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Collection: Part 11 · VIDEHA MITHILA MAITHILI DISCUSSION CRITICISM SERIES PART 11
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0:00–0:31तो खछ अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच
0:31–0:34an independent creative work.
0:34–0:37The characters of this evening.
0:37–0:40The sutradhara, the stage manager.
0:40–0:45The kaspati-mishra, the commentator, host of the debate, the sadhantin.
0:45–0:49The memsaka ritualist, a staunch scholar of the gyminian tradition who holds that the
0:49–0:53sole purpose of the veda is the injunction of ritual action, this evening's chief
0:53–0:55pravapakin.
0:55–0:59The objecta, the doubta, the same voice of doubt from the previous evening, the
0:59–1:04The questioner on behalf of the assembly. A young sannyasi who has come with a question
1:04–1:11about the sequence of the asramas. The disciple, the kaspti's disciple. The pariyad, the whispering
1:11–1:18of the assembly. Setting the same debate hall the next evening.
1:18–1:23The cordon the conch near the door still lie there just as they were left yesterday.
1:23–1:28But today a new object has been placed upon the table, a palm leaf manuscript, lying open
1:28–1:32on whose first page for short sutras are written.
1:32–1:35Prologue.
1:35–1:40The sutradhara enters, gesturing toward the manuscript.
1:40–1:44Last night in this assembly the tale of the conch and the silver was told what illusion
1:44–1:48is and what its answer says about the world.
1:48–1:52But yesterday's debate ended upon a promise that has not yet been kept if this entire
1:52–1:57visible world is superimposed upon the self, like silver upon the conch, then from where
1:57–2:01There will knowledge of that self, of that Brahmin, come.
2:01–2:05The eye does not see it, inference does not measure it.
2:05–2:09Only one door remains, the word, the Veda.
2:09–2:13Exit, Act 1.
2:13–2:15The necklace at the throat.
2:15–2:22First sutra, a theta brahmajijnasa, then, therefore, the inquiry into Brahmin.
2:22–2:25But Kasperti is seated.
2:25–2:28A young sannyasi enters, bowing.
2:28–2:34Akarya, I have come with a question that has spread through my Gurukula like fire.
2:34–2:36The first word of the sutra is Atha.
2:36–2:43Then, my ritualist classmates say, then means, after the inquiry into Dharma, first study
2:43–2:49the whole of MMA with Makran Suh with Makran, learn all the sacrifices, and only then,
2:49–2:54somewhere down the road, will one earn the right to reflect upon Brahman.
2:54–2:56I ask, is this true?
2:56–3:01Does the ritual stand guard at the door of the inquiry into Brahman?
3:01–3:06A question that spreads like a new fire in every generation, and in every generation
3:06–3:09is quenched with the same water.
3:09–3:14First count the four possible meanings of Atha, as is the classical method, an interior,
3:14–3:21immediately after this, atikara, now begins, as in Athasabdnisesanam, Athayagnisesanam,
3:21–3:27Magala, an auspicious sound, like that of a concord kettle drum, an apikita bravada,
3:27–3:33after that which is first required. The Magala position is simple, om and atha,
3:33–3:38these two words first issued from the throat of Brahma, this smth is satisfied by the auspiciousness
3:38–3:43of the mere sound, just as the sight of a water-filled pot, brought for some other air and
3:43–3:50entirely, is held auspicious, though it was not brought for that purpose. The real question is,
3:50–3:55Does Atha declare immediate succession upon the karma-mma with Makranasay with Makran?
3:56–4:02It does, and it must. Here my case at full strength, for last night you allowed my core
4:02–4:08religionist to speak in full, and I am entitled to the same courtesy. Before the student who has
4:08–4:13completed his Vedic study lie two paths, the inquiry into Dharma and the inquiry into Brahman.
4:14–4:19The inquiry into Dharma comes first, because ritual yields fruit, heaven, progeny,
4:19–4:25prosperity and inclination toward fruit is natural. And Brahma knowledge too, if it is to come at all,
4:25–4:29comes through the purification wrought by ritual once the mind has been made clear.
4:30–4:35So the sequence stands bound, first action, then knowledge, just as the field is first plowed,
4:35–4:42and then the seed. The simile of the field is dear to me, so with that very simile I shall
4:42–4:48answer, but first a distinction upon which this entire act will rest. What is the difference
4:48–4:54between Dharma and Brahman. Dharma is Sādhyā, a thing to be accomplished, a thing of the
4:54–5:02future, the sacrifice today, heaven tomorrow. Brahman is Siddha, already, from the very first,
5:02–5:07from all eternity, attained. And this very distinction cuts down the entire doctrine
5:07–5:14of sequence. A thing that is done has four courses, origination, as bread from flour,
5:14–5:21modification, as rice from patty, consecration, as sprinkling water upon the mortar, attainment,
5:21–5:22as milking the cow.
5:22–5:27Moka, the state of Brahman, is none of these four.
5:27–5:33It is not produced, it is not transformed, it is not polished, and it is not even attained,
5:33–5:36because it is already attained.
5:36–5:40Like the necklace lying at one's own throat, which a man forgets, and goes searching for
5:40–5:43through the whole house.
5:43–5:46When the necklace is found, what was detained?
5:46–5:50Nothing, only the forgetting departed.
