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Collection: Part 11 · VIDEHA MITHILA MAITHILI DISCUSSION CRITICISM SERIES PART 11
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0:00–0:30विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार वि
0:30–0:35says about the world. But yesterday's debate ended upon a promise that has not yet been
0:35–0:41kept, if this entire visible world is superimposed upon the self, like silver upon the conch,
0:41–0:46then from where will knowledge of that self, of that Brahmin, come?
0:46–0:52The eye does not see it, inference does not measure it. Only one door remains, the word,
0:52–0:57the Veda. And at that very door tonight's opponent stands.
0:57–1:02A disciple of Jaimini, who will say, the Veda is mine, and the Veda's soul work is to command
1:02–1:08action, perform the sacrifice, offer the ablation, and any sentence that commands no action is
1:08–1:12either useless or the servant of some command.
1:12–1:16Tattvam ACI, thou art that, what command is there in this?
1:16–1:21Therefore, he will say, let Vedanta either remain silent or become the handmade of the
1:21–1:23ritual.
1:23–1:29In a manuscript placed upon the table are written Bariya's four sutras, for short sentences,
1:29–1:34upon which the Kasperti Mishra composed the largest portion of his Bhamati.
1:34–1:38Tonight those four sutras will become four steps, and upon the topmost step will be
1:38–1:42fought that debate which the sastra calls Samanvaya, whether the purpose of the Veda
1:42–1:45is action, or knowledge.
1:45–1:46Exit
1:46–1:50Act 1
1:50–1:52The necklace at the throat
1:52–1:57The caspity is seated. A young sannyasi enters, bowing.
1:57–2:04Icaria, I have come with a question that has spread through my gurukula like fire. The first
2:04–2:11word of the sutra is atha. Then, my ritualist classmates say, then means after the inquiry
2:11–2:17into dharma. First study the whole of MMA with Mekrana say with Mekrana. Learn all
2:17–2:20the sacrifices and only then, somewhere down the road, will one earn the right to
2:20–2:28reflect upon Brahman. I ask, is this true? Does the ritual stand guard at the door of the inquiry
2:28–2:29into Brahman?
2:29–2:35Smiling, a question that spreads like a new fire in every generation, and in every generation
2:35–2:38is quenched with the same water.
2:38–2:44First count the four possible meanings of Atha, as is the classical method, an interior.
2:44–2:52after this, Adhikara now begins as in, Athasabdhanasasanam, Athayaganasasanam, Magala, an auspicious
2:52–2:58sound like that of a Kongkor kevildrum, an apikita pravada, after that which is first required.
2:59–3:05The Magala position is simple, om and Atha, these two words first issued from the throat of Brahma,
3:05–3:10this mti is satisfied by the auspiciousness of the mere sound, just as the sight of a water
3:10–3:15filled pot, brought for some other errand entirely, is held auspicious, though it was not brought
3:15–3:18for that purpose.
3:18–3:23The real question is, does Atha declare immediate succession upon the karma-mma with Makranas
3:23–3:26A. with Makran?
3:26–3:29Rising firm it does, and it must.
3:29–3:31Here my case at full strength.
3:31–3:36For last night you allowed my core-religionist to speak in full, and I am entitled to
3:36–3:39the same courtesy.
3:39–3:45For the student who has completed his Vedic study lied two paths, the inquiry into Dharma
3:45–3:48and the inquiry into Brahman.
3:48–3:56The inquiry into Dharma comes first because ritual yields fruit heaven, progeny, prosperity,
3:56–3:59and inclination toward fruit is natural.
3:59–4:04And Brahman knowledge too, if it is to come at all, comes through the purification
4:04–4:11wrought by ritual, once the mind has been made clear. So the sequence stands bound. First
4:11–4:18action, then knowledge, just as the field is first plowed, and then the seed.
4:18–4:22The simile of the field is dear to me, so with that very simile I shall answer, but
4:22–4:28first a distinction upon which this entire act will rest. What is the difference between
4:28–4:31dharma and brahman?
4:31–4:36Brahma is Sadhya, a thing to be accomplished, a thing of the future, the sacrifice today,
4:36–4:38heaven tomorrow.
4:38–4:44Brahman is Siddha already, from the very first, from all eternity, attained.
4:44–4:49And this very distinction cuts down the entire doctrine of sequence.
4:49–4:55A thing that is done has four courses, origination, as bread from flour, modification, as rice
4:55–5:01from patty, consecration, as sprinkling water upon the mortar, attainment, as milking the
5:01–5:02cow.
5:02–5:07Moka, the state of Brahman, is none of these four.
5:07–5:13It is not produced, it is not transformed, it is not polished, and it is not even attained,
5:13–5:15because it is already attained.
5:15–5:20Like the necklace lying at one's own throat, which a man forgets, and goes searching for
5:20–5:22through the whole house.
5:22–5:26When the necklace is found, what was detained?
5:26–5:29Nothing, only the forgetting departed.
5:29–5:33Therefore brahmana-knowledge is not the fruit of any ritual act, and for that which is no
5:33–5:38fruit, no cue of rituals is mandatory.
5:38–5:40Then ritual has no place at all?
5:40–5:44My entire sastra is useless?
5:44–5:49Exactly the opposite, it has a place, but a stare, not a throne.
5:49–5:54Here the sequence, from the obligatory rites, the destruction of sin, from the destruction
5:54–6:00of sin, purity of mind, from purity of mind, dispassion, from dispassion, the desire to
6:00–6:03know.
6:03–6:08Ritual is a rada pukaraka, a helper from afar, as the curtain is drawn aside before the dancer's
6:08–6:10dance.
6:10–6:16The one who draws the curtain does not dance, yet without him the dance is not seen.
6:16–6:20And if anyone should say that the sequence is mandatory, that's an isa comes only after
6:20–6:26the householder's stage, then the Jabalasriti stands there, Yadahariva virajyattata hariva
6:26–6:32pravrajyatt, on whatever day dispassion arises, on that very day let him go forth.
6:32–6:38From studenthood straight to renunciation, the sriti itself has opened the door.
6:38–6:42To the young sannyasi, tell your classmate, there is no guard at the door, there is
6:42–6:46only a threshold, and its name is atta, therefore.
6:46–6:48atta?
6:48–6:50The second word of the sutra.
6:50–6:52Its meaning?
6:52–6:57The four means, without which the desire to know is no desire at all, discrimination between
6:57–7:01the eternal and the non-eternal, dispassion toward the enjoyments of this world and
7:01–7:08the next, the endowment of tranquility, restraint, and the rest, and the yearning for liberation.
