Brahadaranyaka Upanishad – Part 2

Part 2 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्) continues the Great Forest Teaching with six chapters. It moves from the limited meditations on Brahman offered by Gargya Balaki to the depth of the sleeping Self, the two forms of Brahman, and the immortal dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi — one of the most moving passages in all of Vedanta.

Part Two

Chapter I — Relative Aspects of Brahman

A proud and eloquent brahmin of the Garga family, Balaki Gargya, approached Ajatasatru, the king of Kasi, saying: "I will tell you about Brahman." The king offered him a thousand cows for the proposal. Gargya then presented his meditations one by one:

• The being in the sun — "No, no," said the king, "I meditate upon him as all-surpassing, the head of all beings, resplendent."
• The being in the moon — the king meditates upon him as the great, white-robed, radiant Soma.
• The being in the lightning — luminous; in the akasa — full and unmoving; in the air — as Indra, irresistible, the unvanquished army; in the fire — forbearing; in the water — agreeable; in the mirror — shining; in the sound behind a man — as life; in the quarters — as second and inseparable; in the shadow — as death; in the self — as self-possessed.

Gargya fell silent. "By knowing that much," said Ajatasatru, "one cannot know Brahman." Gargya then approached the king as a student — unusual, for a brahmin to study under a kshatriya. The king took his hand and taught him through the example of a sleeping man: when this being full of consciousness is asleep (svapiti), it absorbs the functions of all organs through its own consciousness and rests in the Supreme Self, the akasa in the heart.

• In the dream state, the self takes its organs and moves about in the body like a great king moving about his own domain, achieving, as it were, high or low states.
• In deep sleep, when it knows nothing, the self returns along the seventy-two thousand nerves called hita, which extend from the heart through the whole body, and rests like a baby or an emperor at the summit of happiness.
• As the spider moves along the thread it produces, or as tiny sparks fly in all directions from a fire, even so from this Atman come forth all organs, all worlds, all gods, all beings. Its secret name is "the Truth of truth" — the vital breaths are the truth, and their truth is Atman.

Chapter II — Description of the Prana

• He who knows the calf together with its abode, resort, post and rope kills his seven hostile kinsmen. The vital breath is the calf; the body its abode, the head its resort, strength its post and food its rope.
• Seven gods that prevent decay attend on it: through the pink lines of the eye Rudra, through the water Parjanya, through the pupil the sun, through the black fire, through the white Indra, through the lower eyelid the earth, and through the upper eyelid heaven.
• The bowl with its mouth below and bulging at the top is this head of ours, in which manifold knowledge (the organs) is placed; seven sages sit on its rim, and the organ of speech, which communicates with the Vedas, is the eighth. The ears are Gotama and Bharadvaja, the eyes Visvamitra and Jamadagni, the nostrils Vasishtha and Kasyapa, and the tongue Atri — for through the tongue food is eaten (atti).

Chapter III — The Two Forms of Brahman

Verily, there are two forms of Brahman: gross and subtle, mortal and immortal, limited and unlimited, definite and indefinite.

• The gross form is that which is other than air and akasa; it is mortal, limited and definite. Its essence is the sun that shines, the essence of the three elements.
• The subtle form is air and akasa; it is immortal, unlimited and indefinite. Its essence is the Person in the solar orb, the essence of the two elements.
• With reference to the body: the gross is that which is other than the air and akasa in the body, and its essence is the eye; the subtle is the air and akasa in the body, and its essence is the person in the right eye.
• The form of that person is like a cloth dyed with turmeric, like grey sheep's wool, like the scarlet insect Indragopa, like a tongue of fire, like a white lotus, like a flash of lightning. He who knows this — his splendour is like a flash of lightning.
• Now, therefore, the description of Brahman: "Not this, not this" (Neti, Neti); for there is no other and more appropriate description than this. Its designation is "The Truth of truth" — the vital breath is truth and It is the Truth of that.

Chapter IV — Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi (I)

Yajnavalkya, preparing to renounce the householder's life, offered to make a final settlement between his two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani. Maitreyi asked: "If indeed the whole earth, full of wealth, belonged to me, would I be immortal through that?" "No," he replied; "your life would be just like that of people who have plenty. Of Immortality, however, there is no hope through wealth." She answered: "What should I do with that which would not make me immortal? Tell me of that alone which you know to be the only means of attaining Immortality."

