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YAJNYAWALKYA A Quest for life



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YAJNYAWALKYA

A Quest for life

Sushama Karnik



NotionPress5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane, Chennai - 600005

First Published by NotionPress

Copyright © Sushama Karnik 2013

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 978-93-83185-15-3

This book is sold subject to condition that it shall not by way

of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or hired out, circulatedand no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except

for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be

made without written permission of the publishers.

This book has been published in good faith that the work of

the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make

the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher

disclaim the responsibility for any inadvertent errors.



To the memory ofmy beloved father, Sharatchandra Patankar

(1913-1994)

and my beloved mother,Tara Patankar

(1916-2011),

both of whom were ideal educators remembered for their dedication and integrity.





Foreword

Upanishads , known as Vedanta , are theculmination of the ancient Vedic quest forthe knowledge of Atman : the inner self.

Yajnyawalkya, Janaka, Gargi, Shakalya,

Artabhaga, Maitreyi, Katyayani; the majorcharacters of this novel, belong to anUpanishad called Brihadaranyaka , which isknown to be the longest and the oldest of all Upanishads. Though these characters owetheir origin to Brihadaranyaka, there is a

considerable departure in my treatment of them in this novel. Brihadaranyaka formedthe ground from where I gathered the seedand transplanted it to grow in the modernsoil, with the sensibility and the idiom whichbelongs to our time. However, at certain

points, I have tried to reproduce the archaictenor of the Sanskrit language to recreatethe atmosphere of formal debates in ancientIndia.

I met the character of Yajnyawalkya in thepages of a Sanskrit text prescribed for study at the undergraduate level of college. Thetext contained a few excerpts fromBrihadaranyaka. There was one more excerptfrom another Sanskrit text called

Yajnyawalkya Smruti, the authorship of which



is conventionally attributed to Yajnyawalkya

himself.

Whereas Yajnyawalkya, the proponent of Yajnyawalkya Smruti, is a prudent andpragmatic law-giver of society, the one inBrihadaranyaka appears to be a recalcitrant

egoist who challenges the smug pedagogues who are out to devalue him at the symposiumheld under the auspices of King Janaka. Theostensible purpose of the symposium is toseek enlightenment on 'Brahma': the Absoluteand the Ultimate principle of life of the

universe.

But everyone is aware that it is impossible toexpound on it. Yajnyawalkya who has been

watching in silence all this while, comesforward, and defying all decorum, dares theaudience to stop him as he directs his discipleto walk away with the coveted prize of athousand cows, meant to be won by thescholar who could prove to the assembly thathe knew 'Brahma', and was capable of explaining its nature to the assembly.

In all, by his acts, gestures, and language, Yajnyawalkya rose far above his time andsounded a note for a new age. Though apriest by vocation, he detested the vacuity of the shallow intellectualism of his time.It was intellectualism raised to the level of

ii YAJNYAWALKYA



a dignified ritualism in the form of

performances of ostentatious rites. Yajnyawalkya knew that those scholars whohad gathered at the assembly could not gobeyond rituals and dogmas to grasp the innermeaning of 'Brahma'.We see him making amockery of their empty rhetoric as he cleverly

silences them all, beating them on their ownground by his suave and apparently deepexposition of the subject at hand. Hisdisdainful attitude to his fellow academiabears testimony to the rupture that divides his

vocation from his deeper understanding of life

and humanity.

The Sanskrit language of these parts of Brihadaranyaka dons a robe of other-worldly metaphors and an occult imagery of personification for the abstract, intangiblerealities of the mind and the spirit in orderto negotiate an experience of another domain.Decoding the meaning of certain mystifyingoccurrences that took place at Janaka'ssymposium as reported in the Upanishad wasa challenge.At those crucial points, language

was used to hide, rather than to reveal the

meaning. It was a dense forest of obscurities which sheathed riddles of psychology andparapsychology. While working my way through those riddles, I realized the existenceof a tempestuous clash of personalities:

Yajnyawalkya and Shakalya. When these two

Foreword iii



personalities engage in a formal debate, the

apparently pedagogic questions and answerssuddenly take a turn for an indignantdenunciation of Gargi: a female participant inthe debate: and a terrible curse pronouncedby Yajnyawalkya upon Shakalya: a fellowparticipant in the debate. To me, this event

seemed to loom like a configuration out of thedark and cast its shadow over those portionsof Brihadaranyaka wherever Yajnyawalkyamade an appearance. The event had too muchof reality in it to be dismissed as a mythical,enigmatic phenomenon.

