The Imperishable

Gārgī, Yājñavalkya said, the knowers of Brahman call that the imperishable. It is not coarse and not fine, not short and not long. It is not red like fire and not wet like water. It has no shadow and no darkness, no wind and no space, nothing clings to it. It has no taste and no smell, no eye and no ear, no speech and no mind, no heat and no breath, no mouth and no measure, nothing within it and nothing outside it. It eats nothing, and nothing eats it.

At the command of this imperishable, Gārgī, the sun and the moon are held apart, each in its place. At its command the sky and the earth are held apart, each in its place. At its command the moments and the hours, the days and nights, the half-months and months, the seasons and the years are held apart, each in its place. At its command some rivers flow east from the white mountains and others west, each in its own direction. At its command men praise those who give, the gods depend on the sacrificer, and the ancestors on the offering.

Gārgī, whoever in this world makes offerings and sacrifices and practises austerity for many thousands of years without knowing this imperishable, all that he gains by it comes to an end. Whoever leaves this world without knowing this imperishable, Gārgī, is to be pitied. But whoever leaves this world knowing it, Gārgī, is truly a brahmin.

This imperishable, Gārgī, is never seen, yet it sees; never heard, yet it hears; never thought, yet it thinks; never known, yet it knows. There is no other seer than this, no other hearer, no other thinker, no other knower. On this imperishable, Gārgī, space is woven, warp and woof.

Gārgī turned to the assembly. Revered brahmins, she said, count yourselves fortunate if you can bow to him and get away. Not one of you will ever defeat him in speaking of Brahman.

And Vācaknavī fell silent. After her, Vidagdha Śākalya questioned Yājñavalkya, and could not answer the last question put to him, and his head fell off.