Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Yajnavalkya Kanda. Adhyaya 3, Brahmana 7. Uddalaka: the inner controller, the antaryamin

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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.

॥ 3.7.1 ॥

The thread and the inner controller

अथैनमुद्दालक आरुणिः पप्रच्छ याज्ञवल्क्येति होवाच । मद्रेष्ववसाम पतञ्चलस्य काप्यस्य गृहेषु यज्ञमधीयानाः । तस्यासीद्भार्या गन्धर्वगृहीता । तमपृच्छाम कोऽसीति । सोऽब्रवीत्कबन्ध आथर्वण इति । सोऽब्रवीत्पतञ्चलं काप्यं याज्ञिकांश्च वेत्थ नु त्वं काप्य तत्सूत्रं यस्मिन्नयं च लोकः परश्च लोकः सर्वाणि च भूतानि संदृब्धानि भवन्तीति । सोऽब्रवीत्पतञ्चलः काप्यो नाहं तद्भगवन् वेदेति । सोऽब्रवीत्पतञ्चलं काप्यं याज्ञिकांश्च । वेत्थ नु त्वं काप्य तमन्तर्यामिणं य इमं च लोकं परं च लोकं सर्वाणि च भूतान्यन्तरो यमयति । सोऽब्रवीत्पतञ्चलः काप्यो नाहं तं भगवन् वेदेति । सोऽब्रवीत्पतञ्चलं काप्यं याज्ञिकांश्च । यो वै तत्काप्य सूत्रं विद्यात्तं चान्तर्यामिणमिति स ब्रह्मवित्स लोकवित्स देववित्स वेदवित्स आत्मवित्स सर्ववित् । इति तेभ्योऽब्रवीत् । तदहं वेद । तच्चेत्त्वं याज्ञवल्क्य सूत्रमविद्वांस्तं चान्तर्यामिणं ब्रह्मगवीरुदजसे मूर्धा ते विपतिष्यति । वेद वा अहं गौतम तत्सूत्रं तं चान्तर्यामिणमिति । यो वा इदं कश्च ब्रूयाद्वेद वेदेति यथा वेत्थ तथा ब्रूहीति

In transliteration

athainamuddālaka āruṇiḥ papraccha yājñavalkyeti hovāca | madreṣvavasāma patañcalasya kāpyasya gṛheṣu yajñamadhīyānāḥ | tasyāsīdbhāryā gandharvagṛhītā | tamapṛcchāma ko'sīti | so'bravītkabandha ātharvaṇa iti | so'bravītpatañcalaṃ kāpyaṃ yājñikāṃśca vettha nu tvaṃ kāpya tatsūtraṃ yasminnayaṃ ca lokaḥ paraśca lokaḥ sarvāṇi ca bhūtāni saṃdṛbdhāni bhavantīti | so'bravītpatañcalaḥ kāpyo nāhaṃ tadbhagavan vedeti | so'bravītpatañcalaṃ kāpyaṃ yājñikāṃśca | vettha nu tvaṃ kāpya tamantaryāmiṇaṃ ya imaṃ ca lokaṃ paraṃ ca lokaṃ sarvāṇi ca bhūtānyantaro yamayati | so'bravītpatañcalaḥ kāpyo nāhaṃ taṃ bhagavan vedeti | so'bravītpatañcalaṃ kāpyaṃ yājñikāṃśca | yo vai tatkāpya sūtraṃ vidyāttaṃ cāntaryāmiṇamiti sa brahmavitsa lokavitsa devavitsa vedavitsa ātmavitsa sarvavit | iti tebhyo'bravīt | tadahaṃ veda | taccettvaṃ yājñavalkya sūtramavidvāṃstaṃ cāntaryāmiṇaṃ brahmagavīrudajase mūrdhā te vipatiṣyati | veda vā ahaṃ gautama tatsūtraṃ taṃ cāntaryāmiṇamiti | yo vā idaṃ kaśca brūyādveda vedeti yathā vettha tathā brūhīti

In English

Then Uddalaka, the son of Aruna, asked him. He said: Yajnavalkya, we once dwelt among the Madras, studying the sacrifice in the house of Patanchala Kapya. His wife was possessed by a gandharva. We asked him, Who are you? He said, I am Kabandha, son of Atharvan. He said to Patanchala Kapya and to the students of the sacrifice: Do you know, Kapya, that thread by which this world and the world beyond and all beings are held together? Patanchala Kapya said, I do not know it, revered one. He said again to Patanchala Kapya and to the students of the sacrifice: Do you know, Kapya, that inner controller who from within controls this world and the world beyond and all beings? Patanchala Kapya said, I do not know him, revered one. He said again to Patanchala Kapya and to the students of the sacrifice: Whoever, Kapya, knows that thread and that inner controller knows Brahman, knows the worlds, knows the gods, knows the Vedas, knows the Self, knows all. So he told them. This I know. If you, Yajnavalkya, drive away these cows of Brahman without knowing that thread and that inner controller, your head will fall off. I do know, Gautama, that thread and that inner controller. Anyone at all might say, I know, I know. Tell it as you truly know it.

In plain words

Uddalaka Aruni (also called Gautama) opens his challenge. He recalls studying the sacrifice in the Madra country, where a gandharva (a celestial spirit) named Kabandha, son of Atharvan, possessed his teacher's wife and posed two questions: do you know the thread (sutra) on which this world, the next world, and all beings are strung together, and do you know the inner controller (antaryamin) who governs them all from within? Whoever knows both knows everything. Uddalaka now puts the same to Yajnavalkya, warning that if he claims the prize cows without truly knowing, his head will fall off. Yajnavalkya says he does know, and Uddalaka presses him: anyone can say 'I know'; tell it as you actually know it.

In the commentaries

Sri SankaraAdvaita

Sankara opens the section by marking what was left unfinished. The thread (sutra) that strings the worlds and all beings has been named, but the inner Ruler who guides that thread from within is the deeper teaching now demanded. Uddalaka's challenge, that Yajnavalkya's head will fall if he does not know the antaryamin, frames the inner controller as the very knowledge on which one's standing as a knower depends.

Sri Sankara, Brhadaranyaka-bhasya 3.7.1 (via Madhavananda)

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