Madhu Kanda. Adhyaya 2, Brahmana 4. Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi: for the sake of the Self
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Each mantra is given four ways: the Sanskrit in its Devanagari script, the same sounds in Roman letters, an English translation set in our own voice, and then the line once more in plain words, for a first and unhurried reading.
Not every passage is opened to the same depth. A few central mantras carry the full cross-school commentary, where the schools are set side by side. The rest are kept here whole and faithful, set in their place but not expounded, so the book stays entire and nothing is dropped for being thought minor.
Where the schools read a line differently, the difference is kept open. None is crowned and none is corrected. Each is met on its own terms, and where they contradict, the contradiction is left standing for you to sit with.
For the sake of the Self
Then he said: Not for the husband's sake is the husband dear, but for the sake of the Self the husband is dear. Not for the wife's sake is the wife dear, but for the sake of the Self the wife is dear. Not for the sons' sake are the sons dear, but for the sake of the Self the sons are dear. Not for the sake of wealth is wealth dear, but for the sake of the Self wealth is dear. Not for the sake of the brahmin's calling is it dear, but for the sake of the Self it is dear. Not for the sake of the kshatriya's power is it dear, but for the sake of the Self it is dear. Not for the sake of the worlds are the worlds dear, but for the sake of the Self the worlds are dear. Not for the sake of the gods are the gods dear, but for the sake of the Self the gods are dear. Not for the sake of beings are beings dear, but for the sake of the Self beings are dear. Not for the sake of all is all dear, but for the sake of the Self all is dear. The Self, Maitreyi, is what must be seen, what must be heard, what must be reflected upon, what must be deeply contemplated. By the seeing of the Self, by the hearing, the reflecting, and the knowing of It, all this is known.
He said, 'A husband is not dear for the husband's own sake; he is dear for the sake of the Self. A wife is not dear for the wife's own sake; she is dear for the sake of the Self. So too with sons, with wealth, with the brahmin's calling and the kshatriya's power, with the worlds, the gods, and all beings: none is loved for its own sake, but for the sake of the Self within. Everything is dear for the sake of the Self. So it is the Self, Maitreyi, that should be seen, heard, reflected upon, and deeply contemplated (darsana, sravana, manana, nididhyasana). When the Self is seen, heard, reflected upon, and known, all this is known.'
ātman
the Self. That which stands apart from the three bodies, beyond the five sheaths, the witness of the three states, whose nature is being, consciousness, and bliss.
Where the schools meet, and where they part
The Self is the supreme object of love, and the dearness of every finite thing is borrowed from it, not its own.
The Self is known through a disciplined path, hearing then reflection then contemplation, not by hearing alone.
The Self is the one non-dual reality, Pure Intelligence, identical with Brahman and with the seeker's own self. All is dear for the Self's sake because nothing exists apart from the Self; all love is the Self's love of itself, and to know It is to know all, for there is no second thing.
The Self here is the supreme Lord, Narayana. Every dependent thing is dear by the Lord's will and because He is the cause of all; the dearness is dependence on the independent Lord, not non-difference. One who takes anything other than the Lord as the supreme Self goes to obscurity.
The Self is Brahman, the highest Self, the inner controller of all; the individual self is real and eternal but exists as the body or mode of Brahman, inseparably. All is dear for the sake of the indwelling Lord, and liberation is communion and likeness, never absolute identity.
Is the Self that makes all things dear one's own identity with the sole reality, or the Lord on whom all dear things, and the loving self, eternally depend? The dialogue does not say; the schools divide here, and the question is left standing.
When Yajnavalkya says a husband is dear not for the husband's sake but for the sake of the Self, he means:
- Relationships are worthless
- Every love is, at bottom, drawn from the Self, the one thing dear in itself
- Only the husband matters
- Love should be given up
Show the answer
By what does the verse say the Self is to be realized?
- Wealth and merit
- Hearing alone
- Ritual offering
- Hearing, reflection, and contemplation together
Show the answer
What we love when we love
Yajnavalkya is leaving. Before he goes he turns to the wife who asked not for the whole earth full of wealth but for the one thing that does not die, and he tells her something that rearranges everything: a husband is not dear for the husband's sake, but for the sake of the Self. Not the wife for the wife's sake, not the children, not the wealth, not even the gods. For the sake of the Self they are dear.
It can sound cold the first time, as though he were emptying the world of its loves. He is doing the opposite. He is naming what has been true under every love all along. The warmth you feel toward a face is not manufactured by the face; it is the Self, shining through, that you are answering. Take any dear thing and follow its dearness down, and you arrive at the same place every time. The litany walks you from the near to the dearest only to loosen your grip on each, so that you can feel the one thing your hand was really closing around.
And then he tells her how it is found: the Self is to be seen, and for that to be heard, then reflected on, then sat with until it is no longer something you were told. Hearing, thinking, contemplating, in that order and all together. Not a fact to collect. A seeing to be earned.
The schools will divide on what this Self finally is, and we keep that division whole rather than choose for you. For Advaita it is your own identity with the sole reality; for Madhva and for Ramanuja's school it is the Lord, the inmost Self on whom you and everything you love depend. But before they part they agree on the turn itself, and the turn is the teaching: nothing you love is loved for its own sake, and to find what is, you must hear, and then think, and then be still.
Whether the Self that lights all loves is your own identity with the one reality, or the Lord on whom you and all you love depend, the dialogue does not decide.
In the people and things you love, what is it you are actually loving?
In the commentaries
Here Sankara reads the heart of it. No object is loved for its own sake, but for the sake of the Self, because nothing stands apart from the Self to be loved on its own; the litany runs from the near to the dear only to loosen the seeker's grip on each. The Self is realized by hearing, reflection, and contemplation taken together, not by hearing alone; and when It is known, all is known, for there is no second thing.