Then Yajnavalkya taught:

• "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 sons, wealth, the brahmin, the kshatriya, the worlds, the gods, the beings or the All are they loved, but all are loved for the sake of the self."
• "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, kshatriya, worlds, gods, beings and the All reject one who knows them as different from the Self — for all these are that Self.
• As the notes of a drum, a conch and a vina cannot be grasped separately but only through the general note, so no particular objects are perceived apart from Pure Intelligence.
• As from a fire kindled with wet fuel various kinds of smoke issue forth, even so the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, the Atharvangirasa, history, mythology, the arts, the Upanishads, verses, aphorisms, elucidations and explanations are all breathed forth from this infinite Reality.
• As the ocean is the one goal of all waters, so the skin is the goal of touch, the tongue of savours, the ear of sounds, the mind of deliberations and the intellect of all knowledge.
• As a lump of salt dropped into water dissolves and cannot be taken out again, yet wherever we taste the water it tastes salt, even so this great, endless, infinite Reality is Pure Intelligence alone. After attaining oneness it has no more consciousness of duality.
• "For when there is duality, as it were, then one smells another, sees another, hears another, thinks of another, knows another. But when everything has become the Self, then what should one smell and through what — what should one know and through what? Through what should One know That owing to which all this is known — through what, my dear, should one know the Knower?"

Chapter V — The Interdependence of Created Objects

The Madhu (honey) doctrine proclaims the mutual interdependence of all things: each element is the honey (effect) of all beings, and all beings are the honey of each element, and the bright, immortal being in the element and the bright, immortal being in the body are both honey. These four are but this Self.

• The doctrine is taught through the earth, water, fire, air, sun, quarters, moon, lightning, thunder-cloud, akasa, dharma (righteousness), truth, mankind and the cosmic body: each is the honey of all beings, and the Knowledge of this Self is the means to Immortality.
• And verily this Self is the Ruler of all beings, the King of all beings — as all the spokes are fixed in the nave and felloe of a chariot wheel, so are all beings, all gods, all worlds, all organs and all creatures fixed in this Self.
• This is the honey-doctrine which Dadhyach, versed in the Atharva-Veda, taught the Asvins through the head of a horse. It closes with the declaration: "This Brahman is without antecedent or consequent, without interior or exterior. This self, the all-perceiving, is Brahman. This is the teaching of the Upanishads."

Chapter VI — The Line of Teachers

The chapter records the line of teachers (guru-parampara) through whom the madhu-doctrine was transmitted: Pautimashya received it from Gaupavana, and so on through Kausika, Kaundinya, Sandilya, Gautama, Bharadvaja, Parasarya, Asuri, Ayasya Angirasa, Visvarupa Tvashtra, the Asvins, Dadhyach Atharvana, Mrityu Pradhvamsana, Ekarshi, Viprachitti, Vyashti, Sanaru, Sanatana, Sanaga, Parameshthin (Viraj) and Brahma (Hiranyagarbha). Brahman is self-born. Salutation to Brahman.

Practical / Modern Context

The teaching of Maitreyi and Yajnavalkya is among the most relevant passages in all scripture. When we ask whether wealth, relationships or status can make us immortal — or truly happy — the Upanishad answers with clarity: nothing external is loved for its own sake; all is loved for the sake of the Self. In an age of materialism and burnout, this is a profound reminder to anchor identity in the inner Self rather than in possessions or roles.

The analysis of sleep — absorption of the organs, dream, and the peace of deep sleep — anticipates modern psychology's interest in consciousness states, while the "Neti, Neti" (Not this, not this) method remains a powerful contemplative technique for stripping away false identifications.

Common Misconceptions

1. "Neti, Neti is negative or nihilistic." It is not denial but negation of limited descriptions; it leads the mind beyond all names and forms to the positive realization of Brahman as the Truth of truth.
2. "Yajnavalkya rejects worldly life." He distinguishes the love of objects from the love of the Self; he does not condemn the world but redirects love to its true foundation. He himself taught his wife a full teaching before renouncing.
3. "Wealth is worthless in spirituality." The Upanishad does not call wealth evil — it says wealth cannot grant immortality. The seeker is asked to know what wealth cannot give: the realization of the Self.

Conclusion

Part 2 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad guides the seeker from limited meditations on Brahman to the direct, immediate truth of the Self. Through Ajatasatru's teaching on the states of sleep, the "Neti, Neti" definition, and Yajnavalkya's dialogue with Maitreyi, it reveals the infinite Reality within which all things live — the Knower who cannot be known as an object, the Self that is the goal of all love, the Truth of truth.

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