5:50–5:54Therefore brahma knowledge is not the fruit of any ritual act, and for that which is no
5:54–5:59fruit, no cue of rituals is mandatory.
5:59–6:01Then ritual has no place at all?
6:01–6:06My entire sastra is useless?
6:06–6:11Exactly the opposite, it has a place, but a stare, not a throne.
6:11–6:16Here the sequence, from the obligatory rites, the destruction of sin, from the destruction
6:16–6:22of sin, purity of mind, from purity of mind, dispassion, from dispassion, the desire to
6:22–6:24know.
6:24–6:30Ritual is a Radha-Pakaraka, a helper from afar, as the curtain is drawn aside before the dancer's
6:30–6:31dance.
6:31–6:37The one who draws the curtain does not dance, yet without him the dance is not seen.
6:37–6:41And if anyone should say that the sequence is mandatory, that Sainisah comes only after
6:41–6:47the householder's stage, then the Jabbalasradi stands there, Yadahariva Virajyattata Hariva
6:47–6:53Pravrajyatt, on whatever day dispassion arises, on that very day let him go forth.
6:53–6:59From studenthood straight to renunciation, the sridhi itself has opened the door.
6:59–7:03Tell your classmate, there is no guard at the door, there is only a threshold, and
7:03–7:06Its name is, Adha, therefore.
7:06–7:10Adha, the second word of the Sutra.
7:10–7:12Its meaning?
7:12–7:18The Four Means, without which the desire to know is no desire at all, discrimination between
7:18–7:22the eternal and the non-eternal, dispassion toward the enjoyments of this world and the
7:22–7:29next, the endowment of tranquility, restraint, and the rest, and the yearning for liberation.
7:29–7:34When here the provapakha brings a juicy objection, which I shall recite with full relish, why
7:34–7:35dispassion?
7:35–7:40There are bones in the fish, does anyone therefore give up fish?
7:40–7:44He picks out the bones and eats the flesh.
7:44–7:48There is husk on the patty, the farmer does not throw away the patty.
7:48–7:52No one shuts down his kitchen for fear of beggars.
7:52–7:57Just so, if suffering comes mixed into the world, what of it, leave the suffering,
7:57–8:00enjoy the pleasure.
8:00–8:03And the answer?
8:03–8:07The answer in a single sentence, the fish bone is separate, and therefore it can be picked
8:07–8:09out.
8:09–8:13But from a meal in which poison has been dissolved into the honey, not even the most skillful
8:13–8:16cook in the world can eat the honey alone.
8:16–8:21The pleasure of the world is just such a meal, suffering is dissolved into it, it
8:21–8:23cannot be picked out.
8:23–8:28From sridhi passages like, we drank the soma, we became immortal.
8:28–8:33The pura itself opens that lock, endurance until the dissolution is called immortality,
8:33–8:39a secondary immortality, lasting only until the pralaya, not the true one.
8:39–8:42The fruit of tranquility and restraint.
8:42–8:47Just as a calm, well-broken young bullock is fit to be yoked to the plow, a restless
8:47–8:50mind can lift no yok at all.
8:50–8:55One final knot, bhakaspati, and it is a knot of words.
8:55–9:00Brahmajijnasa, in this compound, what case is, Brahma?
9:00–9:05Certain ancient interpreters say the dative, the desire to know for the sake of Brahmin.
9:05–9:10Then Brahmin is not the object of the inquiry but its purpose, and this whole edifice of
9:10–9:16yours, the object of the inquiry is Brahmin, will come crashing down.
9:16–9:21And this is precisely the place where I openly disagree with a commentator earlier than myself.
9:21–9:26Honesty and sastralize exactly in this, that disagreement is not concealed.
9:26–9:32The compound is a genitive tapoorua, the inquiry into Brahman, the objective genitive,
9:32–9:34Brahman the object.
9:34–9:36Why?
9:36–9:39Because jijnasah is a transitive hunger.
9:39–9:44No one, on seeing the sun or the moon, asks, who's is this?
9:44–9:49At the moment the word knowledge is heard, the question rises of its own accord, knowledge
9:49–9:51of whom?
9:51–9:52Of what?
9:52–9:56Knowledge without an object is an unfinished sentence.
9:56–10:02And whatever else is connected with Brahman, the means, the fruit, the manner, comes dragged
10:02–10:07in of itself, just as on hearing, the king is going, the king is understood together
10:07–10:13with his revenue, no one separately mentions the minister, the parasol, the army.
10:13–10:18I shall go back to my Garukula and tell them, the door is open, and the name of the key
10:18–10:22is dispassion, not wages."
10:22–10:24Act 2.
10:24–10:26The Garland and the Thread.
10:26–10:31Second Sutra, Jan Madhyasya Yatta, that from which the birth and the rest of this world
10:31–10:33proceed.
10:33–10:37Good, Akarya, the right to inquire is established.
10:37–10:40But inquiry into what?
10:40–10:42Into Brahmin.
10:42–10:44And what is Brahmin?
10:44–10:51I shall drag you back to yesterday's conch. Every object I know, pot, tree, body, all are
10:51–10:57limited, insensient, perishable. Brahman you declared to be the opposite of all these, infinite,
10:57–11:04conscious, eternal. Then what defining mark will you give it? No property of its own is
11:04–11:10familiar to me, and no familiar property is in it. Inquiry without a defining mark,
11:10–11:14that is hunting a black cat in the dark.
