

Yajnavalkya called on Janaka, and the Emperor - who had earlier chosen the right to ask any questions he wished - questioned him first.

What Serves as Light for a Man?

• Sun: "For with the sun as light he sits, goes out, works and returns."
• Moon: after the sun has set, the moon serves as his light.
• Fire: after the moon has set, fire serves as his light.
• Speech: after the fire has gone out, speech serves as his light. "When one cannot see even one's own hand, yet when a sound is uttered, one can go there."
• The Self: when speech has stopped, the self itself is his light. "With the self as light he sits, goes out, works and returns."

Which Is the Self?

"This purusha which is identified with the intellect (vijnanamaya) and is in the midst of the organs, the self-indulgent light within the heart. Assuming the likeness of the intellect, it wanders between the two worlds; it thinks, as it were, and moves, as it were, being identified with dreams; it transcends this waking world, which represents the forms of death (ignorance and its effects)."

• When the person is born, that is, assumes a body, he is joined with evils; when he dies, that is, leaves the body, he discards those evils.
• There are only two states for that person: this world and the next. The third, intermediate, state is the dream state, in which he surveys both and sees both joys and sufferings.
• In dream, the person "takes away a little of the impressions of this all-embracing world, himself makes the body unconscious and creates a dream body in its place, revealing his own brightness by his own light."

The Verses on the Dream State

The effulgent infinite being (purusha), who travels alone, makes the body insensible in sleep but himself remains awake and, taking with him the luminous particles of the organs, watches those which lie dormant. Again he comes to the waking state.

The effulgent infinite being (purusha), who is immortal and travels alone, guards the unclean nest (body) with the help of the vital breath (prana) and himself moves out of the nest. That immortal entity wanders wherever he likes.

In the dream world, the luminous one attains higher and lower states and creates many forms - now, as it were, enjoying himself in the company of women, now laughing, now even beholding frightful sights.

Everyone sees his sport but him no one sees.

They say: "Do not wake him suddenly." If he does not find the right organ, the body becomes difficult to doctor.

From Dream to Deep Sleep

• "As a large fish swims alternately to both banks of a river - the east and the west - so does the infinite being move to both these states: dreaming and waking."
• "As a hawk or a falcon roaming in the sky becomes tired, folds its wings and makes for its nest, so does this infinite entity hasten for this state, where, falling asleep, he cherishes no more desires and dreams no more dreams."
• The nerves (nadis) called hita are "fine as a hair divided into a thousand parts and filled with white, blue, brown, green and red fluids" - the seat of the subtle body, the storehouse of impressions.
• When he feels he is being killed, overpowered, chased by an elephant, or falling into a pit, that is the dream state born of ignorance. When he thinks "This universe is myself and I am all," that is his highest state.

The Highest State

• "That indeed is his form - free from desires, free from evils, free from fear. As a man fully embraced by his beloved wife knows nothing that is without, nothing that is within, so does this infinite being, when fully embraced by the Supreme Self, know nothing that is without, nothing that is within."
• "In this state a father is no more a father, a mother is no more a mother, the worlds are no more the worlds, the gods are no more the gods, the Vedas are no more the Vedas... a thief is no more a thief, the killer of a noble brahmin is no more a killer, a chandala is no more a chandala." Untouched by good or evil deeds, "he is then beyond all the woes of his heart."
• Though in deep sleep it appears the seer does not see, "there is no cessation of the vision of the seer, because the seer is imperishable." The same holds for smelling, tasting, speaking, hearing, thinking, touching and knowing: the perceiver in deep sleep is ever awake and ever present, for there is then "no second thing separate from the seer that it could see."
• "In deep sleep it becomes transparent like water, the witness, one and without a second. This is the World of Brahman, Your Majesty. This is its supreme attainment, this is its supreme glory, this is its highest world, this is its supreme bliss. On a particle of this bliss other creatures live."

The Scale of Bliss

"This, indeed, is the supreme bliss. This is the state of Brahman, O Emperor."

Approaching Death

• "Just as a heavily loaded cart moves along, creaking, even so the self identified with the body, being presided over by the Self which is all consciousness, moves along, groaning, when breathing becomes difficult at the approach of death."
• "As a mango or a fig or a fruit of the peepul tree becomes detached from its stalk, so does this infinite being, completely detaching himself from the parts of the body, again move on, in the same way that he came, to another body for the manifestation of his vital breath."
• As a king's officers await him crying "Here he comes, here he comes," so for the person who knows the fruits of his work "all the elements" wait, saying: "Here comes Brahman, here he comes."