7:08–7:14When here the provapakha brings a juicy objection, which I shall recite with full relish, why
7:14–7:15dispassion?
7:15–7:20There are bones in the fish, does anyone therefore give up fish?
7:20–7:23He picks out the bones and eats the flesh.
7:23–7:28There is husk on the patty, the farmer does not throw away the patty.
7:28–7:32No one shuts down his kitchen for fear of beggars.
7:32–7:37Just so, if suffering comes mixed into the world, what of it, leave the suffering,
7:37–7:39the pleasure.
7:39–7:41Laughing in the answer?
7:41–7:43The answer in a single sentence.
7:43–7:47The fish bone is separate, and therefore it can be picked out.
7:47–7:50But from a meal in which poison has been dissolved into the honey,
7:50–7:55not even the most skillful cook in the world can eat the honey alone.
7:55–8:01The pleasure of the world is just such a meal, suffering is dissolved into it, it cannot be picked out.
8:01–8:07And sridhi passages like, we drank the soma, we became immortal.
8:07–8:12The pura itself opens that lock, endurance until the dissolution is called immortality,
8:12–8:18a secondary immortality, lasting only until the pralaya, not the true one.
8:18–8:22The fruit of tranquility and restraint.
8:22–8:26Just as a calm, well-broken young bullock is fit to be yoked to the plow, a restless
8:26–8:30mind can lift no yok at all.
8:30–8:34One final knot, Vakaspati, and it is a knot of words.
8:34–8:39Brahmajijnasa, in this compound, what case is Brahma?
8:39–8:44Certain ancient interpreters say the dative, the desire to know for the sake of Brahman.
8:44–8:48Then Brahman is not the object of the inquiry but its purpose, and this whole edifice of
8:48–8:53yours, the object of the inquiry is Brahman, will come crashing down.
8:53–8:57And this is precisely the place where I openly disagree with a commentator earlier than
8:57–9:04myself, honesty and sastralize exactly in this, that disagreement is not concealed.
9:04–9:10The compound is a genitive tattpuruva, the inquiry into brahman, the objective genitive,
9:10–9:12brahman the object.
9:12–9:13Why?
9:13–9:17Because jijnasah is a transitive hunger.
9:17–9:22No one, on seeing the sun or the moon, asks, who's is this?
9:22–9:27But the moment the word, knowledge, is heard, the question rises of its own accord, knowledge
9:27–9:35of whom? Of what? Knowledge without an object is an unfinished sentence. And whatever else
9:35–9:41is connected with Brahman, the means, the fruit, the manner, comes dragged in of itself, just
9:41–9:46as on hearing, the king is going, the king is understood together with his retinue, no
9:46–9:50one separately mentions the minister, the parasol, the army.
9:50–9:56Bowing? I shall go back to my Garukula and tell them. The door is open, and the
9:56–10:00The name of the key is dispassion, not wages.
10:00–10:02Act 2.
10:02–10:04The Garland and the Thread.
10:04–10:09Good, Akaria, the right to inquire is established.
10:09–10:11But inquiry into what?
10:11–10:13Into Brahman.
10:13–10:15And what is Brahman?
10:15–10:18Here I shall drag you back to yesterday's conch.
10:18–10:25Every object I note pot, tree, body, all are limited, insensient, perishable.
10:25–10:30Then you declare to be the opposite of all these infinite, conscious, eternal.
10:30–10:32Then what defining mark will you give it?
10:32–10:39No property of its own is familiar to me, and no familiar property is in it.
10:39–10:43Inquiry without a defining mark that is hunting a black cat in the dark.
10:43–10:49And Darya's second sutra is a lamp in precisely that darkness, Janmada yasya yada, that from
10:49–10:55which come the birth, the subsistence, and the dissolution of this world.
10:55–10:59Take note, the definition has not been given through Brahman's own attributes, it has been
10:59–11:04given through the world, by an accidental mark.
11:04–11:08Just as the sun's motion is not seen directly, but it's being in the east at dawn and in
11:08–11:14the west at dusk, it's arriving at place after place, becomes the sign of its motion,
11:14–11:18even so the world, which has arisen from Brahman, is Brahman's sign, though Brahman
11:18–11:26itself is hidden from the eye. Janmani, birth and the rest. What shall we count in this?
11:26–11:35And the rest! Yaskas direct to enumerate six modifications. Birth, existence, growth, transformation,
11:35–11:41decay, destruction. Why did the sutramaker take only three?
11:41–11:47Because all six are contained within the three, and Sastra does not squander. Growth
11:47–11:51Birth is contained in birth, a cloth grown larger by two threads means the new birth
11:51–11:56of two threads, transformation likewise in birth, gold become a bangle is the arising
11:56–12:01of a new state, decay is contained in destruction.
12:01–12:07Three remain, origination, subsistence, dissolution, and these three are declared in the sridhi,
12:07–12:10hence these three are the ones intended.
12:10–12:13The definition I grant.
12:13–12:16But now the real question, what is this sutra?
12:16–12:22Is it an inference, the world has a maker, because it is an effect, like a pot?
12:22–12:26If so, then call back yesterday's Buddhist, he will do battle with that inference, and
12:26–12:32your Brahman will hang upon the scales of logic, where the God of Udayana and of Gajia hangs.
12:32–12:37Lifting the manuscript, with affection, and this is the heart of this act, so listen
12:37–12:38slowly.
12:38–12:43No, this sutra is not an independent inference.
12:43–12:47the fashioning of the world, parceled into name and form, filled with countless agents
12:47–12:53and enjoyers, so ordered by place, time, and occasion that even the mind strains to imagine
12:53–12:58it, the black antelope only in certain lands, the cuckoos call only in certain seasons,
12:58–13:03the cranes conceiving from the first thunder of the rains, seeing all this, an intelligent
13:03–13:10man does indeed form a surmise about a cause, as there is no pot without a potter.
13:10–13:15But in Vedanta that sirmize is not the proof, it is a helper.
13:15–13:20The sutra's real work is another, the purpose of the sutras is to string the sentences of
13:20–13:23Vedanta upon a thread, like a garland.
13:23–13:26The flowers belong to Sridhi, Yadu V.A.I.
13:26–13:33Manibhutani Jayante, Tad Brahma, the dialogue of Bhgul and Varua, the Tatariya.
13:33–13:36The sutra is only the thread.
13:36–13:41is knowable through the word alone, upon the scales of logic it never once climbed at all.