Certain nodal points began to emerge in my search for the meaning of the enigmaticpersonality of Yajnyawalkya.Yajnyawalkya'soutrageous entry into the fierce polemics of Janaka's symposium formed one of thosenodal points, giving a glimpse of the rivalry between Yajnyawalkya and Shakalya, whichseemed to have its roots in the personalhistory of both.

The other points were relatively undramatic.One of those was Maitreyi's unexpectedly

sharp rebuttal of Yajnyawalkya's proposal of distributing his wealth between his two wives:Katyayani and Maitreyi. Yajnyawalkya'sanswer to Maitreyi's demand that she be givenher share in his knowledge of his Self andnot in his wealth is a terse and taciturn reply:

iv YAJNYAWALKYA



"Look into thy Self; listen to thy Self; and stay

attuned to it always. The vision, voice and thecounseling of that Self will give you all that is

worthy of knowledge."

The experience of the meeting of the Atman:the individual soul and Paramatman: the

divine soul: is described by the mystics asan experience of supreme joy, inexpressible in

words and inaccessible to the intellect. It isproclaimed as the end of all fear. For most,it is a difficult state to realize, because itends all awareness of the duality between

me and the other at a highly mystical levelof consciousness: in fact, it is the end of consciousness on the physical plane. Oneschool of Indian mystics who call themselves 'dualists' -'dvaity' , - wish to retain the individualconsciousness in that moment of the greatunion to be able to experience that blissand live in it. Yajnyawalkya who is one withthe spirit of the Vedas and the Upanishadsendorses the vision of Advaita:the non-dualist

vision. He believes that after we attain thegreat union with Brahma: the Ultimate: wedo not retain consciousness on the physical

plane. It is the end of our existence on theearthly plane and the end of ourconsciousness as we know it on the earthly plane. That is the destination toward which

we all progress in life. The question whether we are mortal or immortal has no relevance

Foreword v



and significance for him; and the prospect of

our death on the earthly plane holds no fearfor him. He discards all impediments one afteranother in his quest. But not everyone can doit with ease. He knows it. He shields thosearound him from a premature exposure to theknowledge of Brahma: the Ultimate: which

can be terrifying for an unprepared soul.

It is indeed very difficult to translate theUpanishadic concept of knowledge into alanguage. That is the reality of oneness with'Brahma'. So long as we do not reach that

knowledge we torment ourselves by thefeeling or delusion of being 'alone'. ToMaitreyi, that fear is yet real. She feels, shecannot conquer that fear without

Yajnyawalkya, who is more of a spiritualmentor than a husband to her. However, as

yet, she is tormented by the 'angst' of livingin a world without the knowledge of god.

Yajnyawalkya of the Upanishad knew thatMaitreyi was not ready yet for the knowledgehe had gained of life, humanity and God.Perhaps that is why, in the Upanishad, heputs an end to her quest for knowledge in an

apparently brusque manner, saying, "Enoughof this intellectualism now!"

With these words, Yajnyawalkya of theUpanishad closed the portals of knowledge for

vi YAJNYAWALKYA



Maitreyi and walked ahead alone.

Maitreyi had asked Yajnyawalkya,” Can allthis wealth make me immortal?" In theUpanishad, he simply said, "Immortality and

wealth are far apart; wealth gives comforts,but it is the destroyer of immortality!"

The story of Yajnyawalkya and Maitreyi lies far beyond these nodal points. It cannot be retrieved fully from the texts of the long -lost

past. Upanishads only leave behind for us the signposts on the way.

Sushama Sushama Karnik Karnik

MumbaiMumbai

0303 February February 20122012

Foreword vii





Acknowledgement

I recall the days when the notebookscontaining the manuscripts of this work werelying in my cupboard, almost abandoned andcast to oblivion, although the theme and the

characters were living in my consciousnessall the time, and leading me to relate themto life from time to time. It seemed thatI had forgotten them, but they would notlet me forget them; especially Yajnyawalkya,

with whom I had developed a love—hate

relationship ever since I met him in the scanty pages of our Sanskrit text-book prescribed forIntermediate Arts syllabus of the years goneby.

The first witness to the inception of the theme

of this book is my classmate from ElphinstoneCollege, Usha Patankar with whom I share thecontents of my heart to this day. We bothremember the day, when after our classes

were over and we were walking towardsChurch gate station, how I had exclaimed, “Ihate Yajnyawalkya!”

Later, in the course of time, for a long while, Yajnyawalkya, Usha and I had partedcompany, but at some level the relationshipcontinued. When I started teaching English



literature, the lost links with the lost continent

were revived, and as I read BrihadaranyakaUpanishad in the quietude of our dingy PatkarCollege reading room I could see the horizonsof that continent in a new light of understanding. I started writing, wrote a fewchapters every now and then; but there came

a time when the pressures of life took precedence over inspiration, and the fictionalnarrative had to hibernate for a considerably long period.