11:14–11:20Mkhdiriya's second sutra is a lamp in precisely that darkness, janmada yasya yadda, that
11:20–11:25from which come the birth, the subsistence, and the dissolution of this world.
11:25–11:29Take note, the definition has not been given through Brahman's own attributes, it has
11:29–11:34been given through the world, by an accidental mark.
11:34–11:38Just as the sun's motion is not seen directly, but it's being in the east at dawn and in
11:38–11:44the west at dusk, it's arriving at place after place, becomes the sign of its motion,
11:44–11:49So the world, which has arisen from Brahman, is Brahman's sign, though Brahman itself
11:49–11:52is hidden from the eye.
11:52–11:54Janmati birth and the rest.
11:54–11:57What shall we count in this and the rest?
11:57–12:03Yaskas nerukta enumerates six modifications, birth, existence, growth, transformation,
12:03–12:05decay, destruction.
12:05–12:09Why did the sutramaker take only three?
12:09–12:15Because all six are contained within the three, and Sastra does not squander.
12:15–12:16Growth is contained in birth.
12:16–12:22A cloth grown larger by two threads means the new birth of two threads, transformation likewise
12:22–12:23in birth.
12:23–12:29Gold become a bangle is the arising of a new state, decay is contained in destruction.
12:29–12:34Three remain, origination, subsistence, dissolution, and these three are declared
12:34–12:39in the sridhi, hence these three are the ones intended.
12:39–12:45definition I grant. But now the real question, what is this sutra? Is it an
12:45–12:51inference? The world has a maker, because it is an effect, like a pot. If so, then
12:51–12:55call back yesterday's Buddhist. He will do battle with that inference, and your
12:55–12:59Brahmin will hang upon the scales of logic, where the God of Udayana and of
12:59–13:06Gadjia hangs. And this is the heart of this act, so listen slowly. No, this
13:06–13:10This sutra is not an independent inference.
13:10–13:15Seeing the fashioning of the world, parceled into name and form, filled with countless agents
13:15–13:20and enjoyers, so ordered by place, time, and occasion that even the mind strains to imagine
13:20–13:26it, the black antelope only in certain lands, the cuckoos call only in certain seasons,
13:26–13:31the cranes conceiving from the first thunder of the rains, seeing all this, an intelligent
13:31–13:37That man does indeed form a sirmahs about a cause, as there is no pot without a potter.
13:37–13:42But in Vedanta that sirmahs is not the proof, it is a helper.
13:42–13:46The sutra's real work is another, the purpose of the sutras is to string the sentences of
13:46–13:50Vedanta upon a thread, like a garland.
13:50–13:56The flowers belong to Sridhi, Yadavya Imani Bhutanijayante, Tad Brahma, the dialogue
13:56–14:00of Bhgul and Varua, the Tatariya.
14:00–14:06The sutra is only the threat. Brahman is knowable through the word alone, upon the scales of
14:06–14:09logic it never once climbed at all.
14:09–14:13Then has reasoning no place at all in your house?
14:13–14:19It has a place, as reasoning that follows the sridhi, not as independent reasoning.
14:19–14:24The sridhi itself says, the learned, intelligent man reaches the land of Gandhara, but
14:24–14:29only then, when someone has first told him the road.
14:29–14:33The sridhi is the teller of the road, reasoning is the walker.
14:33–14:38And here lay aside a distinction, over which the entire war of the fourth act will be fought,
14:38–14:42between the means of knowledge in the inquiry into dharma and the inquiry into brahman there
14:42–14:45is a difference at the root.
14:45–14:51In dharma, auction operates, in the ataratra, lift the oan cup or do not lift it, make
14:51–14:56the offering before sunrise or after, both procedures, both valid, because ritual is
14:56–15:03poor with tantra, dependent upon the one who acts. But a thing. The pot is there, or it
15:03–15:10is not, here no option operates. A thing is vast to tantra, it is just as it is, by my
15:10–15:16wish it does not move this way or that. And Brahman knowledge is knowledge of a thing,
15:16–15:22not an injunction. Keep this sentence in mind, in the fourth act it will become a
15:22–15:32Act 3. The dancer's body. Third sutra, Sastryanitvada, because of being the womb of the sastra.
15:32–15:39The third sutra is short, karya, but it appears two-faced. Sastryanitvada, some read it as,
15:39–15:44Brahmin is the womb of the sastra, the cause of the veda, some read it as, the sastra
15:44–15:49is the womb of Brahmin, the proof of Brahmin. Which is right.
15:49–15:56Both, and here both in order, for the two together hold each other up, like the two stones of
15:56–15:57an arch.
15:57–16:03The first meaning, this vast mass of sastra, the gveda, and the rest, filled with countless
16:03–16:08branches of learning, the illuminator of all things like a lamp, its source is Brahman,
16:08–16:13and from its being the source, Brahman's omniscience is established.
16:13–16:17The rule is straightforward, the author's knowledge is greater than the book.
16:17–16:24composed the grammar, was Pne's knowledge contained within the adhi. No, the tongue knows the difference
16:24–16:30between the sweetness of sugarcane juice, of milk, and of jaggery, speech cannot state it,
16:30–16:35the speaker's knowledge is always ahead of his utterance. Then he whose utterance is
16:35–16:42the Veda, like the out-breathing of this great being, who shall set the limit of his knowledge.