13:42–13:45Then has reasoning no place at all in your house?
13:46–13:51It has a place, as reasoning that follows the sridhi, not as independent reasoning.
13:52–13:57The sridhi itself says, the learned, intelligent man reaches the land of Gondhara,
13:57–14:00but only then, when someone has first told him the road.
14:01–14:05The sridhi is the teller of the road, reasoning is the walker.
14:06–14:11And here lay aside a distinction over which the entire war of the fourth act will be fought.
14:11–14:15Between the means of knowledge in the inquiry into Dharma and the inquiry into Brahman there
14:15–14:22is a difference at the root. In Dharma, option operates. In the Adharatra, lift the Owen cup
14:22–14:28or do not lift it, make the offering before sunrise or after, both procedures, both valid,
14:28–14:34because ritual is puru tantra, dependent upon the one who acts. But a thing.
14:34–14:40The pot is there, or it is not, here no option operates.
14:40–14:45A thing is vast a tantra, it is just as it is, by my wish it does not move this way or
14:45–14:47that.
14:47–14:51And Brahman knowledge is knowledge of a thing, not an injunction.
14:51–14:56Keep this sentence in mind, in the fourth act it will become a sword.
14:56–15:01Act 3 The Dancer's Body
15:01–15:06The third sutra is short, a karyya, but it appears two-faced.
15:06–15:10Sastray anitvat, some read it as Brahman is the womb of the sastra, the cause of the
15:10–15:15Veda, some read it as, the sastra is the womb of Brahman, the proof of Brahman.
15:15–15:16Which is right?
15:16–15:22Both, and hear both in order, for the two together hold each other up, like the two
15:22–15:24stones of an arch.
15:24–15:30The first meaning, this vast mass of sastra, the Gveda, and the rest, filled with countless
15:30–15:35branches of learning, the illuminator of all things like a lamp, its source is Brahman,
15:35–15:40and from its being the source, Brahman's omniscience is established.
15:40–15:45The rule is straightforward, the author's knowledge is greater than the book.
15:45–15:49Pini composed the grammar, was Pini's knowledge contained within the adhy.
15:49–15:55No, the tongue knows the difference between the sweetness of sugarcane juice, of milk,
15:55–16:02of jaggery, speech cannot state it, the speaker's knowledge is always ahead of his utterance.
16:02–16:06Then he whose utterance is the Veda, like the out-breathing of this great being, who shall
16:06–16:09set the limit of his knowledge.
16:09–16:16Rising, now grave, and right here, Vakaspati, stands the oldest wall of my house, and I
16:16–16:19wish to see how you bring it down.
16:19–16:21An author of the Veda?
16:21–16:24The Veda is that Puruga authorless.
16:24–16:31a beginningless tradition of recitation, from teacher to pupil, from pupil to pupil, without
16:31–16:33any first composer.
16:33–16:36Jimini's entire philosophy stands upon this.
16:36–16:39What is no mouth has no fault.
16:39–16:44I shall not bring the wall down, friend, I shall shift it, and you will see that even
16:44–16:47after it has been shifted it still stands.
16:47–16:53First, one thing that you too must concede, you call the phony maternal, the sound,
16:53–17:00ever one and the same, granted. But the sentence, that particular order of the
17:00–17:05words, that sequence, order is formed in utterance and utterance is non-eternal.
17:05–17:12Hence the manifestation of a Vedic sentence is new every time. Now hear my
17:12–17:16favorite simile, the pupil learning dance watches the movement of the teacher's
17:16–17:20body and imitates that sequence in his own body, the teacher's movement
17:20–17:24itself does not walk over into the pupil's body.
17:24–17:31Even so with Vedic recitation, every generation a new utterance, in imitation of the old order.
17:31–17:35Then the question, after the dissolution, when every throat is silent and every memory
17:35–17:40lost, who will display that order in the new creation?
17:40–17:45Jaimini says creation and dissolution never occur at all, the followers of Vyasas say that
17:45–17:49the omniscient Supreme Self composes the Veda anew in every creation in the very
17:49–17:56order of the previous creation. And the two meet here, the meaning of aporea, acceptable
17:56–18:02to both sides is just this much, the absence of full independence in the composer. Even
18:02–18:07the Lord does not compose at whim, He is a follower of the prior order, just like your
18:07–18:13tradition of recitation. And the rule stands unshaken, in no creation does the slaying
18:13–18:19of a Burma become merit, nor the Asphamida sin, just as fire never wets, and water
18:19–18:21never burns.
18:21–18:23And the second meaning?
18:23–18:27The sastra is the womb of Brahman, the proof meaning?
18:27–18:31The second meaning is the shield of the first.
18:31–18:36If anyone had supposed that the djhāna-māti-sutra was an inference, this sutra cuts that error
18:36–18:41away, knowledge of Brahman's extraordinary nature comes from the sastra alone, neither
18:41–18:44from the eye, nor from reasoning.
18:44–18:48The sastra is Brahman's womb, its sole door of proof.
18:48–18:54And exactly here, friends, this evening has arrived at its true battlefield.
18:54–18:59For if the sole proof of Brahman is the Veda, then a decision upon the purpose of the Veda
18:59–19:02now becomes unavoidable.
19:02–19:06And on that question this disciple of Jaimini sits before me with the entire army of his
19:06–19:08school at his back.
19:08–19:12Turning toward the Msaka, your turn, friend.
19:12–19:14Come at full strength.
19:14–19:18Yesterday I told the Nayaaka that to one who has abandoned the center of the citadel
19:18–19:23there is no need to surrender its outer walls. Tonight I am opening the gate of my own fortress
19:23–19:29with my own hands." Act 4
19:29–19:35Samanvaya Then hear Jaimini's entire case, uncut and untrimmed.
19:35–19:42The purpose of the Veda is one, to set men into action. Amna-Yajah Kriyarthibhat, the
19:42–19:47Veda is for the sake of action. Why?
19:47–19:53the meaningfulness of a word lies in its purpose, and its purpose lies in engagement and abstention.
19:54–19:58There is fruit on the riverbank. What did the sentence give to anyone?
19:59–20:04If the hearer does not go to fetch the fruit, the sentence has dissolved into the air.
20:05–20:09The statement of an accomplished thing is either useless, or the leadings of another
20:09–20:14means of knowledge. What the eye can see? Why should the Vedas say it?
