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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Yajnavalkya Kanda. Adhyaya 4, Brahmana 1. Janaka and the partial definitions of Brahman

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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.

॥ 4.1.7 ॥

The heart, one foot of Brahman

यदेव ते कश्चिदब्रवीत्तच्छृणवामेति । अब्रवीन्मे विदग्धः शाकल्यः । हृदयं वै ब्रह्मेति । यथा मातृमान् पितृमानाचार्यवान् ब्रूयात्तथा तच्छाकल्योऽब्रवीद्धृदयं वै ब्रह्मेति । अहृदयस्य हि किं स्यादिति । अब्रवीत्तु ते तस्यायतनं प्रतिष्ठाम् । न मेऽब्रवीदिति । एकपाद्वा एतत्सम्राडिति । स वै नो ब्रूहि याज्ञवल्क्य । हृदयमेवायतनमाकाशः प्रतिष्ठा । स्थितिरित्येनदुपासीत । का स्थितिता याज्ञवल्क्य । हृदयमेव सम्राडिति होवाच । हृदयं वै सम्राट्सर्वेषां भूतानामायतनम् । हृदयं वै सम्राट्सर्वेषां भूतानां प्रतिष्ठा । हृदये ह्येव सम्राट्सर्वाणि भूतानि प्रतिष्ठितानि भवन्ति । हृदयं वै सम्राट्परमं ब्रह्म । नैनं हृदयं जहाति । सर्वाण्येनं भूतान्यभिक्षरन्ति । देवो भूत्वा देवानप्येति । य एवं विद्वानेतदुपास्ते । हस्त्यृषभं सहस्रं ददामीति होवाच जनको वैदेहः । स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः पिता मेऽमन्यत नाननुशिष्य हरेतेति
In transliteration
yadeva te kaścidabravīttacchṛṇavāmeti | abravīnme vidagdhaḥ śākalyaḥ | hṛdayaṃ vai brahmeti | yathā mātṛmān pitṛmānācāryavān brūyāttathā tacchākalyo'bravīddhṛdayaṃ vai brahmeti | ahṛdayasya hi kiṃ syāditi | abravīttu te tasyāyatanaṃ pratiṣṭhām | na me'bravīditi | ekapādvā etatsamrāḍiti | sa vai no brūhi yājñavalkya | hṛdayamevāyatanamākāśaḥ pratiṣṭhā | sthitirityenadupāsīta | kā sthititā yājñavalkya | hṛdayameva samrāḍiti hovāca | hṛdayaṃ vai samrāṭsarveṣāṃ bhūtānāmāyatanam | hṛdayaṃ vai samrāṭsarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ pratiṣṭhā | hṛdaye hyeva samrāṭsarvāṇi bhūtāni pratiṣṭhitāni bhavanti | hṛdayaṃ vai samrāṭparamaṃ brahma | nainaṃ hṛdayaṃ jahāti | sarvāṇyenaṃ bhūtānyabhikṣaranti | devo bhūtvā devānapyeti | ya evaṃ vidvānetadupāste | hastyṛṣabhaṃ sahasraṃ dadāmīti hovāca janako vaidehaḥ | sa hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ pitā me'manyata nānanuśiṣya hareteti
In English

Whatever anyone told you, let us hear it. Vidagdha Sakalya told me that the heart indeed is Brahman. As one who had a mother, a father, and a teacher would say, so did Sakalya say that the heart is Brahman, for what could one have who had no heart? But did he tell you its abode and its support? He did not tell me, said Janaka. Then this is but one foot of it, O emperor. Then do tell us, Yajnavalkya. The heart itself is its abode, and the ether its support. One should meditate on it as steadiness. What is the nature of this steadiness, Yajnavalkya? It is just the heart, O emperor, said Yajnavalkya. The heart, O emperor, is the abode of all beings, and the heart, O emperor, is the support of all beings, for in the heart, O emperor, all beings rest. The heart, O emperor, is the Supreme Brahman. The heart never deserts the one who, knowing thus, meditates upon it; all beings flock to him; becoming a god, he attains the gods. I give you a thousand cows with a bull as large as an elephant, said Janaka of Videha. Yajnavalkya replied: My father held that one should not accept a gift without having instructed.

In plain words

Janaka reports that Vidagdha Sakalya taught that the heart is Brahman, because without a heart (the inner seat of understanding) a person would have nothing. Yajnavalkya grants it as partial and completes it: the heart is its own abode, the ether is its support, and it is to be meditated on as steadiness or stability (sthiti). He explains the secret name: the heart is the abode and the support of all beings, since all beings rest and are established in the heart. So meditated upon, the heart is the highest Brahman, never abandoning the meditator, who becomes a god and reaches the gods. Janaka offers the gift; Yajnavalkya again declines, the instruction not being finished.

In the commentaries

Sri SankaraAdvaita

Sankara reads this as the heart, the inner seat of intellect, held to be Brahman only as 'one foot,' fulfilled by its abode, support in ether, and secret name 'steadiness,' since all beings are stationed and stand firm in the heart, so the meditation yields its fruit as upasana while the unconditioned Brahman is still to be disclosed in the brahmanas that follow.

Sri Sankara, Brhadaranyaka-bhasya 4.1.7 (via Madhavananda)
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