The story of Śvetaketu and Pravāhaṇarāja (chāndogya) continued
The king was sad to know this. “Such a thing can be imparted only to a worthy śiṣya who has proved himself by doing the śiṣyavṛtti as prescribed. But how can I, a kṣatriya, make a brāhmaṇa serve me like a śiṣya? I cannot even point him to another brāhmaṇa who is knowledgeable in this regard since this is not known to any brāhmaṇa.” Finally after being persuaded by Gautama he said, “So be it, O best among the vipras. None amongst the brāhmaṇas know about this. This has been passed on from generation to generation in the kṣatriyas. If I’ve to impart this knowledge to you, you have to become a śiṣya and serve me for a long time.” Gautama agreed.
Probably after some time, the king was pleased with Gautama and said, “Gautama, I’ll reveal the answer to the question, ‘पञ्चम्यामाहुतौ आपः पुरुषवचसो भवन्ति’” Here is the gist of it.
- In the first āhuti, the deities such as the prāṇa and others, offer śraddhā as the havis in the agni called dyuloka. From śraddhā, soma is born.
- In the second āhuti, the deities such as the prāṇa and others, offer soma as the havis in the agni called parjanya. From soma, vṛṣṭi is born.
- In the third āhuti, the deities, offer vṛṣṭi as the havis in the agni called pṛthvī. From vṛṣṭi, anna is born.
- In the fourth āhuti, the deities, offer anna as the havis in the agni called puruṣa. From anna, retas is born.
- In the fifth āhuti, the retas as the havis is offered to the agni called strī. From retas, garbha is born.
Finally that garbha becomes a human being. Thus the question ‘पञ्चम्यामाहुतौ आपः पुरुषवचसो भवन्ति’ is answered.
There is the sixth āhuti. Once the life ends, the body itself is offered as the havis in agni. The body thus goes back to its origin.
Pravāhaṇa also answers the other questions. The same thing is discussed in
अग्नौ प्रास्ताहुतिः सम्यगादित्यमुपतिष्ठते ।
आदित्याज्जायते वृष्टिर्वृष्टेरन्नं ततः प्रजाः ॥Manusmṛti 3.76
अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः ।
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसौम्द्भवः ॥Bhagavadgītā 3.14
The secret should be learnt from a guru.
The moral of this story is
- There is none who know everything, there are few who know anything at all.
- The brahmavidyā isn’t something to be imparted to one and all without discretion.
- If one understands the nature of life and the miseries it brings, one is bound to attain vairāgya.
The victory of Yājñavalkya (bṛhadāraṇyaka)
The knowledge in its pristine form isn't available to everyone. Either it is attained by serving a guru, or by investing a lot of money. Knowledge improves by constant company of scholars followed by discussions and debates with them. ‘प्रत्यक्षा च विद्वत्संयोगे प्रज्ञावृद्धिः’, says Śrī Ādiśaṅkarācārya. To drive home this point, there is the following story in bṛhadāraṇyaka.
Once upon a time, Janaka, the king of Videha, performed a great yāga. Many brāhmaṇas from the provinces of Kuru and Pāñcāla had arrived. The king gave away ample dakṣiṇā to the brāhmaṇas present there. Seeing such an august gathering, Janaka thought, “In such a gathering brimming with erudition, who might be a brahmajñānin?”. To find this, he came up with a plan. He picked up a thousand cows in prime condition. For each of their horns he tied a gold coin. He addressed the scholars, “O venerable brāhmaṇas! Whoever among you is the greatest scholar would own these cows. He can come forward and take them as his possession.”
None of the brāhmaṇas stood up. None had the conviction, “I’m the best, I can defeat everyone in debate.” Everyone sat in absolute silence seeing each other's faces. Yājñavalkya stood up and ordered his disciple Sāmaśrava, “Saumya, Sāmaśrava! Take this herd of cows to the āśrama.” Sāmaśrava followed the instructions of his preceptor and did likewise.
The brāhmaṇas were incensed. “We don’t have the conviction to call ourselves the best. Somehow this fellow, Yājñavalkya, is under the impression that he is the best! Is there none to stop him? Look how proud he is!”, they started grumbling amongst themselves. Amongst them sat the purohita of Janaka named Aśvala. Royal patronage had made him proud, he stood up and addressed Yājñavalkya, “Yājñavalkya! You think you are a brahmajñānin?” Yājñavalkya replied courteously, “I’d bow down to the brahmajñānin, but the current situation demands my presence in the āśrama so that arrangements can be made to take care of the cows.” Aśvala thought, “Oh! This means he has thought of himself to be the brahmajñānin. His pride should be crushed.”. He said, “Yājñavalkya! Answer my questions.” he asked a set of questions. Yājñavalkya, unflustered, answered them one by one. Aśvala, having understood that it is impossible to beat Yājñavalkya, stopped.
Seeing all this, the other scholars were emboldened. They came forward one by one and started showering questions. Among them were scholars like, Ārtabhāgya, Bhujya, Cākrāyaṇa, Kahola. Yājñavalkya reigned supreme. He silenced everyone with his answers. Then the scholar Gārgi stood up. “Yājñavalkya! Isn’t the element pṛthvī and element jala intertwined? What about the jala?” Yājñavalkya replied, “in vāyu” “What about vāyu?” Thus the debate continued and finally it reached the primal cause i.e. brahmatattva. Gārgi continued, “What about the brahmatattva? What is its support?” Yājñavalkya cautioned, “Gārgi, this is the secret which can only be approached through the āgama. This is out of the question. Don’t argue for the sake of argument. Your head might roll.”. Thus Gārgi was silenced.
To be continued...
This is the eleventh part of the multi-part translation of the Kannada book "Upanishattina Kathegalu" by Mahamahopadhyaya Vidwan Dr. N Ranganatha Sharma. Thanks to Dr. Sharada Chaitra for granting us permission to translate this wonderful work. Thanks to B. N. Shashikiran for timely and appropriate edits. The original in Kannada can be read here