20:14–20:21Therefore, the sentences of Vedanta have only three courses. Either they are the subsidiary of some
20:21–20:26injunction declaring the nature of the agent or of the deity as,
20:26–20:33Beyervay K. V. Devada is a limb of the sacrifice, or they are themselves injunctions of meditation,
20:33–20:41Adma Dravaya means, meditate upon the self, a Prada-Patti Vadi, a command of meditation for
20:41–20:47the seeker of immortality, or their arthavada praise of the injunction as in Jaimini's
20:47–20:48sutra.
20:48–20:56Bhadana TV Ekabhaki Advat, Studi Artha Navitantsu, and experienced two stands on my side, even
20:56–21:04after hearing, Tat Tvamme Si, pleasure, pain, and fear remain exactly as they were.
21:04–21:09If that sentence bestowed the already accomplished state of Brahman, liberation would follow
21:09–21:15upon the very hearing, yet the hearer loses his temper again by evening, is frightened
21:15–21:18again.
21:18–21:24Therefore concede, the statement of the accomplished is fruitless, Vedanta is the servant of injunction,
21:24–21:31and yourself is like the sacrificial post and the ahavanya fire, a limb of the ritual,
21:31–21:37knowledge of which is needed for the sake of the sacrifice, not for the sake of liberation.
21:37–21:41A deep whispering, the case has been made at full strength.
21:41–21:48Rising, coming down from the teacher's seat, as yesterday, a fortress, honestly built, and
21:48–21:53I shall take it down with the same honesty, stone by stone.
21:53–21:57The first stone, the statement of the accomplished is fruitless.
21:57–22:02The sutras' answer lies in a single word, some invade it, because all the sentences
22:02–22:06of Vedanta converge upon one and the same purport.
22:06–22:13Adiva Samaitam Agra Asit, in the beginning, Gentle One, this was being alone, Ekam Evadvidyam,
22:13–22:16one only, without a second, Atma V.A.
22:16–22:17Item Ek.
22:17–22:21Avagra Asit, in the beginning this was the self alone.
22:21–22:26From opening to conclusion a single note, and the rule for determining purport is,
22:26–22:31to abandon what is said, and to imagine what is not said, is a fault.
22:31–22:37The entire apainite speaks Brahman, the injunction is your addition.
22:37–22:39But where is the answer to fruitlessness?
22:39–22:44Let the statement be of Brahman, what is the fruit?
22:44–22:48And here, friend, your own touchstone will turn against you.
22:48–22:53The statement of the accomplished is fruitless, is it, indeed?
22:53–22:56Here a story, which is the dearest page of my Bhamadi.
22:56–23:04A Dravia, who knows not a single syllable of the Arya tongue, is seated in an assembly.
23:04–23:10A messenger comes and says to Devdutta, Devdutta, blessings upon you, a son has been born to
23:10–23:11you.
23:11–23:17Devdutta's body thrills with joy, his eyes and face bloom like an open lotus.
23:17–23:19What did the Dravia see?
23:19–23:25No action, Devdutta did not rise and go anywhere, did nothing.
23:25–23:30Only one piece of accomplished news, a sun is born, and a tide of joy.
23:30–23:36From that thrill the dravia understood, in this sentence there was some beloved meaning.
23:36–23:40So tell me, is the statement of the accomplished fruitless?
23:40–23:46One sentence, without any command, made a man's hair stand on end.
23:46–23:51And if the small accomplished fact, the sun is born, yield so much fruit, then, thou
23:51–23:56of thyself art that fearless, unaging, deathless brahmin, for the one who's not of ignorance
23:56–24:01is cut on hearing this accomplished truth, is the fruit any less.
24:01–24:07For the first time, a step backward, then what shall we do with injunction-shaped sentences
24:07–24:09like, Atma Dravaya?
24:09–24:14Is to be seen, that is a command, surely.
24:14–24:19It has the form of a command, not the force of one, like a knife drawn across stone,
24:19–24:23The shape of a knife, the edge blunt.
24:23–24:28This sentence lays no new duty upon anyone, it merely turns the outward facing man, who
24:28–24:33by nature flows toward objects, and sets him flowing inward.
24:33–24:38The dam turns the river's current, it produces no new water.
24:38–24:44The rail work belongs to the sentence that is met after the turning, tat-tvam-acei.
24:44–24:48And whether that sentence is an injunction or a declaration of the accomplished, that
24:48–24:52will be decided by that very distinction which I laid down in the second act, and now that
24:52–25:00sword leaves its sheath. Ritual is poor or tantra. Do it, do not do it, do it this way,
25:00–25:07do it that way, option operates, lift the oan cup, or do not. But knowledge? Knowledge
25:07–25:14is vast or tantra. The pot stands before me, and so, the pot is, here no, ought,
25:14–25:22operates, no option operates, no command operates. Command me, take this pot to be cloth. I shall
25:22–25:28not be able so to know it, though I wish it a hundred thousand times.
25:28–25:33Knowledge is subject to the thing, not to the agent. Therefore, no Brahman can never even
25:33–25:40be the object of an injunction, knowing comes not from command but from a means of knowledge.
25:40–25:45In the means of knowledge, the sentence of the Upaniad stands before us, like a gleaming
25:45–25:48pot in clear white light.
25:48–25:51But my objection from experience still lives.
25:51–25:58Even after hearing, tat tvam aci, beer and grief remain just as they were.
25:58–26:01So where did that knowledge take place?
26:01–26:05Because between hearing and knowing lies is great a distance as between the seed and
26:05–26:07the tree.
26:07–26:12Adjah is the first step, after it, Mnjana, the firming of the meaning by reasoning, after
26:12–26:18that, Nidhat Hayasana, continuous, unbroken contemplation.
26:18–26:23In the half-light of dusk, so long as the doubt, a stump, or a man, keeps circling,
26:23–26:28there is no certainty, and the sentence heard with doubt still attached is not knowledge,
26:28–26:31but the beginning of knowledge.
26:31–26:35Just as the student of music hears Adjah and Abha on the first day, and after
26:35–26:40Here a year's practice recognizes them, the year the same, the notes the same, but direct
26:40–26:43recognition comes through practice.
26:43–26:49And when direct realization comes, what happens then, hear it in four negations, for this
26:49–26:51is the summit of this chapter.
26:51–26:57Mocha is not a thing produced, what is produced perishes, like a pot.
26:57–27:02Not a modification, the curd made from milk does not remain forever.
27:02–27:08Not a consecration, consecration is of two kinds, the adding of equality, as dying crystal
27:08–27:14with hibiscus juice, the removal of a defect, as scouring a mirror with brick dust.