16:42–16:46And right here, Vakaspati, stands the oldest wall of my house, and I wish to see how
16:46–16:48you bring it down.
16:48–16:51An author of the Veda?
16:51–16:54The Veda is Aporuiya, authorless.
16:54–16:59A beginningless tradition of recitation, from teacher to pupil, from pupil to pupil, without
16:59–17:01any first composer.
17:01–17:04Jimini's entire philosophy stands upon this.
17:04–17:07What has no mouth has no fault.
17:07–17:12I shall not bring the wall down, friend, I shall shift it, and you will see that
17:12–17:15even after it has been shifted it still stands.
17:15–17:22First, one thing that you too must concede, you call the phoneme eternal, the sound ga,
17:22–17:25ever one and the same, granted.
17:25–17:27But the sentence?
17:27–17:31That particular order of the words, that sequence.
17:31–17:35Order is formed in utterance, and utterance is non-eternal.
17:35–17:39Hence the manifestation of a Vedic sentence is new every time.
17:39–17:44Now hear my favorite simile, the pupil learning dance watches the movement of the teacher's
17:44–17:48body and imitates that sequence in his own body, the teacher's movement itself does
17:48–17:55not walk over into the pupil's body. Even so with Vedic recitation, every generation
17:55–18:01in new utterance, in imitation of the old order. Then the question, after the dissolution,
18:01–18:05when every throat is silent and every memory lost, who will display that order in the
18:05–18:07new creation?
18:07–18:10Jaimini says creation in dissolution
18:10–18:12and the second meaning?
18:12–18:16The sastra is the womb of Brahmin, the proof meaning?
18:16–18:19The second meaning is the shield of the first.
18:19–18:23If anyone had supposed that the jhan madhi sutra was an inference,
18:23–18:25this sutra cuts that error away,
18:25–18:29knowledge of Brahmin's extraordinary nature comes from the sastra alone,
18:29–18:32neither from the eye, nor from reasoning.
18:32–18:37The sastra is Brahmin's womb, its sole door of proof.
18:37–18:41And exactly here, friends, this evening has arrived at its true battlefield.
18:42–18:48For if the sole proof of Brahman is the Veda, then a decision upon the purpose of the Veda now becomes
18:48–18:54unavoidable. And on that question this disciple of Jaimini sits before me with the entire army
18:54–19:01of his school at his back. Your turn, friend. Come at full strength. Yesterday I told the
19:01–19:06Nayaaka that to one who has abandoned the center of the citadel there is no need to surrender
19:06–19:11its outer walls. Tonight I am opening the gate of my own fortress with my own hands."
19:13–19:20Act 4. Samanvaya. 4th Sutra, Tat 2 Samanvayad, but that because of the concordance.
19:22–19:28The Memsaka ritualist comes to the middle of the assembly. The lamps are raised high,
19:28–19:34this is the greatest debate of the evening. Then hear Jaimini's entire case, uncut and
19:34–19:41untrimmed. The purpose of the Veda is one, to set men into action. Amnayasia kriyarthatvat,
19:41–19:48the Veda is for the sake of action. Why? Because the meaningfulness of a word lies in its purpose,
19:48–19:53and its purpose lies in engagement and abstention. There is fruit on the riverbank,
19:53–19:59what did this sentence give to anyone? If the hearer does not go to fetch the fruit,
19:59–20:04The sentence has dissolved into the air. The statement of an accomplished thing is either
20:04–20:08useless, or the leavings of another means of knowledge, what the eye can see, why should the
20:08–20:13data say it? Therefore the sentences of Vedanta have only three courses, either they are the
20:13–20:17subsidiary of some injunction, declaring the nature of the agent or of the deity,
20:17–20:22as Vair Vaikapi Devata is a limb of the sacrifice, or they are themselves injunctions
20:22–20:27of meditation. Atma Dravaya means, meditate upon the self, a Pratapati Vadhi, a command
20:27–20:33of meditation for the seeker of immortality, or they are artha-vada, praise of the injunction,
20:33–20:40as in Jaimini Sutra, the Dhyna TV Ekavakyaatvat, Stuti Artha Na Vindsu, and experience two
20:40–20:46stands on my side, even after hearing tat-tvam asai, pleasure, pain, and fear remain exactly
20:46–20:52as they were. If that sentence bestowed the already accomplished state of Brahman, liberation
20:52–20:56would follow upon the very hearing, yet the hearer loses his temper again by evening,
20:56–21:02frightened again. Therefore concede, the statement of the accomplished is fruitless, they daunted
21:02–21:06is the servant of injunction, and yourself is like the sacrificial post and the ahavanya
21:06–21:11fire, a limb of the ritual, knowledge of which is needed for the sake of the sacrifice, not
21:11–21:14for the sake of liberation.
21:14–21:19A deep whispering, the case has been made at full strength.
21:19–21:26A fortress, honestly built, and I shall take it down with the same honesty, stone by stone.
21:26–21:31The first stone, the statement of the accomplished is fruitless.
21:31–21:36The sutras' answer lies in a single word, some invade it, because all the sentences
21:36–21:40of Vedanta converge upon one and the same purport.
21:40–21:46Sad eva samidam agra asit, in the beginning, gentle one, this was being alone, ekam evad
21:46–21:55vidyam, one only, without a second, atma-vay-aitam-ika-evagra-asit, in the beginning this was the self-alone.
