There was one such householder, Yajnyavalkya, who thought it proper, now that he had accomplished his wordly ordinances, to retire into the forest, and go, inward. So, Yajnyavalkya, called his wife Maitreyi, and said: ‘Maitreyi, I am ready to go into the forest. Pravrajisyan va are’ham asmat sthanad asmi. Therefore, let me divide the property, between you and my other wife Katayini.’ Maitreyi was excessively wise, so she remarked: ‘Sir, indeed if the whole world were mine, would I become deathless by it, tell me?’ ‘Maitreyi,’ replied Yajnyavalkya, ‘aho na iti, na iti. No. No. Your life will be like those who have much and much wealth. But wealth cannot bring amritam, immortality.’ On which Maitreyi remarked: ‘What’s the use of that which brings not immortality. Sir, therefore, tell me that by which one gains immortality?’ Yajnyavalkya, deeply moved, replied: ‘You were always such a thoughtful one. So, now I will tell you, what brings immortality. Please reflect on it. Think deeply. Know, it’s not for the sake of the husband that the husband is dear, but for the sake of—atmanastu kamaya patih priyo bhavati—it’s for the sake of Atman, the Self, that the husband is dear. It’s not for the sake of the wife that the wife is loved, but it’s for the sake of the Self, the Atman. So too, were it the children or wealth, loved, or the Brahmin and even the king. Why, were it the gods one loves, they too, all are loved for the sake of the Self, Maitreyi. Therefore it is for the Self, is all this loved, sarvasya kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati. Please meditate on all this Maitreyi, truly, the Self, Atman, is to be seen, heard of (from the sage, the Acharya), reflected on and known. Then it is—all this is known. It is through reason alone one reaches it.’ ‘How so, Sir?’ ‘Just as when a conch is blown one cannot distinguish its various particular notes, but they are included in the general note of the conch, or in the general sound produced by different kinds of blowing, so too, by knowing the Absolute Self, all this is known, the Vedas, the sciences, the rituals.’

‘You bewilder me, Sir, and I cannot understand.’

Then it was, Yajnyavalkya, made that celebrated statement, one of the greatest in all philosophical literature: ‘For, where there is duality, as it were, one sees the other, one touches the other, one hears the other, one knows the other. But when everything has become one’s own Self, what is there to see, and what to know? Above all how should one know the knower? Vijnataramare kena vijaniyat? This, Maitreyi, is the final instruction. Such indeed is life eternal.’ And having said this, Yagnyavalkya went away into the forest: iti hoktva, yagnyavalkyo vijahara.

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