27:14–27:19To Brahman nothing can be added, and in it there is nothing to remove, the gem does
27:19–27:24not shine by being scoured like the mirror, the purity of the bath and the Upanayana
27:24–27:28is the adventitious purity of the Jiva, as the heroine's perfume seems to have
27:28–27:30settled upon her friend.
27:30–27:37not an attainment either, and here is my dearest simile of all, the traveler in the boat.
27:37–27:43The boat moves toward midstream, bank, foam, and waves all fall away behind, and the traveler
27:43–27:48arrives at that waveless, calm, clear, still middle.
27:48–27:50Did he find that middle as something new?
27:50–27:56No, the water was everywhere, he merely moved away from the waves.
27:56–28:01Brahman is all-pervading, eternally attained, the illusion of attainment was only the trick
28:01–28:03of the waves.
28:03–28:08All four courses are closed, beyond these four there is no fifth road by which ritual might
28:08–28:13enter into Moka, therefore knowledge apart, not even the shadow of ritual enters into
28:13–28:16Moka.
28:16–28:22Silent for a long while, then slowly, almost to himself, and the one who, living and
28:22–28:30waking has come to know this. The body will still remain. Hunger will still come.
28:30–28:35In a gentle voice, the debate has now passed beyond debate. It will remain, as the sluice
28:35–28:42snake has cast off lies upon the anthill, dead, discarded, and the snake free of it. The body
28:42–28:48is the sluice of prabda. He who has given up both wealth and the love of wealth, what
28:48–28:51What fear has he of thieves?
28:51–28:57He walks in the market, he eats and drinks, and within he is waveless, Javan Makta.
28:57–29:03And on that day, friend, a wonder occurs, which I shall make the final sentence of this evening,
29:03–29:09ahabra mazmi, in this knowledge all injunctions and all means of knowledge come to an end.
29:09–29:14A prama is relative to a knower, where the sense of being a knower has melted away,
29:14–29:19the Prama II comes to rest, as at daybreak the lamp's work is done.
29:19–29:24The lamp was no lie, through the night it was truth itself.
29:24–29:29But when the sun has risen, no one blows it out, it fades of its own accord, like a fire
29:29–29:31whose fuel is spent.
29:31–29:37Your ritual is that lamp, friend, the true companion of the whole night.
29:37–29:40My quarrel was never with the lamp.
29:40–29:44All I have ever said is that the lamp should not be called the sun.
29:44–29:50Rising from his seat, Poms joined not in defeat, but in that respect which the Neyaka showed
29:50–29:56yesterday, I am a man of the morning side, Vakaspati, and it is I who light the lamps
29:56–29:58at dawn.
29:58–30:03But tonight you have compelled me to concede this much, that the light my lamp gives does
30:03–30:06not come from the wick.
30:06–30:11And upon no lovelier sentence has any debate on Saman Veya ever ended.
30:11–30:12Epilogue
30:12–30:17Yesterday this conch taught us what illusion is.
30:17–30:21Today this book has taught us where the road out of illusion stands written, and that road
30:21–30:25is not a command, it is news.
30:25–30:30A son has been born to you, on merely hearing this much, Devadatta's body had thrilled,
30:30–30:33the messenger had ordered no work to be done.
30:33–30:38The Upaniyad is just such a messenger, and its news is greater than that, the one you
30:38–30:43have been searching for all your life is the necklace lying at your own throat.
30:43–30:48The four sutras were four steps, the right to inquire, the defining mark of Brahmin,
30:48–30:53the authority of the sastra, and the concordance of purport, and all four steps lead toward
30:53–30:57a single threshold, where the hero comes to understand that the one of whom the messenger
30:57–31:01was speaking is no one other than himself.
31:01–31:05If tonight you carry this book away in your mind, then keep it like a garland, the flowers
31:05–31:10belong to Sruti, the thread to the sutra maker, and the stringing, the stringing falls to
31:10–31:13every reader, each for himself.
31:13–31:16All the characters exit.
31:16–31:21The lamp goes out last of all, and the concha and the book, side by side, remain left behind
31:21–31:21near the door.

Plain text

विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार विश्वार वि says about the world. But yesterday's debate ended upon a promise that has not yet been kept, if this entire visible world is superimposed upon the self, like silver upon the conch, then from where will knowledge of that self, of that Brahmin, come? The eye does not see it, inference does not measure it. Only one door remains, the word, the Veda. And at that very door tonight's opponent stands. A disciple of Jaimini, who will say, the Veda is mine, and the Veda's soul work is to command action, perform the sacrifice, offer the ablation, and any sentence that commands no action is either useless or the servant of some command. Tattvam ACI, thou art that, what command is there in this? Therefore, he will say, let Vedanta either remain silent or become the handmade of the ritual. In a manuscript placed upon the table are written Bariya's four sutras, for short sentences, upon which the Kasperti Mishra composed the largest portion of his Bhamati. Tonight those four sutras will become four steps, and upon the topmost step will be fought that debate which the sastra calls Samanvaya, whether the purpose of the Veda is action, or knowledge. Exit Act 1 The necklace at the throat The caspity is seated. A young sannyasi enters, bowing. Icaria, I have come with a question that has spread through my gurukula like fire. The first word of the sutra is atha. Then, my ritualist classmates say, then means after the inquiry into dharma. First study the whole of MMA with Mekrana say with Mekrana. Learn all the sacrifices and only then, somewhere down the road, will one earn the right to reflect upon Brahman. I ask, is this true? Does the ritual stand guard at the door of the inquiry into Brahman? Smiling, a question that spreads like a new fire in every generation, and in every generation is quenched with the same water. First count the four possible meanings of Atha, as is the classical method, an interior. after this, Adhikara now begins as in, Athasabdhanasasanam, Athayaganasasanam, Magala, an auspicious sound like that of a Kongkor kevildrum, an apikita pravada, after that which is first required. The Magala position is simple, om and Atha, these two words first issued from the throat of Brahma, this mti is satisfied by the auspiciousness of the mere sound, just as the sight of a water filled pot, brought for some other errand entirely, is held auspicious, though it was not brought for that purpose. The real question is, does Atha declare immediate succession upon the karma-mma with Makranas A. with Makran? Rising firm it does, and it must. Here my case at full strength. For last night you allowed my core-religionist to speak in full, and I am entitled to the same courtesy. For the student who has completed his Vedic study lied two paths, the inquiry into Dharma and the inquiry into Brahman. The inquiry into Dharma comes first because ritual yields fruit heaven, progeny, prosperity, and inclination toward fruit is natural. And Brahman knowledge too, if it is to come at all, comes through the purification wrought by ritual, once the mind has been made clear. So the sequence stands bound. First action, then knowledge, just as the field is first plowed, and then the seed. The simile of the field is dear to me, so with that very simile I shall answer, but first a distinction upon which this entire act