Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣadबृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्

Yajnavalkya Kanda. Adhyaya 4, Brahmana 3. The self-luminous Self: waking, dream, and the light of man

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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.

॥ 4.3.33 ॥

The measure of bliss

स यो मनूष्याणां राद्धः समृद्धो भवत्यन्येषामधिपतिः सर्वैर्मानुष्यकैर्भोगैः सम्पन्नतमः स मनुष्याणां परम आनन्दः । अथ ये शतं मनुष्याणामानन्दाः स एकः पितॄणां जितलोकानामानन्दः । अथ ये शतं पितॄणां जितलोकानामानन्दाः स एको गन्धर्वलोक आनन्दः । अथ ये शतं गन्धर्वलोक आनन्दाः स एकः कर्मदेवानामानन्दो ये कर्मणा देवत्वमभिसम्पद्यन्ते । अथ ये शतं कर्मदेवानामानन्दाः स एक आजानदेवानामानन्दः । यश्च श्रोत्रियोऽवृजिनोऽकामहतः । अथ ये शतमाजानदेवानामानन्दाः स एकः प्रजापतिलोक आनन्दः । यश्च श्रोत्रियोऽवृजिनोऽकामहतः । अथ ये शतं प्रजापतिलोक आनन्दाः स एको ब्रह्मलोक आनन्दः । यश्च श्रोत्रियोऽवृजिनोऽकामहतः । अथैष एव परम आनन्दः । एष ब्रह्मलोकः सम्राट् । इति होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः । सोऽहं भगवते सहस्रं ददामि । अत ऊर्ध्वं विमोक्षायैव ब्रूहीति । अत्र ह याज्ञवल्क्यो बिभयां चकार मेधावी राजा सर्वेभ्यो मान्तेभ्य उदरौत्सीदिति ॥

In transliteration

sa yo manūṣyāṇāṃ rāddhaḥ samṛddho bhavatyanyeṣāmadhipatiḥ sarvairmānuṣyakairbhogaiḥ sampannatamaḥ sa manuṣyāṇāṃ parama ānandaḥ | atha ye śataṃ manuṣyāṇāmānandāḥ sa ekaḥ pitṝṇāṃ jitalokānāmānandaḥ | atha ye śataṃ pitṝṇāṃ jitalokānāmānandāḥ sa eko gandharvaloka ānandaḥ | atha ye śataṃ gandharvaloka ānandāḥ sa ekaḥ karmadevānāmānando ye karmaṇā devatvamabhisampadyante | atha ye śataṃ karmadevānāmānandāḥ sa eka ājānadevānāmānandaḥ | yaśca śrotriyo'vṛjino'kāmahataḥ | atha ye śatamājānadevānāmānandāḥ sa ekaḥ prajāpatiloka ānandaḥ | yaśca śrotriyo'vṛjino'kāmahataḥ | atha ye śataṃ prajāpatiloka ānandāḥ sa eko brahmaloka ānandaḥ | yaśca śrotriyo'vṛjino'kāmahataḥ | athaiṣa eva parama ānandaḥ | eṣa brahmalokaḥ samrāṭ | iti hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ | so'haṃ bhagavate sahasraṃ dadāmi | ata ūrdhvaṃ vimokṣāyaiva brūhīti | atra ha yājñavalkyo bibhayāṃ cakāra medhāvī rājā sarvebhyo māntebhya udarautsīditi ||

In English

He who is sound and prosperous among men, lord over others, most richly furnished with every human enjoyment, his is the highest bliss of men. A hundred such joys of men make one joy of the ancestors who have won their world. A hundred joys of those ancestors make one joy in the world of the gandharvas. A hundred joys in the world of the gandharvas make one joy of the gods who became gods by their works, who attain godhood by what they do. A hundred joys of those gods by works make one joy of the gods by birth, and of one who is learned in the Veda, free from guile, and unstruck by desire. A hundred joys of the gods by birth make one joy in the world of Prajapati, and of such a learned, guileless, desireless one. A hundred joys in the world of Prajapati make one joy in the world of Brahman, and of such a learned, guileless, desireless one. And this, indeed, is the highest bliss. This is the world of Brahman, O emperor, said Yajnavalkya. "I give you a thousand cows, sir. Speak on, for the sake of liberation itself." At this Yajnavalkya was afraid, thinking, "This clever king has driven me to the end of all my conclusions."

In plain words

The Upanisad now measures bliss by hundredfold steps. Take the happiest of men, healthy, prosperous, ruling others, supplied with every human pleasure; that is the highest human joy. A hundred such human joys equal one joy of the ancestors (pitrs) who have won their world; a hundred of those equal one joy of the gandharvas; a hundred of those, one joy of the gods-by-work (who earned their divinity by ritual); a hundred of those, one joy of the gods-by-birth, which is also the joy of a Vedic scholar who is without guile and unstruck by desire; a hundred of those, one joy in Prajapati's world; a hundred of those, one joy in the world of Brahman (Hiranyagarbha). And that is the highest bliss. This, O emperor, is the world of Brahman, said Yajnavalkya. Janaka again offers a thousand cows and asks him to go on toward liberation. At this Yajnavalkya grew uneasy, realizing the shrewd king was drawing every last conclusion out of him.

All mantras