YAJNYAWALKYA: A QUEST FOR LIFE

BY SUSHAMA KARNIK

CHAPTER 1

Yajnyawalkya's hermitage bustled with excitement. 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 sacrifice to be performed at Videha, the state ruled by king Janaka. It was also an occasion for great sages and scholars of Vedas to assemble and hold conference in Janaka's court. It was the grandest of all occasions so far in the history of philosophy. Great minds were supposed to expound on the mind, matter and things 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', the ultimate of all knowledge, the Supreme Being named in the Vedas, the Beginning and End of all things: animate and inanimate. 

Yajnyawalkya did not intend to participate in the discourse. He had given his disciples a clear directive that they were not going to utter a word during the tempestuous arguments 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 could look into the heart of her skeptical and somewhat cynical husband. The distrust and disdain he harbored in his mind for the ostentation and vanity of those bookish scholars was known to all. Maitreyi alone knew the vast terrain of the mind that lay hidden behind the facade of her husband's intellectual 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 the unexpected as usual.

Suketu could hardly pause for breath. he wanted Maitreyi to take in every word of his account of what he had witnessed there in Videha.

"Mother, can you imagine what our Master accomplished  at Janaka's court? You won't believe what happened! Something impossible, beyond imagination!"

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

"Get ready Mother, to welcome our Master. Get ready for celebration and jubilation. Because soon he will arrive, with a thousand cows marching ahead, kicking up columns of dust as they will be led here to our hermitage. They will belong to us 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 to each of her horns! A thousand cows and ten thousand gold coins!"

Suketu was trying to quantify his happiness ecstatically. Oblivious what Maitreyi thought, he went on:

"You know Mother, they were all kept in view of all the scholars as the coveted prize. Janaka's emissary came forward and announced to the assembly: 'Listen O mighty scholars, whoever amongst you professes to know 'Brahma', the Absolute, may come forward and claim these cows, and walk out of this 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 bated breath. And before anyone realized what was happening, our Master stood up and hailed Somashrawa. He told Somashrawa to go ahead, unleash those cows and get ready to march home with them." 

"What happened then? Did Somashrawa indeed follow your Master's command?"

"How could he , Mother? He stood transfixed! There was unrest in the assembly. But none had the courage to stand up and protest. Finally, Ashwala, Janaka's High Priest of the ritual of sacrifice, got up and challenged our Master."

"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 to follow.

"Our Master smiled, and looked around at the assembly; and this is what he said:

'I am a humble scholar. I confess my ignorance. How can I claim to know what I cannot understand? 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 take them 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, all of them questioned our Master on abstruse points of metaphysics. He answered them all. Not a soul was there to challenge him any further! You should have been there, Mother, to see how he towered above all his adversaries. In fact, I could see his victory, clear as daylight.And why me, everybody did! And what a victory, Mother! I did not understand half as much of what was being discussed. But I could understand the awe-struck silence that ruled there after each round."

Maitreyi did not know why her heart was sinking instead of rejoicing. What Suketu was recounting, sounded like footfalls of destiny on the sands of Time.

She came to herself. Soon Yajnyawalkya would arrive victorious . They must get ready to welcome him home. Suketu's excitement knew no bounds. He had narrated every small detail 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 a thousand cows, followed by hundreds of disciples and their victorious Master. Maitreyi waited tremulously for the signs to emerge on the horizon.

..................................