Chapter IV - Death and the Hereafter

• When the self becomes weak and unconscious, the organs gather around it; the eye unites with the subtle body and people say "He does not see"; likewise for smell, taste, speech, hearing, thinking, touch and knowledge.
• "The upper end of the heart lights up and by that light the self departs, either through the eye or through the head or through any other part (aperture) of the body." When the self departs, the vital breath follows and then all the organs. "Knowledge, work and past experience follow the self."
• "As a leech moving on a blade of grass reaches its end, takes hold of another and draws itself together towards it, so does the self, after throwing off this body, take hold of another support."
• "As a goldsmith takes a small quantity of gold and fashions out of it another - a newer and better - form, so does the self... fashion another - a newer and better - form, suited to the Manes, or the gandharvas, or the gods, or Viraj, or Hiranyagarbha, or other beings."

The Law of Action and Desire

"That self is indeed Brahman... According as it acts and according as it behaves, so it becomes: by doing good it becomes good and by doing evil it becomes evil."

Because of attachment, the transmigrating self, together with its work, attains that result to which its subtle body or mind clings. Having exhausted in the other world the results of whatever work it did in this life, it returns from that world to this world for fresh work.

"Thus does the man who desires transmigrate. But as to the man who does not desire - who is without desire, whose desire is satisfied, whose only object of desire is the Self - his organs do not depart. Being Brahman, he merges in Brahman."

The Verses of Liberation

When all the desires that dwell in his heart are got rid of, then does the mortal man become immortal and attain Brahman in this very body.

Just as the slough of a snake lies, dead and cast away, on an ant-hill, even so lies this body. Then the self becomes disembodied and immortal Spirit, the Supreme Self (Prana), Brahman, the Light.

Into blinding darkness enter those who worship ignorance; into a greater darkness than that, as it were, enter those who are devoted to knowledge.

If a man knows the Self as "I am this," then desiring what and for whose sake will he suffer in the wake of the body?

Whoever has realized and intimately known the Self, Which has entered this perilous and perplexing place (the body), is the maker of the universe; for he is the maker of all. All is his Self and he, again, is indeed the Self of all.

They who know the Vital Breath (Prana) of the vital breath, the Eye of the eye, the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind, have realized the ancient, primordial Brahman.

Through the mind alone is Brahman to be realized. There is in It no diversity. He goes from death to death who sees in It, as it were, diversity.

Unknowable and constant, It should be realized in one form only. The Self is free from taint, beyond the akasa, birthless, infinite and unchanging.

The Great, Unborn Self

"That great, unborn Self, which is identified with the intellect (vijnanamaya) and dwells in the midst of the organs, lies in the akasa within the heart. It is the controller of all, the lord of all, the ruler of all. It does not become greater through good deeds or smaller through evil deeds."

• The brahmins seek to realize It through the study of the Vedas, through sacrifices, through gifts and through austerity. "Knowing It alone one becomes a sage (muni)."
• "The knowers of Brahman of olden times... gave up their desire for sons, for wealth and for the worlds and led the life of religious mendicants."
• "Him who knows this these two thoughts do not overcome: 'For this I did an evil deed' and 'For this I did a good deed.' He overcomes both."
• "He who knows It as such becomes self-controlled, calm, withdrawn into himself, patient and collected; he sees the Self in his own self; he sees all as the Self. Evil does not overcome him, but he overcomes all evil."
• "That great, unborn Self is undecaying, immortal, undying, fearless; It is Brahman (infinite). Brahman is indeed fearless. He who knows It as such becomes the fearless Brahman."

Chapter V - Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi

Yajnavalkya had two wives: Maitreyi, conversant with the Knowledge of Brahman, and Katyayani. When he wished to renounce the householder's life, he offered to settle his estate between them. Maitreyi asked: "If indeed the whole earth full of wealth belonged to me, would I be immortal through that or not?" Learning that wealth could never grant immortality, she replied: "What should I do with that which would not make me immortal? Tell me, venerable Sir, of that alone which you know to be the only means of attaining Immortality."

Not for the Sake of the Other, but for the Self

Verily, not for the sake of the husband, my dear, is the husband loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self. Not for the sake of the wife is the wife loved, but for the sake of the self. Not for the sake of the sons are the sons loved, but for the sake of the self. Not for the sake of wealth is wealth loved, but for the sake of the self. Not for the sake of the gods are the gods loved, but for the sake of the self. Not for the sake of the Vedas are the Vedas loved, but for the sake of the self. Not for the sake of the All is the All loved, but it is loved for the sake of the self.

"Verily, my dear Maitreyi, it is the Self that should be realized - should be heard of, reflected on and meditated upon. By the realization of the Self, my dear, through hearing, reflection and meditation, all this is known."