21:55–22:00From opening to conclusion a single note, and the rule for determining purport is, to abandon
22:00–22:05what is said, and to imagine what is not said, is a fault.
22:05–22:11The entire apainiat speaks Brahman, the injunction is your addition.
22:11–22:14But where is the answer to fruitlessness?
22:14–22:18the statement be of Brahman, what is the fruit?
22:18–22:22And here, friend, your own touchstone will turn against you.
22:22–22:27The statement of the accomplished is fruitless, is it, indeed?
22:27–22:31Here a story, which is the dearest page of my Bhamadi.
22:31–22:37Adravia, who knows not a single syllable of the Arya tongue, is seated in an assembly.
22:37–22:43A messenger comes and says to Devdatta, Devdatta, blessings upon you, a son has been born
22:43–22:51to you. Devdutta's body thrills with joy, his eyes and face bloom like an open lotus.
22:51–22:58What did the dravya see? No action, Devdutta did not rise and go anywhere, did nothing.
22:58–23:04Only one piece of accomplished news, a sun is born, and a tide of joy. From that thrill
23:04–23:10the dravya understood, in this sentence there was some beloved meaning. So tell me, is the
23:10–23:16statement of the accomplished fruitless. One sentence, without any command, made a man's
23:16–23:23hair stand on end. And if the small accomplished fact, the sun is born, yield so much fruit,
23:23–23:28then, thou thyself art that fearless, unaging, deathless brahmin, for the one who's not of
23:28–23:32ignorance is cut on hearing this accomplished truth, is the fruit any less.
23:34–23:38Then what shall we do with injunction-shaped sentences like Atma-dravaya?
23:38–23:47is to be seen that is a command surely. It has the form of a command not the force of one like
23:47–23:54a knife drawn across stone the shape of a knife the edge blunt this sentence lays no new duty upon
23:54–24:00anyone it merely turns the outward facing man who by nature flows toward objects and sets him
24:00–24:07flowing inward the Dan turns the river's current it produces no new water the real work
24:07–24:13belongs to the sentence that is met after the turning, tat-tvam-acei.
24:13–24:17And whether that sentence is an injunction or a declaration of the accomplished, that
24:17–24:22will be decided by that very distinction which I laid down in a second act, and now that
24:22–24:24sword leaves its sheath.
24:24–24:30Ritual is puru-tantra, do it, do not do it, do it this way, do it that way, option
24:30–24:34operates, lift the oan cup, or do not.
24:34–24:36But knowledge?
24:36–24:39Knowledge is vast to tantra.
24:39–24:46The pot stands before me, and so, the pot is, here no, ought, operates, no option operates,
24:46–24:48no command operates.
24:48–24:51Command me, take this pot to be cloth.
24:51–24:57I shall not be able so to know it, though I wish it a hundred thousand times.
24:57–25:00Knowledge is subject to the thing, not to the agent.
25:00–25:06Therefore, no Brahman, can never even be the object of an injunction, knowing comes not
25:06–25:11from command but from a means of knowledge. And the means of knowledge, the sentence of
25:11–25:17the Upaniad, stands before us, like a gleaming pot in clear white light.
25:17–25:23But my objection from experience still lives. Even after hearing tat tvam ACI, fear and
25:23–25:29grief remain just as they were, so where did that knowledge take place?
25:29–25:33Because between hearing and knowing lies is great a distance as between the seed and
25:33–25:40the tree. Rava is the first step, after it, Mannyana, the firming of the meaning by reasoning,
25:40–25:47after that, Nidhat Hyasinah, continuous, unbroken contemplation. In the half-light of dusk, so
25:47–25:52long as the doubt, a stump or a man, keeps circling, there is no certainty, and the
25:52–25:58sentence heard with doubt still attached is not knowledge, but the beginning of knowledge.
25:58–26:03Just as the student of music hears Ajah and Abha on the first day, and after a year's
26:03–26:08practice recognizes them, the year the same, the notes the same, but direct recognition
26:08–26:10comes through practice.
26:10–26:16And when direct realization comes, what happens then, hear it in four negations, for this
26:16–26:19is the summit of this chapter.
26:19–26:24Moka is not a thing produced, what is produced perishes, like a pot.
26:24–26:29Not a modification, the curd made from milk does not remain forever.
26:29–26:35Not a consecration, consecration is of two kinds, the adding of equality, as dying crystal
26:35–26:41with hibiscus juice, the removal of a defect, as scouring a mirror with brick dust.
26:41–26:46To Brahman nothing can be added, and in it there is nothing to remove, the jen does
26:46–26:51not shine by being scoured like the mirror, the purity of the bath and the openayana
26:51–26:55is the adventitious purity of the jiva, as the heroine's perfume seems to have settled
26:55–26:57upon her friend.
26:57–27:02And not an attainment either, and here is my dearest simile of all, the traveler in the
27:02–27:03boat.
27:03–27:10The boat moves toward midstream, bank, foam, and waves all fall away behind, and the traveler
27:10–27:15arrives at that waveless, calm, clear, still middle.
27:15–27:17Did he find that middle as something new?
27:17–27:23No, the water was everywhere, he merely moved away from the waves.
27:23–27:28Brahman is all-pervading, eternally attained, the illusion of attainment was only the trick
27:28–27:30of the waves.