will rest. What is the difference between dharma and brahman? Brahma is Sadhya, a thing to be accomplished, a thing of the future, the sacrifice today, heaven tomorrow. Brahman is Siddha already, from the very first, from all eternity, attained. And this very distinction cuts down the entire doctrine of sequence. A thing that is done has four courses, origination, as bread from flour, modification, as rice from patty, consecration, as sprinkling water upon the mortar, attainment, as milking the cow. Moka, the state of Brahman, is none of these four. It is not produced, it is not transformed, it is not polished, and it is not even attained, because it is already attained. Like the necklace lying at one's own throat, which a man forgets, and goes searching for through the whole house. When the necklace is found, what was detained? Nothing, only the forgetting departed. Therefore brahmana-knowledge is not the fruit of any ritual act, and for that which is no fruit, no cue of rituals is mandatory. Then ritual has no place at all? My entire sastra is useless? Exactly the opposite, it has a place, but a stare, not a throne. Here the sequence, from the obligatory rites, the destruction of sin, from the destruction of sin, purity of mind, from purity of mind, dispassion, from dispassion, the desire to know. Ritual is a rada pukaraka, a helper from afar, as the curtain is drawn aside before the dancer's dance. The one who draws the curtain does not dance, yet without him the dance is not seen. And if anyone should say that the sequence is mandatory, that's an isa comes only after the householder's stage, then the Jabalasriti stands there, Yadahariva virajyattata hariva pravrajyatt, on whatever day dispassion arises, on that very day let him go forth. From studenthood straight to renunciation, the sriti itself has opened the door. To the young sannyasi, tell your classmate, there is no guard at the door, there is only a threshold, and its name is atta, therefore. atta? The second word of the sutra. Its meaning? The four means, without which the desire to know is no desire at all, discrimination between the eternal and the non-eternal, dispassion toward the enjoyments of this world and the next, the endowment of tranquility, restraint, and the rest, and the yearning for liberation. When here the provapakha brings a juicy objection, which I shall recite with full relish, why dispassion? There are bones in the fish, does anyone therefore give up fish? He picks out the bones and eats the flesh. There is husk on the patty, the farmer does not throw away the patty. No one shuts down his kitchen for fear of beggars. Just so, if suffering comes mixed into the world, what of it, leave the suffering, the pleasure. Laughing in the answer? The answer in a single sentence. The fish bone is separate, and therefore it can be picked out. But from a meal in which poison has been dissolved into the honey, not even the most skillful cook in the world can eat the honey alone. The pleasure of the world is just such a meal, suffering is dissolved into it, it cannot be picked out. And sridhi passages like, we drank the soma, we became immortal. The pura itself opens that lock, endurance until the dissolution is called immortality, a secondary immortality, lasting only until the pralaya, not the true one. The fruit of tranquility and restraint. Just as a calm, well-broken young bullock is fit to be yoked to the plow, a restless mind can lift no yok at all. One final knot, Vakaspati, and it is a knot of words. Brahmajijnasa, in this compound, what case is Brahma? Certain ancient interpreters say the dative, the desire to know for the sake of Brahman. Then Brahman is not the object of the inquiry but its purpose, and this whole edifice of yours, the object of the inquiry is Brahman, will come crashing down. And this is precisely the place where I openly disagree with a commentator earlier than myself, honesty and sastralize exactly in this, that disagreement is not concealed. The compound is a genitive tattpuruva, the inquiry into brahman, the objective genitive, brahman the object. Why? Because jijnasah is a transitive hunger. No one, on seeing the sun or the moon, asks, who's is this? But the moment the word, knowledge, is heard, the question rises of its own accord, knowledge of whom? Of what? Knowledge without an object is an unfinished sentence. And whatever else is connected with Brahman, the means, the fruit, the manner, comes dragged in of itself, just as on hearing, the king is going, the king is understood together with his retinue, no one separately mentions the minister, the parasol, the army. Bowing? I shall go back to my Garukula and tell them. The door is open, and the The name of the key is dispassion, not wages. Act 2. The Garland and the Thread. Good, Akaria, the right to inquire is established. But inquiry into what? Into Brahman. And what is Brahman? Here I shall drag you back to yesterday's conch. Every object I note pot, tree, body, all are limited, insensient, perishable. Then you declare to be the opposite of all these infinite, conscious, eternal. Then what defining mark will you give it? No property of its own is familiar to me, and no familiar property is in it. Inquiry without a defining mark that is hunting a black cat in the dark. And Darya's second sutra is a lamp in precisely that darkness, Janmada yasya yada, that from which come the birth, the subsistence, and the dissolution of this world. Take note, the definition has not been given through Brahman's own attributes, it has been given through the world, by an accidental mark. Just as the sun's motion is not seen directly, but it's being in the east at dawn and in the west at dusk, it's arriving at place after place, becomes the sign of its motion, even so the world, which has arisen from Brahman, is Brahman's sign, though Brahman itself is hidden from the eye. Janmani, birth and the rest. What shall we count in this? And the rest! Yaskas direct to enumerate six modifications. Birth, existence, growth, transformation, decay, destruction. Why did the sutramaker take only three? Because all six are contained within the three, and Sastra does not squander. Growth Birth is contained in birth, a cloth grown larger by two threads means the new birth of two threads, transformation likewise in birth, gold become a bangle is the arising of a new state, decay is contained in destruction. Three remain, origination, subsistence, dissolution, and these three are declared in the sridhi, hence these three are the ones intended. The definition I grant. But now the real question, what is this sutra? Is it an inference, the world has a maker, because it is an effect, like a pot? If so, then call back yesterday's Buddhist, he will do battle with that inference, and your Brahman will hang upon the scales of logic, where the God of Udayana and of Gajia hangs. Lifting the manuscript, with affection, and this is the heart of this act, so listen slowly. No, this sutra is not an independent inference. the fashioning of the world, parceled into name and form, filled with countless agents and enjoyers, so ordered by place, time, and occasion that even the mind strains to imagine it, the black antelope only in certain lands, the cuckoos call only in certain seasons, the cranes conceiving from the first thunder of the rains, seeing all this, an intelligent man does indeed form a surmise about a cause, as there is no pot without a potter. But in Vedanta that sirmize is not the proof, it is a helper. The sutra's real work is another, the purpose of the sutras is to string the sentences of Vedanta upon a thread, like a