यत् एव ते कश्चिद् अब्रवीत् तत् शृणवाम इति अब्रवीन् मे उदङ्कः शौल्बायनः प्राणो वै ब्रह्म इति यथा मातृमान् पितृमान् आचार्यवान् ब्रूयात् तथा तत् शौल्बायनो अब्रवीत् प्राणो वै ब्रह्म इति अप्राणतः हि किं स्यात् इति अब्रवीत् तु ते तस्य आयतनम् प्रतिष्ठाम् न मे अब्रवीत् इति एकपाद् वा एतत् संराट् इति सः वै नः ब्रूहि याज्ञवल्क्य प्राण एव आयतनम् आकाशः प्रतिष्ठा प्रियम् इति एनद् उपासीत का प्रियता याज्ञवल्क्य प्राण एव संराट् इति ह उवाच प्राणस्य वै संराट् कामाय अयाज्यम् याजयति अप्रतिगृह्यस्य प्रतिगृह्णाति अपि तत्र वधाशङ्का भवति याम् दिशम् एति प्राणस्यैव संराट् कामाय प्राणो वै संराट् परमं ब्रह्म न एनम् प्राणो जहाति सर्वाणि एनम् भूतानि अभिक्षरन्ति देवः भूत्वा देवान् अप्येति यः एवम् विद्वान् एतद् उपास्ते हस्त्यृषभम् सहस्रम् ददामि इति ह उवाच जनकः वैदेहह् सः ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः पिता मे अमन्यत न अननुशिष्य हरेत इति
yat eva te kaścid abravīt tat śṛṇavāma iti abravīn me udaṅkaḥ śaulbāyanaḥ prāṇo vai brahma iti yathā mātṛmān pitṛmān ācāryavān brūyāt tathā tat śaulbāyano abravīt prāṇo vai brahma iti aprāṇataḥ hi kiṃ syāt iti abravīt tu te tasya āyatanam pratiṣṭhām na me abravīt iti ekapād vā etat saṃrāṭ iti saḥ vai naḥ brūhi yājñavalkya prāṇa eva āyatanam ākāśaḥ pratiṣṭhā priyam iti enad upāsīta kā priyatā yājñavalkya prāṇa eva saṃrāṭ iti ha uvāca prāṇasya vai saṃrāṭ kāmāya ayājyam yājayati apratigṛhyasya pratigṛhṇāti api tatra vadhāśaṅkā bhavati yām diśam eti prāṇasyaiva saṃrāṭ kāmāya prāṇo vai saṃrāṭ paramaṃ brahma na enam prāṇo jahāti sarvāṇi enam bhūtāni abhikṣaranti devaḥ bhūtvā devān apyeti yaḥ evam vidvān etad upāste hastyṛṣabham sahasram dadāmi iti ha uvāca janakaḥ vaidehah saḥ ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥ pitā me amanyata na ananuśiṣya hareta iti
"Let us hear what they have told you." — "Udaṅka Śaulbāyana told me: 'Breath is Brahman'." — "As one who has a mother, a father and a teacher would say it, so he said: 'breath is Brahman'; for what would one have who does not breathe? But did he tell you its dwelling and its support?" — "He did not." — "That is a one-footed [Brahman], your majesty." — "Then tell us yourself, Yājñavalkya!" And he named its dwelling, its support and how it should be venerated — and Janaka offered a thousand cows with a bull-elephant, and Yājñavalkya answered: "My father held that one should not take a fee without having taught the whole."
2ae520811f4b · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:09:40 AM UTC
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"Breath is Brahman": a thesis familiar from all the Veda (the victorious prāṇa, 1.3). And the argument is irresistible: "what would become of one who does not breathe?" But Janaka knows the lesson: without a dwelling and support it is a quarter. Yājñavalkya fills it out: the dwelling of the breath is the breath of life itself, its support is space; it is to be venerated as "the dear" (priya) — and life will come to love the one who venerates it.
The shape of the round is always the same, and in it lies Yājñavalkya's method: every partial thesis is honoured (there is a lawful succession behind it and an honest argument), weighed ("one-footed" without a dwelling and a support) and filled out to four feet. And every time there is the refusal of payment until the teaching is complete: with him the truth is not sold by the piece.