27:30–27:34All four courses are closed, beyond these four there is no fifth road by which ritual
27:34–27:40might enter into Moka, therefore, knowledge apart, not even the shadow of ritual enters
27:40–27:42into Moka.
27:42–27:46And the one who, living and waking, has come to know this?
27:46–27:51The body will still remain, hunger will still come.
27:51–27:57It will remain, as the sluice snake has cast off lies upon the anthill, dead, discarded,
27:57–27:59and the snake free of it.
27:59–28:02The body is the sluice of Parabda.
28:02–28:07He who has given up both wealth and the love of wealth, what fear has he of thieves?
28:07–28:14He walks in the market, he eats and drinks, and within he is waveless, Javan Makda.
28:14–28:19And on that day, friend, a wonder occurs, which I shall make the final sentence of this
28:19–28:24evening, aha brahmasmi, in this knowledge all injunctions and all means of knowledge
28:24–28:26come to an end.
28:26–28:31A prama is relative to a knower, where the sense of being a knower has melted away, there
28:31–28:36the prama too comes to rest, as at daybreak the lamp's work is done.
28:36–28:40The lamp was no lie, through the night it was truth itself.
28:40–28:46But when the sun has risen, no one blows it out, it fades of its own accord, like a fire
28:46–28:48whose fuel is spent.
28:48–28:53Your ritual is that lamp, friend, the true companion of the whole night.
28:53–28:54My quarrel was never-
28:54–29:00I am a man of the morning side, Baka's body, and it is I who light the lamps at dawn.
29:00–29:04But tonight you have compelled me to concede this much, that the light my lamp gives does
29:04–29:07not come from the wick.
29:07–29:13upon no lovelier sentence has any debate on Samanvaya ever ended.
29:13–29:15Epilogue
29:15–29:18The Sutradara Returns
29:18–29:22He lifts the manuscript from the table and places it beside the conch near the door.
29:22–29:27Yesterday this conch taught us what illusion is.
29:27–29:31Today this book has taught us where the road out of illusion stands written, and that
29:31–29:34road is not a command, it is news.
29:34–29:39A son has been born to you, on merely hearing this much, Devadatta's body had thrilled,
29:39–29:43the messenger had ordered no work to be done.
29:43–29:47The Upaniad is just such a messenger, and its news is greater than that, the one you
29:47–29:52have been searching for all your life is the necklace lying at your own throat.
29:52–29:57The four sutras were four steps, the right to inquire, the defining mark of Brahmin,
29:57–30:01the authority of the sastra, and the concordance of purport, and all four steps lead
30:01–30:05toward a single threshold where the hearer comes to understand that the one of whom the
30:05–30:09messenger was speaking is no one other than himself.
30:09–30:14If tonight you carry this book away in your mind, then keep it like a garland, the flowers
30:14–30:18belong to Sruti, the thread to the sutra maker, and the stringing, the stringing falls
30:18–30:22to every reader, each for himself.
30:22–30:24All the characters exit.
30:24–30:29The lamp goes out last of all, and the conch and the book, side by side, remain
30:29–30:36left behind near the door. A note on this adaptation, the argument dramatized above follows, incondensed
30:36–30:41and re-voiced form, the principal movements of the catastrophe portion of the Caspati-Mishra's
30:41–30:46Bammaty in the first sutra, the examination of the four meanings of the word atha, the
30:46–30:50refutation of a mandatory sequence of ritual before knowledge, the exclusion of mocha
30:50–30:57from the four courses of origination, modification, consecration, and attainment. The illustration
30:57–31:02of the necklace at the throat, the jabbalasruti, the fourfold means, the pravāpikīnaśa chain
31:02–31:07of illustrations, the fishbone and the rest, and the answer of the food in which poison
31:07–31:12is mixed with honey, the secondary sense of the somasruti, the simile of the young bulok,
31:12–31:17and the refutation of the date of reading of brahmā in the compound.
31:17–31:22In the second sutra, the accidental definition, the simile of the sun's motion, the inclusion
31:22–31:25of Yāskā's six modifications of being within the triad, the description of the
31:25–31:31world's variety, the black antelope, the cuckoo, the crane's conception, the denial that the sutra
31:31–31:35is an inference and the garland and thread principle, reasoning as subordinate to sruti,
31:35–31:40the Gandhara sruti, and the establishment of the vastu-tantra, pure-wetantra distinction.
31:42–31:46In the third sutra, both interpretations, Brahmin as the cause of the sastra,
31:46–31:51the illustration of peeney and the ineffability of the tastes of sugarcane, milk, and jaggery.
31:51–31:58The sastra as the proof of Brahmin, the non-eternality of sequence, the simile of the dance teacher
31:58–32:03and pupil, the reconciliation of the positions of Jominion vayasa, and the sense of Daparuya
32:03–32:06acceptable to both sides.
32:06–32:10And in the fourth sutra, the full-strength statement of the Memsakars doctrine that the
32:10–32:15veda is for the sake of action, the Pratipatavidi, the artha-vada, the illustration of the
32:15–32:19sacrificial post and the ahavanya, and the objection from experience that fear and
32:19–32:24And grief persist even after hearing tapped to Vam ACI, the Sidhanta established through
32:24–32:30Saman Veya, the unity of opening and conclusion, the Dravia, devadatta illustration of the fruitfulness
32:30–32:33of stating an accomplished fact, the knife.