garland. The flowers belong to Sridhi, Yadu V.A.I. Manibhutani Jayante, Tad Brahma, the dialogue of Bhgul and Varua, the Tatariya. The sutra is only the thread. is knowable through the word alone, upon the scales of logic it never once climbed at all. Then has reasoning no place at all in your house? It has a place, as reasoning that follows the sridhi, not as independent reasoning. The sridhi itself says, the learned, intelligent man reaches the land of Gondhara, but only then, when someone has first told him the road. The sridhi is the teller of the road, reasoning is the walker. And here lay aside a distinction over which the entire war of the fourth act will be fought. Between the means of knowledge in the inquiry into Dharma and the inquiry into Brahman there is a difference at the root. In Dharma, option operates. In the Adharatra, lift the Owen cup or do not lift it, make the offering before sunrise or after, both procedures, both valid, because ritual is puru tantra, dependent upon the one who acts. But a thing. The pot is there, or it is not, here no option operates. A thing is vast a tantra, it is just as it is, by my wish it does not move this way or that. And Brahman knowledge is knowledge of a thing, not an injunction. Keep this sentence in mind, in the fourth act it will become a sword. Act 3 The Dancer's Body The third sutra is short, a karyya, but it appears two-faced. Sastray anitvat, some read it as Brahman is the womb of the sastra, the cause of the Veda, some read it as, the sastra is the womb of Brahman, the proof of Brahman. Which is right? Both, and hear both in order, for the two together hold each other up, like the two stones of an arch. The first meaning, this vast mass of sastra, the Gveda, and the rest, filled with countless branches of learning, the illuminator of all things like a lamp, its source is Brahman, and from its being the source, Brahman's omniscience is established. The rule is straightforward, the author's knowledge is greater than the book. Pini composed the grammar, was Pini's knowledge contained within the adhy. No, the tongue knows the difference between the sweetness of sugarcane juice, of milk, of jaggery, speech cannot state it, the speaker's knowledge is always ahead of his utterance. Then he whose utterance is the Veda, like the out-breathing of this great being, who shall set the limit of his knowledge. Rising, now grave, and right here, Vakaspati, stands the oldest wall of my house, and I wish to see how you bring it down. An author of the Veda? The Veda is that Puruga authorless. a beginningless tradition of recitation, from teacher to pupil, from pupil to pupil, without any first composer. Jimini's entire philosophy stands upon this. What is no mouth has no fault. I shall not bring the wall down, friend, I shall shift it, and you will see that even after it has been shifted it still stands. First, one thing that you too must concede, you call the phony maternal, the sound, ever one and the same, granted. But the sentence, that particular order of the words, that sequence, order is formed in utterance and utterance is non-eternal. Hence the manifestation of a Vedic sentence is new every time. Now hear my favorite simile, the pupil learning dance watches the movement of the teacher's body and imitates that sequence in his own body, the teacher's movement itself does not walk over into the pupil's body. Even so with Vedic recitation, every generation a new utterance, in imitation of the old order. Then the question, after the dissolution, when every throat is silent and every memory lost, who will display that order in the new creation? Jaimini says creation and dissolution never occur at all, the followers of Vyasas say that the omniscient Supreme Self composes the Veda anew in every creation in the very order of the previous creation. And the two meet here, the meaning of aporea, acceptable to both sides is just this much, the absence of full independence in the composer. Even the Lord does not compose at whim, He is a follower of the prior order, just like your tradition of recitation. And the rule stands unshaken, in no creation does the slaying of a Burma become merit, nor the Asphamida sin, just as fire never wets, and water never burns. And the second meaning? The sastra is the womb of Brahman, the proof meaning? The second meaning is the shield of the first. If anyone had supposed that the djhāna-māti-sutra was an inference, this sutra cuts that error away, knowledge of Brahman's extraordinary nature comes from the sastra alone, neither from the eye, nor from reasoning. The sastra is Brahman's womb, its sole door of proof. And exactly here, friends, this evening has arrived at its true battlefield. For if the sole proof of Brahman is the Veda, then a decision upon the purpose of the Veda now becomes unavoidable. And on that question this disciple of Jaimini sits before me with the entire army of his school at his back. Turning toward the Msaka, your turn, friend. Come at full strength. Yesterday I told the Nayaaka that to one who has abandoned the center of the citadel there is no need to surrender its outer walls. Tonight I am opening the gate of my own fortress with my own hands." Act 4 Samanvaya Then hear Jaimini's entire case, uncut and untrimmed. The purpose of the Veda is one, to set men into action. Amna-Yajah Kriyarthibhat, the Veda is for the sake of action. Why? the meaningfulness of a word lies in its purpose, and its purpose lies in engagement and abstention. There is fruit on the riverbank. What did the sentence give to anyone? If the hearer does not go to fetch the fruit, the sentence has dissolved into the air. The statement of an accomplished thing is either useless, or the leadings of another means of knowledge. What the eye can see? Why should the Vedas say it? Therefore, the sentences of Vedanta have only three courses. Either they are the subsidiary of some injunction declaring the nature of the agent or of the deity as, Beyervay K. V. Devada is a limb of the sacrifice, or they are themselves injunctions of meditation, Adma Dravaya means, meditate upon the self, a Prada-Patti Vadi, a command of meditation for the seeker of immortality, or their arthavada praise of the injunction as in Jaimini's sutra. Bhadana TV Ekabhaki Advat, Studi Artha Navitantsu, and experienced two stands on my side, even after hearing, Tat Tvamme Si, pleasure, pain, and fear remain exactly as they were. If that sentence bestowed the already accomplished state of Brahman, liberation would follow upon the very hearing, yet the hearer loses his temper again by evening, is frightened again. Therefore concede, the statement of the accomplished is fruitless, Vedanta is the servant of injunction, and yourself is like the sacrificial post and the ahavanya fire, a limb of the ritual, knowledge of which is needed for the sake of the sacrifice, not for the sake of liberation. A deep whispering, the case has been made at full strength. Rising, coming down from the teacher's seat, as yesterday, a fortress, honestly built, and I shall take it down with the same honesty, stone by stone. The first stone, the statement of the accomplished is fruitless. The sutras' answer lies in a single word, some invade it, because all the sentences of Vedanta converge upon one and the same purport. Adiva Samaitam Agra Asit, in the beginning, Gentle One, this was being alone, Ekam Evadvidyam, one only, without a second, Atma V.A. Item Ek. Avagra Asit, in the beginning this was the self alone. From opening to conclusion a single note, and the rule for determining purport is, to abandon what is said, and to imagine