Śākalya

Last of all, Vidagdha Śākalya questioned him. How many gods are there, Yājñavalkya? Three hundred and three, and three thousand and three, Yājñavalkya said. Yes, said Śākalya, but how many gods are there really? Thirty-three. Yes, but really? Six. Really? Three. Really? Two. Really? One and a half. Really? One. And he told him which they were. The many are only the powers of the thirty-three, and the thirty-three are the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Ādityas, Indra and Prajāpati. The Vasus are fire and earth, the wind and the middle air, the sun and the sky, the moon and the stars, for all this is laid in them. The Rudras are the ten breaths in a man, with the self as the eleventh, for when they leave the body they make men weep. The Ādityas are the twelve months of the year, which carry all this along with them as they go. Indra is the thunder, and Prajāpati is the sacrifice. The six are fire and earth, the wind and the middle air, the sun and the sky. The three are the three worlds, for all the gods are in them. The two are food and the breath. The one and a half is the wind that blows here. And the one god is the breath; he is Brahman, and men call him That.

Then Śākalya asked him what he knew of Brahman, that he had got the better of these brahmins, and Yājñavalkya said that he knew the quarters, with their gods and what they are founded on. So Śākalya asked him about each quarter. The sun in the east is founded on the eye, Yājñavalkya said, the eye on forms, and forms on the heart, for it is with the heart that one knows forms. Yama, the god of death, is the god of the south, and he is founded on the sacrifice, the sacrifice on the gift to the priests, the gift on faith, and faith on the heart. And so for every quarter, each ending in the heart. And on what is the heart founded? Śākalya asked. You fool, said Yājñavalkya, to think it could be anywhere but in ourselves. If it were anywhere else, the dogs would eat it or the birds would tear it to pieces.

And on what are you and your self founded? On the breath, Yājñavalkya said, and so through the breaths. And then: This Self is not this, not this. It cannot be grasped, for it is never grasped. It cannot be destroyed, for it is never destroyed. It does not cling, for it never attaches itself. It is not bound; it does not tremble; it is not harmed. I ask you now about the person of the secret teaching. If you do not tell me of him, your head will fall off. Śākalya did not know him, and his head fell off.

Then Yājñavalkya said, Revered brahmins, let any of you who wishes question me, or all of you together; or let me question any one of you, or all of you. None of them dared. So he asked them, in verses: A man is like a tree of the forest. His hairs are its leaves, his skin its bark; blood flows from his skin as sap from the bark when it is struck. When a tree is cut down it grows again from the root, newer than before. When a man is cut down by death, from what root does he grow? Do not say from seed, for seed comes from the living. If a tree is pulled up by the root, it does not grow again. When a man is cut down by death, from what root does he grow? And the verses go on to give the answer themselves: He has been born, and is not born again; who would beget him anew? Brahman is knowledge and bliss, the final goal of the one who gives, and of the one who stands firm in it and knows it.