32:33–32:38A pond stone simile for Atmadravia, the thing dependence of knowledge, the denial of all
32:38–32:43for courses of the maid with respect to Mocha, the simile of the boat traveller.
32:43–32:48The hibiscus and the crystal, the mirror and the gem, the heroine and her friend,
32:48–32:52Brava, Manana and Ididhyasana and the practice illustration of Ajah and the rest, Jiv and
32:52–32:58Mukti, the snake Sluf, and the coming to rest of all means of knowledge in Taha Brahmasmi.
32:58–33:03This dialogue is an original creative composition built around the argumentative structure
33:03–33:05of the text.
33:05–33:10It does not quote the Sanskrit or the English translations upon which it is based, and
33:10–33:14the Memsaka, the Abjecta, the Young Sanyasi, and the disciple are composite characters
33:14–33:19who give voice to positions raised and answered by the commentary itself, not portrayals of
33:19–33:21named historical persons.

Plain text

तो खछ अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच अच an independent creative work. The characters of this evening. The sutradhara, the stage manager. The kaspati-mishra, the commentator, host of the debate, the sadhantin. The memsaka ritualist, a staunch scholar of the gyminian tradition who holds that the sole purpose of the veda is the injunction of ritual action, this evening's chief pravapakin. The objecta, the doubta, the same voice of doubt from the previous evening, the The questioner on behalf of the assembly. A young sannyasi who has come with a question about the sequence of the asramas. The disciple, the kaspti's disciple. The pariyad, the whispering of the assembly. Setting the same debate hall the next evening. The cordon the conch near the door still lie there just as they were left yesterday. But today a new object has been placed upon the table, a palm leaf manuscript, lying open on whose first page for short sutras are written. Prologue. The sutradhara enters, gesturing toward the manuscript. Last night in this assembly the tale of the conch and the silver was told what illusion is and what its answer 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 There 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. Exit, Act 1. The necklace at the throat. First sutra, a theta brahmajijnasa, then, therefore, the inquiry into Brahmin. But Kasperti is seated. A young sannyasi enters, bowing. Akarya, 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 Makran Suh with Makran, 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? 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, immediately after this, atikara, now begins, as in Athasabdnisesanam, Athayagnisesanam, Magala, an auspicious sound, like that of a concord kettle drum, an apikita bravada, 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 smth is satisfied by the auspiciousness of the mere sound, just as the sight of a water-filled pot, brought for some other air and 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 Makranasay with Makran? 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. Before the student who has completed his Vedic study lie 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 Brahma 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. Dharma is Sādhyā, 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 brahma 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 Radha-Pakaraka, 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 Sainisah comes only after the householder's stage, then the Jabbalasradi 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 sridhi itself has opened the door. Tell your classmate, there is no guard at the door, there is only a threshold, and Its name is, Adha, therefore. Adha, 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, enjoy the pleasure. And 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. From 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, bhakaspati, 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 Brahmin. Then Brahmin is not the object of the inquiry but its purpose, and this whole edifice of yours, the object of the inquiry is Brahmin, 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 tapoorua, 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? At 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 revenue, no one separately mentions the minister, the parasol, the army. I shall go back to my Garukula and tell them, the door is open, and the name of the key is dispassion, not wages." Act 2. The Garland and the Thread. Second Sutra, Jan Madhyasya Yatta, that from which the birth and the rest of this world proceed. Good, Akarya, the right to inquire is established. But inquiry into what? Into Brahmin. And what is Brahmin? I shall drag you back to yesterday's conch. Every object I know, pot, tree, body, all are limited, insensient, perishable. Brahman you declared 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. Mkhdiriya's second sutra is a lamp in precisely that darkness, janmada yasya yadda, 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, So the world, which has arisen from Brahman, is Brahman's sign, though Brahman itself is hidden from the eye. Janmati birth and the rest. What shall we count in this and the rest? Yaskas nerukta enumerates 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 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. 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 Brahmin will hang upon the scales of logic, where the God of Udayana and of Gadjia hangs. And this is the heart of this act, so listen slowly. No, this This sutra is not an independent inference. Seeing 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 That man does indeed form a sirmahs about a cause, as there is no pot without a potter. But in Vedanta that sirmahs 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, Yadavya Imani Bhutanijayante, Tad Brahma, the dialogue of Bhgul and Varua, the Tatariya. The sutra is only the threat. Brahman 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 Gandhara, 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, auction operates, in the ataratra, lift the oan cup or do not lift it, make the offering before sunrise or after, both procedures, both valid, because ritual is poor with 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 to 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 Act 3. The dancer's body. Third sutra, Sastryanitvada, because of being the womb of the sastra. The third sutra is short, karya, but it appears two-faced. Sastryanitvada, some read it as, Brahmin is the womb of the sastra, the cause of the veda, some read it as, the sastra is the womb of Brahmin, the proof of Brahmin. Which is right. Both, and here 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. composed the grammar, was Pne's knowledge contained within the adhi. No, the tongue knows the difference between the sweetness of sugarcane juice, of milk, and 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. 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 Aporuiya, 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 has 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 phoneme eternal, the sound ga, 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 in 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 in dissolution and the second meaning? The sastra is the womb of Brahmin, the proof meaning? The second meaning is the shield of the first. If anyone had supposed that the jhan madhi sutra was an inference, this sutra cuts that error away, knowledge of Brahmin's extraordinary nature comes from the sastra alone, neither from the eye, nor from reasoning. The sastra is Brahmin'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. 