the other world, and all beings?' The answer being negative, he continued: "Whoever knows the Thread and the Inner Ruler, knows Brahman, knows the worlds, knows the gods, knows the Vedas, knows the elements, knows the soul,-knows all.' The Thread, &c., being explained, he further says: 'If thou, Yâjnavalkya, ignorant of the Thread and the Inner Ruler, hast taken away the cows, (destined for the best knower of Brahman), thy head will certainly drop down.' Yajnavalkya explains that the wind is the Thread, that the Inner Ruler is the soul, and that the soul is immortal. Unseen, he sees; unheard, he hears; unminded, he minds; unknown, he knows. There is none that sees, but he; there is none that hears, but he; there is none that minds, but he; there is none that knows, but he. He is thy soul-the inner ruler,-immortal. Whatever is different from him is perishable.'”1

In our second story, Yâjnavalkya and two other celebrated Brâhmans are visited by king Janaka, who asks them how they perform the sacrifice called Agnihotra. The first Brâhman explained, that in the evening he sacrificed to Aditya (the sun) in the fire; and in the morning he sacrificed to Agni (fire) in the sun (Aditya). What becomes of him who sacrifices thus? said the king. The Brâhman replied: "He becomes ever shining with happiness and splendour, and has his dwelling with those two gods, and is one with them." The second Brâhman said the same. The third, who was Yajnavalkya, said: "I offer the Agnihotra in taking out the fire (from the house-altar); for when Aditya sits, all the gods follow him; and if they see that I take out the fire, they come back, and after having cleaned the sacrificial vessels, having filled them again, and after having milked also the sacred cow, I shall delight them, when I see them again and they see me."

Janaka said: "Thou, O Yajnavalkya, hast come very near

1 Knight's Encyclo., part 31, p. 592.

YAJNAVALKYA VAJASANEYA.

121

to the Agnihotra; I shall give thee a hundred cows. But thou dost not know what becomes afterwards of these two libations (in the morning and evening)." So he said, then mounted his car and went away.

The priests said: "This fellow of a Râjanya has insulted us; let us call him out for a Brahman dispute." Yajnavalkya observed: "We are Brâhmans, he a fellow of a Râjanya. If we vanquished him, whom should we say we had vanquished? But if he vanquished us, people would say of us that a Râjanya had vanquished Brahmans. Do not think of this." They allowed what he said; and Yâjnavalkya mounted his car and followed the king. He reached the king; and the king said to him: "Yajnavalkya, dost thou come to know the Agnihotra ?" "The Agnihotra, O king," replied Yâjnavalkya. The king then explains his view of the morning and evening libations, called Agnihotra. He says they rise in the air, and there the sacrifice is again performed. The wind is fuel, the rays the bright libation. They enter the sky, and are performed by sun and moon : they come back to earth, and are performed by warmth and plants. They enter man, and are performed by his tongue and food. They enter woman, and a son is born." In return for this exposition Yajnavalkya grants the king a boon, and Janaka is allowed to become a Brâhman.1

1 Max Müller, A. S. L., pp. 421-423.

Guru. Bring me a fruit of the Nyagrodha tree. Break one of the small seeds which it contains. What do you perceive in it?

Pupil. Nothing, my lord.

Guru. My child, where you perceive nothing, there dwells a mighty Nyagrodha. -Page 145.

CHAPTER VII.

Studies for the Forest.-Soul.-Immortality.-Yajnavalkya and his wife.Upanishads.-Nachiketas.-Yama.-Om.-Soul.-Brahma.-Musical Chants. -Hard Case of Pupil of unknown Pedigree.-Knowledge of Brahma.— Quietude.

ADVANCING beyond the "Brahmanas," we come to a class of compositions called Aranyakas and Upanishads. They presuppose the existence of the Brahmanas, and are regarded as sup

plementary or complimentary to those writings. The original meaning of the word Aranyaka is "relating to a forest," as 66 a man who lives in a forest," or, according to lexicographers, "a forest-road, a forest elephant, a jackall, &c." But these meanings are almost forgotten in the importance attached to the word as the name of the religious compositions to be studied by men dwelling in the forest. This meaning is not given to the word by Pânini, who seems to have lived before such works were written; but it is recognised by Kâtyâyana, who criticised and supplemented the Sûtras of the great grammarian. As far as translations permit one to judge, the Aranyakas are mystical compositions, caring little for outward manifestations of deity, but entering earnestly into the nature of soul, universal and individual. In the Aitareya-Aranyaka it is asked, of what nature is soul which existed before worlds were created? Are the instruments by which objects are perceived the soul? And reply is made, "That by which the soul sees form, by which it hears sound, by which it apprehends smells, by which it expresses speech, by which it distinguishes what is of good, and what is not of good taste, the heart, the mind, knowledge about one's self, knowledge of the sixty-four sciences, knowledge of what is practicable, &c., perseverance, desire, submission," are names of knowledge and attributes of soul, as the inferior Brahma, but " are not attributes of the superior Brahma, which has no form whatsoever." One of the most important Aranyakas known, is that attached to the Satapatha-Brahmana, and called the Brihad. It describes Prajapati as the sacrificial horse. Death, it declares, preceded creation, but sacrifice overcame death, the chanting of priests being a part of such sacri

'Goldstücker, art. "Veda" in Knight's Encyclopædia.

2 Pânini gives merely the meaning of "living in the forest.”—Goldstücker, Pânini, 129.

3 Röer's trans. of the Aitareya-Upanishad (which is a part of the AitareyaAranyaka), in Bib. Ind., vol. xv. p. 33.

fice. The recital of certain verses has also power to procure immortality for man, as :

"The praiser verily praises the Sâma. Where he praises it, there let him mutter these Mantras: From the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness lead me to light, from death lead me to immortality.""

He who sings or chants these verses accomplishes by such recital whatever he may desire.'

The story of king Janaka and the Brâhmans, told in the Satapatha-Brahmana, is here repeated with additions; but by far the most interesting passage in the Brihad-Aranyaka is the dialogue between the Brâhman Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyî. A short account of this was given by Colebrooke; but we adopt the fuller translation of Professor Max Müller.

"Maitreyî," said Yajnavalkya, "I am going away from this my house (into the forest). Forsooth, I must make a settlement between thee and my other wife Katyayanî.

"Maitreyi said: 'My lord, if this whole earth, full of wealth belonged to me, should I be immortal by it?'

"No," replied Yajnavalkya. "Like the happy life of rich people will be thy life. But there is no hope of immortality by wealth."

And Maitreyî said: 'What should I do with that by which I do not become immortal? What my lord knoweth (of immortality) may he tell that to me?'

"Yajnavalkya replied: Thou, who art truly dear to me, thou speakest dear words. Sit down; I will explain it to thee, and listen well to what I say.' And he said: A husband is loved, not because you love the husband, but because you love (in him) the Divine Spirit (âtmâ, the absolute self). A wife is loved, not because we love the wife, but because we love (in her) the Divine Spirit. Children are loved, not because we love the children, but because we love the Divine Spirit in them. This spirit it is which we love when we (seem to) love wealth, Brâhmans, Kshatriyas, this world, the gods, all beings, this