It was so long that as years went by, I was

scared to look at those notebooks lying at thebottom of piles of papers.

I had given up hopes that I would everresume writing, when something began tostir. It was the visit to a temple in our

vicinity and the sight of the beautiful imageof Goddess Durga in that temple. I have neverseen Durga in such a beautiful manifestationas I saw her there every morning. But themessage had to come to me through thehuman channel.

I used to feel curious about the silent priest who was dedicated to that temple and whosepresence seemed to have merged with thepresence of Durga there. I was surprised tofind that this extremely silent person wasan Acharya ( a preceptor who has mastered

x YAJNYAWALKYA



ancient Sanskrit scriptures and is qualified

to teach them), and had done his post-graduation from Benaras Hindu University. Itold him about what I was writing, how it hadcome to a stand-still and how I had lost hopesof resuming the writing.

I still remember the light falling on his face,the abstracted expression in his eyes, as helooked at a distant, invisible point in spaceand said, “You will write; you are going to

write pages after pages. The writing is goingto fill up notebooks after notebooks like these.

You are going to bring it to completion.”

I did not believe him. But I started writing.Every morning he would place his commentsin my notebooks, sometimes come up withfresh insights, and the narrative wouldproceed further. The work which had beenput aside for years, got completed in two

years.

I must acknowledge my debt in gratitude tothis person: Acharya Rajanikant Jha.

I must acknowledge the help rendered interms of time, meticulous and tireless effortin going through the entire text for the initialformatting and editing, and technicalassistance, by my husband Avinash and sonNeehar, who gifted to me his laptop and got

Acknowledgement xi



me started on the work of typing the text

right away, even though I did not know thealpha and omega of typing. And it worked; Icould type with a marvelous speed.

My heart-felt thanks are due to my very firstreaders: my friend Mrs. Sangata Pol, and my

brother-in –law, Major General Vinod Karnik who sat through the novel the whole night,not putting it down once before he finished it.Both Sangata and Vinod have a keen insightinto Upanishads and the discussions I had

with them on the topics related to my

narrative were very insightful.

I must thank my publisher and his team of young, enthusiastic people who have won my admiration and respect for the efficient andelegant execution of the project.

And finally, I feel my thanks also go to thereaders who have been reading the chaptersof this novel as it was making its appearanceon my blog ‘Ancient Indian Quest forKnowledge’. Although I do not know thempersonally, the +1s they added were always

heartening for me. And how can I say thatI do not know them? By now I do knowthem at a different level, and I must mentionfour of them whose steady encouragementkept me going on with the blog. I think they won’t mind if I mention them here;

xii YAJNYAWALKYA



Annemieke Reffeltrath from Netherlands, Saji

Thankachan, Bernd Wetzel from Germany and Amit Malhotra from Delhi, India. There aremany others who I know, have been reading iton the blog, but whose names I do not know.My thanks also go them.

Sushama Karnik.

Acknowledgement xiii





j

Chapter Chapter 11

Yajnyawalkya's hermitage bustled withexcitement. A month ago, Yajnyawalkya

had left for Videha with his disciples who

were among the chosen few. Yajnyawalkya was going to be present at the great sacrificeto be performed at Videha, the state ruled by king Janaka.It was also an occasion for greatsages and scholars of Vedas to assemble andhold conference in Janaka's court. It was the

grandest of all occasions in the history of schools of philosophy. Great minds weresupposed to expound on Mind, Matter, andthings beyond Mind and Matter.

Janaka's quest for knowledge was endless.He considered himself a humble seeker and

was eager to be enlightened on 'Brahma', theultimate of all knowledge; the Supreme Beingnamed in the Vedas, the Beginning and theEnd of all things: animate and inanimate.

Yajnyawalkya did not intend to participatein the discourse. He had given his disciples

a clear directive that they were not goingto utter a word during the tempestuousarguments that were likely to ensue. They

were simply going to watch the mighty scholars as they wrangled over problems of metaphysics.



Maitreyi was wondering what then was

on Yajnyawalkya's mind. Somehow, she couldlook into the heart of her skeptical andsomewhat cynical husband. The distrust anddisdain he harbored in his mind for theostentation and vanity of those bookishscholars was known to all. Maitreyi alone

knew the vast terrain of the mind that lay hidden behind the facade of her husband'sintellectual audacity.

When Suketu, one of his younger disciples,reached her, breathless with excitement of news from Videha, she listened without

betraying a sign of trepidation, expecting theunexpected as usual.Suketu could hardly pause for breath. He

wanted Maitreyi to take in every word of hisaccount of what he had witnessed there in

Videha.“Mother, can you imagine what our Master

accomplished at Janaka's court? You won'tbelieve what happened! Somethingimpossible, beyond imagination!”

