Chapter 20
The little hermitage at Videha attracted learners from different quarters. Pupils used to feel breathless and washed out as they listened to Yajnyawalkya's relentless scrutiny of the mind. There were many who retracted on finding a sultry landscape of rigour and asceticism where they had hoped to find assurance and certainty. Yajnyawalkya's exhortations to wean them away from rituals and sacrifices produced an alarmingly greater adherence to dogma among the followers. They needed something tangible to hold to, something to which they could attribute their hopes and fears, aspirations and failures. They looked upon him as someone who understood the malady and possessed the remedy, but by some eccentric whim chose to hold it back from them.
It was at this stage of unwary moment of lag between Yajnyawalkya and his followers that Ashwala saw his opportunity. So one day he tried to extract from this elusive heretic a commitment to and endorsement of the institution of sacrifice. He surged from the midst of the congregation and cast a challenging but pitying look at Yajnyawalkya. With a contemptuous smile of condescension he said,
“Yajnyawalkya, let us not forget that we are all householders struggling for our livelihood in a world where we are certain to be overtaken by death. What salvation is there for us and how do we, ordinary mortals that we are, transcend materiality and gain immortality?”
Yajnyawalkya suddenly fell silent. He looked in astonishment at Ashwala for a moment. He wondered whether Ashwala's placid countenance did not veil a deep awareness of the tragic dimensions of our existence. He looked meditatively at the ground beneath his feet. In that moment he felt a void within him where there was no awareness of the question being asked to him, nor a search for an answer. He saw in that void, one by one, the faces of all those near and dear to him. He saw those faces being replaced by those who at that moment, stared anxiously at him for an answer. His lips trembled as he tried to hide his agitation.
“By what sacrifice do we attain salvation?” That was the question of Ashwala.
He repeated the question: “By what means do we transcend death and attain salvation?” He forced himself to rise above the turbulence in his mind and spoke, as if invoking a power beyond himself, in a calm, impersonal voice,
“Let your speech be the fire that annihilates the dross. Your speech indeed is the fire of the sacrifice. Your life is the unceasing sacrifice. Tend that fire well with the offering of Speech. That is the sacrificial ritual leading you beyond Death.Your speech indeed is the never-ceasing fire. He, who dwelling in that fire, is yet other than the fire, and controls that fire from within, is your Self, your Atman. Dwell within that Self and not within the speech. Be the power behind the fire and dwell in that power, not in the fire.”
Ashwala and others looked at Yajnyawalkya's brooding introverted visage and wondered at the restraint they had never experienced before in his voice and expression.
Yajnyawalkya relapsed into silence. Everybody knew, there was no way the discussion could be prolonged. Accepting their silence as consent to take leave, Yajnyawalkya rose from his seat.
On that evening, if someone had cared to peep into Yajnyawalkya's cottage, he would have seen a lonely householder tending the fire away from his home, silently sacrificing speech in the fire.
36
Chapter 21
.
After spending the night with Shakalya in his austere cottage, Artabhaga woke up to the light of the sun. He found the abode empty and deserted. There was no trace of the old man. Artabhaga,
The little hermitage at Videha attracted learners from different quarters. Pupils used to feel breathless and washed out as they listened to Yajnyawalkya's relentless scrutiny of the mind. There were many who retracted on finding a sultry landscape of rigour and asceticism where they had hoped to find assurance and certainty. Yajnyawalkya's exhortations to wean them away from rituals and sacrifices produced an alarmingly greater adherence to dogma among the followers. They needed something tangible to hold to, something to which they could attribute their hopes and fears, aspirations and failures. They looked upon him as someone who understood the malady and possessed the remedy, but by some eccentric whim chose to hold it back from them.
It was at this stage of unwary moment of lag between Yajnyawalkya and his followers that Ashwala saw his opportunity. So one day he tried to extract from this elusive heretic a commitment to and endorsement of the institution of sacrifice. He surged from the midst of the congregation and cast a challenging but pitying look at Yajnyawalkya. With a contemptuous smile of condescension he said,
“Yajnyawalkya, let us not forget that we are all householders struggling for our livelihood in a world where we are certain to be overtaken by death. What salvation is there for us and how do we, ordinary mortals that we are, transcend materiality and gain immortality?”
Yajnyawalkya suddenly fell silent. He looked in astonishment at Ashwala for a moment. He wondered whether Ashwala's placid countenance did not veil a deep awareness of the tragic dimensions of our existence. He looked meditatively at the ground beneath his feet. In that moment he felt a void within him where there was no awareness of the question being asked to him, nor a search for an answer. He saw in that void, one by one, the faces of all those near and dear to him. He saw those faces being replaced by those who at that moment, stared anxiously at him for an answer. His lips trembled as he tried to hide his agitation.
“By what sacrifice do we attain salvation?” That was the question of Ashwala.
He repeated the question: “By what means do we transcend death and attain salvation?” He forced himself to rise above the turbulence in his mind and spoke, as if invoking a power beyond himself, in a calm, impersonal voice,
“Let your speech be the fire that annihilates the dross. Your speech indeed is the fire of the sacrifice. Your life is the unceasing sacrifice. Tend that fire well with the offering of Speech. That is the sacrificial ritual leading you beyond Death.Your speech indeed is the never-ceasing fire. He, who dwelling in that fire, is yet other than the fire, and controls that fire from within, is your Self, your Atman. Dwell within that Self and not within the speech. Be the power behind the fire and dwell in that power, not in the fire.”
Ashwala and others looked at Yajnyawalkya's brooding introverted visage and wondered at the restraint they had never experienced before in his voice and expression.
Yajnyawalkya relapsed into silence. Everybody knew, there was no way the discussion could be prolonged. Accepting their silence as consent to take leave, Yajnyawalkya rose from his seat.
On that evening, if someone had cared to peep into Yajnyawalkya's cottage, he would have seen a lonely householder tending the fire away from his home, silently sacrificing speech in the fire.
36
Chapter 21
.
After spending the night with Shakalya in his austere cottage, Artabhaga woke up to the light of the sun. He found the abode empty and deserted. There was no trace of the old man. Artabhaga,
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