आरामम् अस्य पश्यन्ति न तं पश्यति कश् चन इति तं नायतं बोधयेत् इति आहुः दुर्भिषज्यं ह अस्मै भवति यम् एषः न प्रतिपद्यते अथो खल्व् आहुः जागरितदेशः एव अस्य एषः इति यानि हि एव जाग्रत् पश्यति तानि सुप्तः इति अत्रायं पुरुषः स्वयंज्योतिर् भवति सः अहम् भगवते सहस्रम् ददामि अत ऊर्ध्वं विमोक्षाय ब्रूहि इति
ārāmam asya paśyanti na taṃ paśyati kaś cana iti taṃ nāyataṃ bodhayet iti āhuḥ durbhiṣajyaṃ ha asmai bhavati yam eṣaḥ na pratipadyate atho khalv āhuḥ jāgaritadeśaḥ eva asya eṣaḥ iti yāni hi eva jāgrat paśyati tāni suptaḥ iti atrāyaṃ puruṣaḥ svayaṃjyotir bhavati saḥ aham bhagavate sahasram dadāmi ata ūrdhvaṃ vimokṣāya brūhi iti
They see his playground — but no one sees him. Therefore they say: "Do not wake him abruptly": hard to cure is the man to whom he does not return [as he should]. True, some say: "Dream is the same as waking: what one sees awake, one sees asleep." [But no:] here, in dream, this person is his own light." — "I give a thousand to the reverend one!" said Janaka. "Speak on, for the sake of liberation."
005694ae1a2e · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:12:39 AM UTC
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The close of the dream section gathers three testimonies. The first is about invisibility: "they see his playground (ārāma) — but no one sees him": sleepers' bodies are in plain view, yet no one has ever seen the dreamer; we always see the stage, never the Actor. The second is a folk custom: "do not wake him abruptly" — a soul that has gone off to play must be called back gently, or it "will not return as it should" — an age-old delicacy toward sleepers, which knew that sleep is an absence.
The third is an honest debate: some hold that dream is only a chewing-over of waking ("what one sees awake, one sees asleep"). Yājñavalkya cites the view — and sets it aside with the chief argument: here the person is svayaṁ-jyotiḥ, his own light: let the material of dreams be taken from waking, the light by which they are seen is no one's but his own.
And Janaka's response, which becomes the refrain of the conversation: "a thousand — and speak on, for the sake of liberation" (vimokṣāya)! The king pays for every step — and drives the conversation toward its only goal. That is how the truth should be listened to: paying all one has, and not letting the teller stop short of freedom.