“Don't try my patience, Suketu; you know,and I know, nothing is impossible for yourMaster! However, what did your Master do?

I am eager to know.” “Get ready Mother, to welcome our Master. Get ready for celebrationand jubilation. Because soon he will arrive,

with a thousand cows marching ahead,kicking up columns of dust as they will be ledhere to our hermitage. They will belong to us

2 YAJNYAWALKYA



Mother. And what wealth they are going to

bring with them; do you know?''“No, I don't. What wealth?”“Oh, my dear Mother, each of those

thousand cows has five gold coins tied toeach of her horns! A thousand cows and tenthousand gold coins!”

Suketu was trying to quantify his happinessecstatically. Oblivious of what Maitreyithought, he went on:

“You know Mother; they were all keptin view of all the scholars as the covetedprize. Janaka's emissary came forward and

announced to the assembly: 'Listen, O mighty scholars, whoever amongst you professes toknow ‘Brahma’, the Absolute, may comeforward and claim these thousand cows and

walk out of the assembly with impunity'.”“Indeed?” Maitreyi was getting aroused

now.“What happened then?” She asked, a little

excitedly.“There was a stunned silence. Everyone

was looking at everyone else with batedbreath. And before anyone realized what washappening, our Master stood up and hailed

Somashrawa. He told Somashrawa to goahead, unleash those cows, and get ready tomarch home with them.”

“What happened then? Did Somashrawaindeed follow your Master's command?”

Sushama Karnik 3



“How could he, Mother? He stood

transfixed. There was unrest in the assembly.But none had the courage to stand andprotest.Finally, Ashwala, Janaka's High Priest of theritual of sacrifice, got up and challenged ourMaster.”

“What did he say?” Maitreyi was getting a

little curious now.“Yajnyawalkya,” he said, “You have the

audacity to walk away with the coveted prize;do you thereby declare that you know‘Brahma’?

“What did your Master say then?” asked

Maitreyi, fearing something untoward tofollow.“Our Master smiled, and looking around at

the assembly, this is what he said, --“I ama humble scholar. I confess my ignorance.How can I claim to know what I cannotunderstand? I will salute the one who really knows 'Brahma’. All I understand and know is

what I need at this moment for my livelihood."I am in need of these cows, and I will takethem home.”

The assembly was all agog with anger.Finally the king got up to control them. He

permitted them to interrogate our Master. Ashwala, Kahola, Artabhaga, Bhujyu, Ushasta,Gargi, Aruni and Shakalya; one by one, allof them questioned our Master on abstrusepoints of metaphysics. He answered them all.Not a soul was there to challenge him any

4 YAJNYAWALKYA



further! You should have been there Mother,

to see how he towered above all hisadversaries. In fact, I could see his victory,clear as daylight. And why me, everybody did! And what a victory Mother! I did notunderstand half as much of what was beingdiscussed. But I could understand the awe-

struck silence that ruled after each round."Maitreyi did not know why her heart was

sinking instead of rejoicing. What Suketu wasrecounting sounded like footfalls of destiny onthe sands of Time.

She came to herself. Soon Yajnyawalkya

would arrive victorious. They must get ready to welcome him home. Suketu's excitementknew no bounds. He had narrated every smalldetail, with the exuberance of one who was

witness to a great episode of life.Soon enough, the air would be filled with

the dust kicked up by the hooves of athousand cows, followed by hundreds of disciples and their victorious Master. Maitreyi

waited tremulously for the signs to emerge onthe horizon.

Sushama Karnik 5



j

Chapter Chapter 22

K atyayani saw Maitreyi rapt in silence.Her observation never failed her when it

came to interpreting Maitreyi's spells of

silence. As always, she could sense Maitreyi'smisgivings. The two women had been co-

wives long enough to divine the slightesttremor in each other’s hearts. It was the mostunusual kind of kinship.

Katyayani had a way of finding out

everything. Not even Yajnyawalkya with hisstudied detachment could ever elude her.

Katyayani thrust her finger under Maitreyi'schin and forced her to confront. Maitreyismiled wearily and looked away. Katyayanishook her head in exasperation.

“I know what you are thinking of!” saidKatyayani reproachfully.

“Indeed? You always do!” said Maitreyi with a feigned amusement.

“Now, don't tell me you are not thinking of Gargi.”

'There is no deceiving you Katya! Whoeverhas tried it should ask me!”“Then I am right; am I not? Silly!”“What?”“To have been married to Yajnyawalkya

and continue to torment yourself like that!”



YAJNYAWALKYA A Quest for life

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