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The
Self
by Yajnavalkya
In sooth, a husband is dear, -- not because you
love the husband; but, a husband is dear because
you love the Self. In sooth, a wife is dear, -- not
because you love the wife; but a wife is dear
because you love the Self.... In sooth, the gods
are dear, -- not because you love the gods; but
gods are dear because you love the Self. In sooth,
beings are dear, -- not because you love beings;
but beings are dear because you love the Self. In
sooth, the whole world is dear, -- not because you
love the whole world; but the whole world is dear
because you love the Self.
In very truth, it is the Self that should be
seen, heard, thought and meditated.... Indeed, when
the Self is seen, heard, thought and understood,
everything is comprehended....
It is as when a drum is beaten: You cannot lay
hold of the sound at large, but by laying hold of
the drum or the beater of the drum, the sound is
seized....
It is as with a lump of salt: Thrown into water,
it dissolves [making] it impossible to
retrieve it; but wherever you may dip, it is salty
throughout. In the same manner it is, truly, with
this great, infinite, boundless Being which
consists of intelligence: Emerging from the
elements, it becomes immersed in them again. After
death there is no consciousness.... For, where
there is, as it were, a duality, there you see one
another, smell one another, hear one another, talk
to one another, understand one another, recognize
one another. But where everything has become one's
self, -- how could you smell anything, see
anything, hear anything, talk to anyone, think
anything, discern anything? How could you discern
that by which all is discerned? How could you
discern the discerner?...
... It is your self which is in all things....
You could not see the Seer in seeing, you could not
hear the hearer in hearing, you could not think the
thinker in thinking, you could not discern the
discerner in discerning. It is your self that is in
everything. Anything else [means]
woe....
... That which [though] dwelling in all
being, beings do not know, whose body all beings
are, governs all beings from within, -- that is
your Self, the inner controller, the immortal
one.... It is the seer that is not seen, the hearer
that is not heard, the thinker that is not thought,
the discerner that is not discerned. There is
nothing apart from it that sees, nothing apart from
it that hears, nothing apart from it that thinks,
nothing apart from it that discerns. It is your
Self, the inner controller, the immortal....
... That which is above the heavens, that which
is below the earth, that which is between both
heaven and earth, is what is called the past,
present and future. It is woven, warp and woof, in
space... That [which space is woven in]
Brahmans call the Imperishable: It is not coarse,
not fine, not short, not long, not glowing, not
clinging, not shadowy, not dark; it is windless,
etherless, unattached, tasteless, odorless,
eyeless, earless, speechless, nonenergetic,
breathless, mouthless, descentless, endless,
without inside or outside; it does not consume
anything, nor is it consumed by anything....
Verily,... he who does not know this
Imperishable and [yet] sacrifices, worships
and practices penance in this world for thousands
of years on end, -- to him it is of limited
[avail]. Indeed,;;; who departs from this
world and does not know this Imperishable, he is to
be pitied. But he...who departs from this world and
knows that Imperishable, he is a Brahman.
... The Self is not this, it is not that. It is
inconceivable, for it cannot be conceived. It is
indestructible, for it cannot be destroyed. It is
unattached, for it does not attach itself. It is
unbound, It does not come to naught. It does not
fail....
Excerpted from Brhadaranyaka
Upanishad.
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Yajnavalkya's
Smriti: With the Commentary of Vijnanesvara, Called
the Mitaksara & the Gloss of Balambhatta
(Sacred Books of the Hindus Number
2)

Classical
Indian Philosophy

Seven
Systems of Indian Philosophy

Indian
Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist
Thought
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