Debate on Brahman 16) Yaajnavalkya answers

(27)

अथ होवाच​

ब्रह्मणा भगवन्तो यो वः कामयते स मा पृच्छतु

सर्वे वा मा पृच्छत

यो वः कामयते तं वः पृच्छामि

सर्वान्वा वः पृच्छामीति

ते ह ब्राह्मणा न दधृषुः ॥२७॥

Then he (Yaajnavalkya) said;

“Revered Brahmins!

Whosoever wants to interrogate me, can ask questions; or all those here can ask me questions.

Or, I will question whomsoever you want to be questioned, or all of you.

The scholars did not dare (afraid of offending him).

तान् हैतैः श्लोकैः पप्रच्छ –

He asked them through these verses.

(He decided to teach them some lessons on BrahmaJnaana.)

 यथा वृक्षा वनस्पतिस्तथैव पुरुषोऽमृषा।

तस्य लोमानि पर्णानि त्वगस्यस्योत्पाटिका बहिः ॥१॥

त्वच एवास्य रुधिरं प्रस्यन्दि त्वच उत्पटः ।

तस्मात्तदातृण्णात्प्रैति रसो वृक्षादिवाहतात् ॥२॥

मांसान्यस्य शकराणि किनाटं स्नाव तत्स्थिरम् ।

अस्थीन्यन्तरतो दारूणि मज्जा मज्जोपमा कृता ॥३॥

Purusha (an embodied person) is like the tree which grows in a forest.

This is not untrue.

His hairs on the body are the leaves; his skin is the outer bark.

Blood flows from the skin and the sap from the bark.

Therefore when a body is injured, blood flows; as the sap from a tree which is injured.

His flesh is the inner bark, his tendons the innermost layer of the bark; both are tough.

His bones lie under, as does its wood; his marrow is comparable to its pith.

यद्वृक्षो वृक्णः रोहति मूलान्नवतरः पुनः ।

मर्त्यः स्विन्मृत्युना वृक्णः कस्मान्मूलात्प्ररोहति ॥४॥

रेतस इति मा वोचत जीवतस्तत्प्रजायते ।

धानारुह इव वै वृक्षोऽञ्ज​सा प्रेत्य संभवः ॥५॥

A tree springs again from its root in a newer form, after it is felled.

From what root indeed does a man spring forth after he is cut off by death?

Do not say-‘from the Retas’; for it is produced from a living man.

(After death, how does a man move off to his future birth, even as his body lays there inert and lifeless?)

A tree springs also from a seed; after it is dead also, it certainly springs again indeed!

(A tree may again sprout from the same place where it was axed; because of the roots under the ground.)

यत्समूलमावृहेयुर्वृक्षं न पुनाभवेत् ।

मर्त्यः स्विन्मृत्युना वृक्णः कस्मान्मूलात्प्ररोहति ॥६॥

If someone pulls out a tree with its root, it no more sprouts.

From what root does a man spring forth, after he is cut off by Death?

जात एव​।  न । जायते । कोन्वेनं जनयेत्पुनः ॥

If you think he is ever-born, I say ‘no’, he is again born.

Who brings him forth again?

(You cannot answer by just saying-“He is born”.

I say that ‘he again is born’.

How does he take birth again so as to reap his karmas?)

(None of the Brahmins knew the answer.

Yaajnavalkya took away the cows as he was the best of the Knowers of Brahman.)

(What is the answer for his question?)

विज्ञ्नानमानन्दं ब्रह्म रातिर्दातुः परायणम्

तिष्टमानस्य तद्विद इति ॥७॥ ॥२८॥

Knowledge, Bliss, Brahman!

It is the resort of one who dispenses the wealth, and one who stays established in Brahman by realizing its truth.

(It is Brahman who brings forth the one who is dead.

Brahman is the essence of all knowledge; and the world is just the shine of his knowledge.

Brahman is bliss; because all that you know as joy or happiness in the world are just tiny drops that get experienced from the ocean of bliss called Brahman.

Brahman state is the silent state of full tranquillity, which is never experienced in sense objects. True bliss is the silence of the mind. Brahman state is without the agitation of the mind; and is a unique state of bliss unparalleled.

One who develops dispassion towards the world and its objects, and understands the truth of Brahman stays as Brahman only.

He is like a wave which understood its essence as the ocean.

It stays as the ocean only. He stays as Brahman only.

Brahman is immortal; so is a Knower of Brahman!)

इति नवमं ब्राह्मणम् ॥ इति तृतीयोध्यायः ॥

[Thus ends the Ninth Braahmana section.]

[Thus ends the Third Chapter]