Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
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est not only because of its voluminous size, but also because of its declarations and dialectics, upadeæa and upapatti. This Upanişad presents us with Yajñavalkya, the greatest champion of non-dualism, who strode the philosophical stage like a Colossus. Maitreyi, his wife, was responsible for eliciting from her husband some rare passages elucidating the nature of the Self. Yajnavalkya's dialogue with Maitreyi, which occurs in the second chapter of the B.hadara.yaka Upanisad, highlights three points-the nature of the Self as the ultimate value, the distinction between absolute and relative standpoints called paramarthika and vyavaharika respectively, and the importance of the spirit of renunciation in the scheme of life for realizing the Self.
Yajñavalkya argues that everything in the world-husband, wife, son, and so on, is dear not for the sake of any of these things, but for the sake of the Self. According to him, the Self which is bliss by its very nature is primary and all other things, whatever they may be, are secondary in relation to the Self; and the knowledge of the Self is the means to immortality. After explaining the nature of the Self, Yajnavalkya gives illustrations to show how the Self is everything in the manifested world. The various objects in the world are differentiations of the one underlying reality, which is not usually noticed; however, they do not exist apart from the underlying reality just as the particular notes of a drum, which are but differentiations of the one sound of the drum, are not heard apart, and do not exist separate, from the whole sound of the drum. Just as all objects originate from the Self, even so all of them merge in the Self. As the ocean is the one goal of all waters, even so, argues Yajñavalkya, the one primal reality is the goal of all objects. The following example given by him is very illuminating:
As a lump of salt thrown in water becomes dissolved in water and there would not be any of it to seize forth as it were, but wherever one may take it is salty indeed, so, verily, this great being, infinite, limitless, consists of nothing but knowledge. The Self comes out as a separate entity through these elements, and its separateness is destroyed with them. After attaining this oneness, it has no more (particular) knowledge. This is what I say, my dear.13
A brief explanation is necessary in order to correctly understand what Yajñavalkya means when he says that one who has become identical with the Self, i.e. one who has realized the Self, has no more particular knowledge or consciousness. We carry on our daily life thinking that I am a Brahma.a or a K.atriya, that I am a celibate student or a householder, that I am stout, or blind, or happy, and so on, on the basis of what Sankara calls adhyasa, which is due to spiritual ignorance. We transact all kinds of business in our daily life on the basis of the different kinds of cognitions we have. Cognition, desire, and action constitute a causal nexus. We cognize something; we like
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