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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Yajnavalkya Kanda. Adhyaya 3, Brahmana 9. Sakalya: how many gods, and the one Person; neti neti

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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.

॥ 3.9.1 ॥

How many gods are there

अथ हैनं विदग्धः शाकल्यः पप्रच्छ। कति देवा याज्ञवल्क्येति। स हैतयैव निविदा प्रतिपेदे यावन्तो वैश्वदेवस्य निविद्युच्यन्ते। त्रयश्च त्री च शता त्रयश्च त्री च सहस्रेति। ओमिति होवाच। कत्येव देवा याज्ञवल्क्येति। त्रयस्त्रिंशदिति। ओमिति होवाच। कत्येव देवा याज्ञवल्क्येति। षडिति। ओमिति होवाच। कत्येव देवा याज्ञवल्क्येति। त्रय इति। ओमिति होवाच। कत्येव देवा याज्ञवल्क्येति। द्वाविति। ओमिति होवाच। कत्येव देवा याज्ञवल्क्येति। अध्यर्ध इति। ओमिति होवाच। कत्येव देवा याज्ञवल्क्येति। एक इति। ओमिति होवाच। कतमे ते त्रयश्च त्री च शता त्रयश्च त्री च सहस्रेति
In transliteration
atha hainaṃ vidagdhaḥ śākalyaḥ papraccha| kati devā yājñavalkyeti| sa haitayaiva nividā pratipede yāvanto vaiśvadevasya nividyucyante| trayaśca trī ca śatā trayaśca trī ca sahasreti| omiti hovāca| katyeva devā yājñavalkyeti| trayastriṃśaditi| omiti hovāca| katyeva devā yājñavalkyeti| ṣaḍiti| omiti hovāca| katyeva devā yājñavalkyeti| traya iti| omiti hovāca| katyeva devā yājñavalkyeti| dvāviti| omiti hovāca| katyeva devā yājñavalkyeti| adhyardha iti| omiti hovāca| katyeva devā yājñavalkyeti| eka iti| omiti hovāca| katame te trayaśca trī ca śatā trayaśca trī ca sahasreti
In English

Then Vidagdha Sakalya questioned him. How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya? He answered by this very invocation, by the number named in the invocation of the Visvedevas: three and three hundred, and three and three thousand. It is so, he said. How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya? Thirty-three. It is so, he said. How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya? Six. It is so, he said. How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya? Three. It is so, he said. How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya? Two. It is so, he said. How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya? One and a half. It is so, he said. How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya? One. It is so, he said. Then which are those three and three hundred, and three and three thousand?

In plain words

Sakalya asks Yajnavalkya how many gods there are. Yajnavalkya first gives the large liturgical number recited in the Visvedeva invocation (nivid): 3,303 and 3,003. Then, prompted each time with a fresh how many, he folds the count down in stages, 33, 6, 3, 2, 1.5, 1, Sakalya assenting at each step. Finally Sakalya turns back to the largest number and asks which gods it actually names.

In the commentaries

Sri SankaraAdvaita

Sankara reads the dwindling count, three thousand three hundred and six gods drawn down by repeated questioning to thirty-three, to six, to three, to one and a half, and at last to one, as the disclosure that the many are only powers of a single principle. The whole multitude, he says, is gathered into the one vital force and expands again out of it, the differences among the gods being differences of glory and of the meditation that reaches them, not separate beings standing on their own.

Sri Sankara, Brhadaranyaka-bhasya 3.9.1 (via Madhavananda)
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