what is not said, is a fault. The entire apainite speaks Brahman, the injunction is your addition. But where is the answer to fruitlessness? Let the statement be of Brahman, what is the fruit? And here, friend, your own touchstone will turn against you. The statement of the accomplished is fruitless, is it, indeed? Here a story, which is the dearest page of my Bhamadi. A Dravia, who knows not a single syllable of the Arya tongue, is seated in an assembly. A messenger comes and says to Devdutta, Devdutta, blessings upon you, a son has been born to you. Devdutta's body thrills with joy, his eyes and face bloom like an open lotus. What did the Dravia see? No action, Devdutta did not rise and go anywhere, did nothing. Only one piece of accomplished news, a sun is born, and a tide of joy. From that thrill the dravia understood, in this sentence there was some beloved meaning. So tell me, is the statement of the accomplished fruitless? One sentence, without any command, made a man's hair stand on end. And if the small accomplished fact, the sun is born, yield so much fruit, then, thou of thyself art that fearless, unaging, deathless brahmin, for the one who's not of ignorance is cut on hearing this accomplished truth, is the fruit any less. For the first time, a step backward, then what shall we do with injunction-shaped sentences like, Atma Dravaya? Is to be seen, that is a command, surely. It has the form of a command, not the force of one, like a knife drawn across stone, The shape of a knife, the edge blunt. This sentence lays no new duty upon anyone, it merely turns the outward facing man, who by nature flows toward objects, and sets him flowing inward. The dam turns the river's current, it produces no new water. The rail work belongs to the sentence that is met after the turning, tat-tvam-acei. And whether that sentence is an injunction or a declaration of the accomplished, that will be decided by that very distinction which I laid down in the second act, and now that sword leaves its sheath. Ritual is poor or tantra. Do it, do not do it, do it this way, do it that way, option operates, lift the oan cup, or do not. But knowledge? Knowledge is vast or tantra. The pot stands before me, and so, the pot is, here no, ought, operates, no option operates, no command operates. Command me, take this pot to be cloth. I shall not be able so to know it, though I wish it a hundred thousand times. Knowledge is subject to the thing, not to the agent. Therefore, no Brahman can never even be the object of an injunction, knowing comes not from command but from a means of knowledge. In the means of knowledge, the sentence of the Upaniad stands before us, like a gleaming pot in clear white light. But my objection from experience still lives. Even after hearing, tat tvam aci, beer and grief remain just as they were. So where did that knowledge take place? Because between hearing and knowing lies is great a distance as between the seed and the tree. Adjah is the first step, after it, Mnjana, the firming of the meaning by reasoning, after that, Nidhat Hayasana, continuous, unbroken contemplation. In the half-light of dusk, so long as the doubt, a stump, or a man, keeps circling, there is no certainty, and the sentence heard with doubt still attached is not knowledge, but the beginning of knowledge. Just as the student of music hears Adjah and Abha on the first day, and after Here a year's practice recognizes them, the year the same, the notes the same, but direct recognition comes through practice. And when direct realization comes, what happens then, hear it in four negations, for this is the summit of this chapter. Mocha is not a thing produced, what is produced perishes, like a pot. Not a modification, the curd made from milk does not remain forever. Not a consecration, consecration is of two kinds, the adding of equality, as dying crystal with hibiscus juice, the removal of a defect, as scouring a mirror with brick dust. To Brahman nothing can be added, and in it there is nothing to remove, the gem does not shine by being scoured like the mirror, the purity of the bath and the Upanayana is the adventitious purity of the Jiva, as the heroine's perfume seems to have settled upon her friend. not an attainment either, and here is my dearest simile of all, the traveler in the boat. The boat moves toward midstream, bank, foam, and waves all fall away behind, and the traveler arrives at that waveless, calm, clear, still middle. Did he find that middle as something new? No, the water was everywhere, he merely moved away from the waves. Brahman is all-pervading, eternally attained, the illusion of attainment was only the trick of the waves. All four courses are closed, beyond these four there is no fifth road by which ritual might enter into Moka, therefore knowledge apart, not even the shadow of ritual enters into Moka. Silent for a long while, then slowly, almost to himself, and the one who, living and waking has come to know this. The body will still remain. Hunger will still come. In a gentle voice, the debate has now passed beyond debate. It will remain, as the sluice snake has cast off lies upon the anthill, dead, discarded, and the snake free of it. The body is the sluice of prabda. He who has given up both wealth and the love of wealth, what What fear has he of thieves? He walks in the market, he eats and drinks, and within he is waveless, Javan Makta. And on that day, friend, a wonder occurs, which I shall make the final sentence of this evening, ahabra mazmi, in this knowledge all injunctions and all means of knowledge come to an end. A prama is relative to a knower, where the sense of being a knower has melted away, the Prama II comes to rest, as at daybreak the lamp's work is done. The lamp was no lie, through the night it was truth itself. But when the sun has risen, no one blows it out, it fades of its own accord, like a fire whose fuel is spent. Your ritual is that lamp, friend, the true companion of the whole night. My quarrel was never with the lamp. All I have ever said is that the lamp should not be called the sun. Rising from his seat, Poms joined not in defeat, but in that respect which the Neyaka showed yesterday, I am a man of the morning side, Vakaspati, and it is I who light the lamps at dawn. But tonight you have compelled me to concede this much, that the light my lamp gives does not come from the wick. And upon no lovelier sentence has any debate on Saman Veya ever ended. Epilogue Yesterday this conch taught us what illusion is. Today this book has taught us where the road out of illusion stands written, and that road is not a command, it is news. A son has been born to you, on merely hearing this much, Devadatta's body had thrilled, the messenger had ordered no work to be done. The Upaniyad is just such a messenger, and its news is greater than that, the one you have been searching for all your life is the necklace lying at your own throat. The four sutras were four steps, the right to inquire, the defining mark of Brahmin, the authority of the sastra, and the concordance of purport, and all four steps lead toward a single threshold, where the hero comes to understand that the one of whom the messenger was speaking is no one other than himself. If tonight you carry this book away in your mind, then keep it like a garland, the flowers belong to Sruti, the thread to the sutra maker, and the stringing, the stringing falls to every reader, each for himself. All the characters exit. The lamp goes out last of all, and the concha and the book, side by side, remain left behind near the door.

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