The brahmin, the kshatriya, the worlds, the gods, the Vedas, the beings and the All all reject one "who knows them as different from the Self" - for "these are that Self."

Drum, Conch, Vina and Smoke

• "As the various particular notes of a drum, when it is beaten, cannot be grasped by themselves, but are grasped only when the general note of the drum or the general sound produced by different kinds of strokes is grasped" - so too with the conch and the vina: the particular cannot be known apart from the whole.
• "As from a fire kindled with wet fuel various kinds of smoke issue forth, even so... the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharvangirasa, history, mythology, the arts, Upanishads, verses, aphorisms, elucidations, explanations, sacrifices, oblations in the fire, food, drink, this world, the next world and all beings are all like the breath of this infinite Reality. From this Supreme Self are all these, indeed, breathed forth."
• As the ocean is the one goal of all waters, so each organ is the one goal of its own range: the skin of touch, the nostrils of smells, the tongue of savours, the ear of sounds, the mind of deliberations, the intellect of knowledge, and so on.
• "As a lump of salt has neither inside nor outside and is altogether a homogeneous mass of taste, even so this Self, my dear, has neither inside nor outside and is altogether a homogeneous mass of Intelligence."

The Final Words

When Maitreyi confessed bewilderment, Yajnavalkya answered: "Certainly I am not saying anything bewildering, my dear. Verily, this Self is immutable and indestructible."

For when there is duality, as it were, then one sees another, one smells another, one tastes another... one knows another. But when to the knower of Brahman everything has become the Self, then what should he see and through what, what should he smell and through what... what should he know and through what? Through what should one know That Owing to which all this is known? This Self is That which has been described as 'Not this, not this'... Through what, O Maitreyi, should one know the Knower?

"Thus you have the instruction given to you. This much, indeed, is the means to Immortality." Having said this, Yajnavalkya renounced home.

Chapter VI - The Line of Teachers

The Upanishad closes with the unbroken chain of transmission: from Pautimashya and Gaupavana down through Kausika, Kaundinya, Sandilya, Gautama, Uddalakayana and countless others, through Asuri, Bharadvaja, Dadhyach Atharvana, the two Asvins, and onward until "Parameshthin (Viraj) from Brahman (Hiranyagarbha). Brahman is self-born (eternal). Salutation to Brahman."

Practical / Modern Context

Yajnavalkya's insights translate directly into modern spiritual practice:

• Self-inquiry (Vichara): The teaching "not for the sake of the other, but for the sake of the Self" invites us to ask, in every relationship and attachment, what is it that I truly seek? It turns ordinary devotion and even material ambition into a ladder toward the Atman.
• Understanding consciousness: The three states of waking, dream and deep sleep offer a natural laboratory for meditation. Observing that one persists across all three - and that even in deep sleep the witness never ceases - is a practical, repeatable experiment in self-awareness.
• Shedding the false: The refrain "Not this, not this" (नेति नेति) is a meditation technique in itself: gently relinquish every identification - body, mind, roles, possessions - until only the pure witness remains.
• Karma awareness: "As is its desire, so is its resolution; and as is its resolution, so is its deed; and whatever deed it does, that it reaps." Examining our desires before they become deeds is a foundation of mindful living.

Common Misconceptions

1. "The Upanishads deny the world." In truth, the Brahadaranyaka affirms the world as an emanation - "breathed forth" - from the Supreme Self. The teaching is not world-hatred but the recognition that the Self is the reality behind all appearances.
2. "Yajnavalkya rejected his wives' wealth as unimportant." The dialogue is not anti-wealth; it corrects the mistaken belief that wealth confers immortality. Maitreyi, already "conversant with the Knowledge of Brahman," is honored as a true seeker.
3. "There are only three states of consciousness." The Upanishad describes a fourth condition beyond waking, dream and sleep - the pure Witness (often glossed as turiya) - which it calls the World of Brahman, "the witness, one and without a second."
4. "The dream verses are mere poetry." The vivid descriptions of the dream body creating chariots, roads, pleasures and rivers are precise phenomenology: the mind constructs its entire experienced world, exactly as modern cognitive science now confirms.

Conclusion

Part 4 of the Brahadaranyaka Upanishad carries the reader from partial definitions of Brahman, through the geography of the three states of consciousness and the journey of death and rebirth, to the liberating realization of the great, unborn Self. In the dialogue with Maitreyi, Yajnavalkya distills the entire path into a single sentence: "This much, indeed, is the means to Immortality." The teaching remains as relevant today as when Janaka offered his thousand cows - an invitation to hear of the Self, reflect upon it, and meditate until the witness is known as our own innermost nature.

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