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<b>III</b><p align=center style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
&nbsp;<p align=center style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
<font size="4">JANAKA AND YAJNAVALKYA</font><p align=justify style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">King Janaka was a great king and a great sage. He wielded
an empire without and equally an empire within: he had
realised the Truth, known Brahman. He was <i>svarat</i> and
<i>samr&#257;t.</i> A friend and intimate of his was Rishi
Yajnavalkya, who also was a sage — in fact, considered to
be the greatest sage of the time, a supreme knower of
Brahman.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Once upon a time King Janaka invited sages 
from everywhere, whoever wanted to come to the assembly. The
king from time to time used to call such assemblies for
spiritual discussion and interchange of experiences. This
time he summoned the assembly for a special reason. He
had collected a herd of one thousand cows and nuggets of
gold were tied to the horns of each. When all had gathered and taken their 
places he announced that whoever considered himself the best knower of Brahman (Brahmishtha)
might come forward and take away the cows. None
stirred. No one had the temerity to declare that he was
the best <i>knower</i> and the most eligible for the prize.
The king repeated his announcement. Then all of a
sudden people saw Yajnavalkya advancing and telling his
disciples to take hold of the herd and drive it home. A
hue and cry arose: how is it? How dare he? One came</font>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="center">
<font face="Times New Roman" size=2>Page- 21</font><hr align="justify">

			<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">forward and asked Yajnavalkya: How is it, Yajnavalkya?
Do you consider yourself the most wise in the matter of
Brahman? First prove your claim and then touch the
cows. Yajnavalkya in great humility bowed down and
said to the assembly: I bow down to the great sages.
I have come here solely with the intention of getting the
cows. As for the knowledge of Brahman, I leave it to the
knowers of Brahman. All the others in one voice said:</font>

<font face="Times New Roman">That will not do, Yajnavalkya. You cannot get away so
easily. Come, sit down and prove your worth. Yajnavalkya
had no way of escape. So one by one the sages came up
and put questions and enigmas to Yajnavalkya. All he
answered quietly and perfectly to their full satisfaction.
Towards the end a woman stood up, Gargi, a fair and
famous name too. She said: Yajnavalkya;, I shall put two
questions to you like two arrows directed at you, even as a
king shoots his arrows at his enemies; if you can meet
and parry them, yours the victory. — Yajnavalkaya: &quot;Let
me hear then&quot;. — Gargi: &quot;Yajnavalkya, you once said
that the earth is the warp and woof woven upon water;</font>&nbsp;
<font face="Times New Roman">upon what is woven the water?&quot; — Yajnavalkya: &quot;Air&quot;. —
&quot;Upon what then is air woven?&quot; — &quot;sky&quot;. — &quot;Upon
what is woven the sky?&quot; — &quot;The world of Gandharvas.&quot; — &quot;Upon what the Gandharvas?&quot;—&quot;Upon
the Sun.&quot; She continued her questioning. And thus she
was led successively through higher and higher worlds —
from the Sun to the Moon, then to the Stars, then to the
Gods and the King of Gods, then to the Creator of the</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font face="Times New Roman" size=2>Page- 22</font><hr align="justify">

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<font face="Times New Roman"><b>&nbsp;</b>Gods and the peoples<sup>1</sup> and finally to the Brahmaloka (the
world of the One Supreme Transcendent Reality).</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Gargi still continued and asked again: &quot;Upon what is
Brahman woven?&quot; To this Yajnavalkya cried halt and
warned her: &quot;Now, Gargi, your questioning goes too far,
beyond the limits. If you question farther, your head will,
fall off. You are questioning about a thing that does not
bear questioning — <i>ma atiprdkslh — anati prasnyd devatd
</i>—the Gods abide not our question.&quot; So Gargi had to
desist and Yajnavalkya was accepted as the best of the
sages (Brahmishtha) and he could drive his cattle away
home.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">The ultimate reality does not lie within the ken of the
questioning mind, the Upanishad emphatically declares.
We all know the famous mantra: <i>&quot;nais&#61477;&#257; tarken&#803; matir&#257;paney&#257; —</i> this 
consciousness cannot be reached by reasoning nor by intelligence nor by much learning. Indeed the
Self, the Divine discloses his body to him alone whom he
chooses as his own.</font>

