Upanishads · Bṛhadāraṇyaka 2,4.13
॥
Devanāgarī
सा ह उवाच मैत्रेयी अत्रैव मा भगवान् अमूमुहन् न प्रेत्य संज्ञा अस्ति इति सः ह उवाच न वा अरे अहम् मोहं ब्रवीमि अलं वा अरे इदम् विज्ञानाय
Transliteration (IAST)
sā ha uvāca maitreyī atraiva mā bhagavān amūmuhan na pretya saṃjñā asti iti saḥ ha uvāca na vā are aham mohaṃ bravīmi alaṃ vā are idam vijñānāya
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
साsāshe; that one
हhasurely; as is known
उवाचuvācahe said; he uttered
मैत्रेयीmaitreyīMaitreyī; the wise Maitreyī
अत्रैवatraivahere itself; right here
माmānot; no need
भगवान्bhagavānvenerable one; sir
अमूमुहन्amūmuhanhe has bewildered me (causative aorist of √muh); he has confused; he has thrown into perplexity
नnanot; no
प्रेत्यpretyaafter death; having departed
संज्ञाsaṃjñāthe designation; individual consciousness
अस्तिastiam; exists
इतिitithus; how
सःsaḥhe; that one
हhasurely; as is known
उवाचuvācahe said; he uttered
नnanot; no
वाvātruly; surely
अरेareO dear one; O
अहम्ahamI; Himself
मोहंmohaṃbewilderment (moha); delusion; bewilderment
ब्रवीमिbravīmiI speak (from √brū); I utter; I speak
अलंalaṃenough (alam); sufficient; enough
वाvātruly; surely
अरेareO dear one; O
इदम्idamthis; this world
विज्ञानायvijñānāyafor understanding (vijñāna, dat.); for comprehension; in order to comprehend
Translation
Maitreyī said: "Here you have bewildered me, my lord: 'after departing there is no awareness'." Yājñavalkya replied: "It is not bewilderment I am speaking, my dear: this is enough for understanding.
Version
657dc948eec2 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:55:53 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A most precious exchange: Maitreyī does not nod — she confesses her bewilderment: amūmuhat, "you have thrown me into confusion". The best pupil in the Veda stumbles over the same stone as Indra before Prajāpati ("he has as it were gone to annihilation", ChU 8.11.1): if after departing there is no awareness, is this not perdition? The honesty of her question is a model: a truth that frightens must be interrogated, not swallowed.
And the teacher's answer is calm: "it is not bewilderment I am speaking" — na moham bravīmi: no confusion, no destruction; "this is enough for understanding" — alam vā are idaṁ vijñānāya: what has been said suffices to understand rightly — if it is thought through. The next verse is that thinking-through: what vanishes is not the conscious one but the duality of his instruments. So the Upaniṣad teaches us too how to read its hard places: not to soften them but to explain them.