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. 4th Sutra, Tat 2 Samanvayad, but that because of the concordance. The Memsaka ritualist comes to the middle of the assembly. The lamps are raised high, this is the greatest debate of the evening. Then hear Jaimini's entire case, uncut and untrimmed. The purpose of the Veda is one, to set men into action. Amnayasia kriyarthatvat, the Veda is for the sake of action. Why? Because 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 this 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 leavings of another means of knowledge, what the eye can see, why should the data 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 Vair Vaikapi Devata is a limb of the sacrifice, or they are themselves injunctions of meditation. Atma Dravaya means, meditate upon the self, a Pratapati Vadhi, a command of meditation for the seeker of immortality, or they are artha-vada, praise of the injunction, as in Jaimini Sutra, the Dhyna TV Ekavakyaatvat, Stuti Artha Na Vindsu, and experience two stands on my side, even after hearing tat-tvam asai, 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, frightened again. Therefore concede, the statement of the accomplished is fruitless, they daunted 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. 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. Sad eva samidam agra asit, in the beginning, gentle one, this was being alone, ekam evad vidyam, one only, without a second, atma-vay-aitam-ika-evagra-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 apainiat speaks Brahman, the injunction is your addition. But where is the answer to fruitlessness? 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. Adravia, who knows not a single syllable of the Arya tongue, is seated in an assembly. A messenger comes and says to Devdatta, Devdatta, 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 dravya 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 dravya 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 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. 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 Dan turns the river's current it produces no new water the real 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 a second act, and now that sword leaves its sheath. Ritual is puru-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 to 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. And 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, fear 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. Rava is the first step, after it, Mannyana, the firming of the meaning by reasoning, after that, Nidhat Hyasinah, 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 Ajah and Abha on the first day, and after 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. Moka 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 jen does not shine by being scoured like the mirror, the purity of the bath and the openayana is the adventitious purity of the jiva, as the heroine's perfume seems to have settled upon her friend. And 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. And the one who, living and waking, has come to know this? The body will still remain, hunger will still come. 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 Parabda. He who has given up both wealth and the love of wealth, what fear has he of thieves? He walks in the market, he eats and drinks, and within he is waveless, Javan Makda. And on that day, friend, a wonder occurs, which I shall make the final sentence of this evening, aha brahmasmi, 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, there the prama too 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- I am a man of the morning side, Baka's body, 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. upon no lovelier sentence has any debate on Samanvaya ever ended. Epilogue The Sutradara Returns He lifts the manuscript from the table and places it beside the conch near the door. 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 Upaniad 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 hearer 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 conch and the book, side by side, remain left behind near the door. A note on this adaptation, the argument dramatized above follows, incondensed and re-voiced form, the principal movements of the catastrophe portion of the Caspati-Mishra's Bammaty in the first sutra, the examination of the four meanings of the word atha, the refutation of a mandatory sequence of ritual before knowledge, the exclusion of mocha from the four courses of origination, modification, consecration, and attainment. The illustration of the necklace at the throat, the jabbalasruti, the fourfold means, the pravāpikīnaśa chain of illustrations, the fishbone and the rest, and the answer of the food in which poison is mixed with honey, the secondary sense of the somasruti, the simile of the young bulok, and the refutation of the date of reading of brahmā in the compound. In the second sutra, the accidental definition, the simile of the sun's motion, the inclusion of Yāskā's six modifications of being within the triad, the description of the world's variety, the black antelope, the cuckoo, the crane's conception, the denial that the sutra is an inference and the garland and thread principle, reasoning as subordinate to sruti, the Gandhara sruti, and the establishment of the vastu-tantra, pure-wetantra distinction. In the third sutra, both interpretations, Brahmin as the cause of the sastra, the illustration of peeney and the ineffability of the tastes of sugarcane, milk, and jaggery. The sastra as the proof of Brahmin, the non-eternality of sequence, the simile of the dance teacher and pupil, the reconciliation of the positions of Jominion vayasa, and the sense of Daparuya acceptable to both sides. And in the fourth sutra, the full-strength statement of the Memsakars doctrine that the veda is for the sake of action, the Pratipatavidi, the artha-vada, the illustration of the sacrificial post and the ahavanya, and the objection from experience that fear and And grief persist even after hearing tapped to Vam ACI, the Sidhanta established through Saman Veya, the unity of opening and conclusion, the Dravia, devadatta illustration of the fruitfulness of stating an accomplished fact, the knife. A pond stone simile for Atmadravia, the thing dependence of knowledge, the denial of all for courses of the maid with respect to Mocha, the simile of the boat traveller. The hibiscus and the crystal, the mirror and the gem, the heroine and her friend, Brava, Manana and Ididhyasana and the practice illustration of Ajah and the rest, Jiv and Mukti, the snake Sluf, and the coming to rest of all means of knowledge in Taha Brahmasmi. This dialogue is an original creative composition built around the argumentative structure of the text. It does not quote the Sanskrit or the English translations upon which it is based, and the Memsaka, the Abjecta, the Young Sanyasi, and the disciple are composite characters who give voice to positions raised and answered by the commentary itself, not portrayals of named historical persons.

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