<p align=center style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
&nbsp;<p align=center style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
<font face="Arial">(2)</font>
			<p align=center style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">It is to be noted that even when at the top 
of the consciousness, full of the Supreme Brahman, one with it,</font>

			<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><sup>1</sup> It is difficult to locate or identify the Upanishadic 
worlds or explain their gradations; evidently they are symbolical. But for us it is
sufficient if we know that they are mounting steps, higher and higher
tiers of being and consciousness leading to the supreme Being and
Consciousness, the Brahman.</font><font size="2"> </font>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font face="Times New Roman" size=2>Page- 23</font><hr align="justify">

			<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Yajnavalkya does not lose hold of the earthly foothold —
he does not forget his cows, and thereby hangs another
amusing tale of his.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Once King Janaka, as it was customary, was holding his
court and there was a large assembly of people —
courtiers, ministers, officials, petitioners and a crowd of
curious visitors. All of a sudden stepped in Yajnavalkya.
The king saw him, and after welcoming him asked with
an ironical smile what he was there for. Did he come
for cows (referring to the previous episode) or for the
knowledge of Brahman? Yajnavalkya too answered with
a beatific smile: 0 King, I come for both—<i>ubhayameva
samr&#257;t&#61477;.</i></font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">In other words, even after passing through all the
inferior worlds, the intermediary formulations of the
Supreme, even after passing beyond, Yajnavalkya does
not reject these stations as delusions but accepts them,
subsumes them, within one integral consciousness —
something in the manner imaged in those famous lines of
Wordsworth:</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-right:20px" align="center">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-right:20px" align="center">
<font face="Times New Roman">Type of the wise who soar but never roam,</font><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;True to the kindred points of heaven and home.</font>

			<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
&nbsp;<p align=center style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
<font face="Arial">(3)</font>
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&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Yajnavalkya one day, as it was almost habitual with him,
walked up straight to the royal court, into the very </font>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="center">
<font face="Times New Roman" size=2>Page- 24</font><hr align="justify">

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<font face="Times New Roman">presence of King Janaka and quietly took his seat — a seat
always reserved for him. He came with the idea of not
opening the conversation. He kept quiet. The King
however immediately started and said: Yajnavalkya, I
have a question to put to you. Please answer.</font>

			<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="justify">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">YAJNAVALKYA: I am ready, 0 King! Let me hear.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">KING: What is the light that man has?</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Y: The sun is man's light.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">K: And when the sun has set?</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Y: The moon is his light.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">K: When the sun has set, when the moon has set, what
light has man?</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Y: The fire is his light.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">K: When the sun has set, when the moon has set, when
the fire has gone out, what then is man's light?</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Y: The self is his light.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">K: And what is this self?</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Y: The self is the conscious Being, 
master of life-energies, dwelling within the heart.</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px" align="justify">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">Yajnavalkya's answer has been put succinctly and most
beautifully in another Upanishad, the most beautiful
verse in the whole Upanishadic literature. Here it is:</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">&quot;There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the
stars; nor do these lightnings shine there. And how
can this fire be there? That shines and in its wake all</font>
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<font face="Times New Roman" size=2>Page- 25</font><hr align="justify">

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<font face="Times New Roman">others shine. By the light of That all this becomes
luminous&quot;<sup>.1</sup></font>

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&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font face="Times New Roman">All other lights, lights of the heaven, lights upon earth
are evanescent. They pass away, the only light that
endures and never fails is the light of the soul.</font>

			<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
&nbsp;<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><sup>1 </sup>This is a literal translation. Sri Aurobindo gives a beautifully
poetic translation, rather a transcreation of the <i>mantra.</i> Here it is:</font><font size="2">
</font>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px" align="justify">
<font size="2" face="Times New Roman">&quot;There the sun cannot shine and the moon has no lustre; all the
stars are blind; there our lightnings flash not, neither any earthly fire.
For all that is bright is but the shadow of His brightness and by His
shining all this shines.&quot; (Sri Aurobindo: <i>The Upanishads.</i> Centenary
ed.. Vol. <i>12.,</i> P. 261.)</font><font size="2"> </font>
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<font face="Times New Roman" size=2>Page- 26</font><hr align="justify">

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