सा ह उवाच मैत्रेयी यन् नु मे इयम् भगोः सर्वा पृथिवी वित्तेन पूर्णा स्यात् स्यां नु अहम् तेन अमृता अहो न इति न इति ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः यथा एव उपकरणवताम् जीवितम् तथा एव ते जीवितम् स्यात् अमृतत्वस्य तु न आशा अस्ति वित्तेन इति
sā ha uvāca maitreyī yan nu me iyam bhagoḥ sarvā pṛthivī vittena pūrṇā syāt syāṃ nu aham tena amṛtā aho na iti na iti ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥ yathā eva upakaraṇavatām jīvitam tathā eva te jīvitam syāt amṛtatvasya tu na āśā asti vittena iti
Maitreyī said: "My lord, if this whole earth with all its wealth were mine, would I become immortal by it, or not?" — "No, no," said Yājñavalkya. "Your life would be like the life of the well-provided; but of immortality there is no hope through wealth."
adb11a3d0416 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:18:17 AM UTC
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Maitreyī's question sounds again, and here with an addition: syāṁ nv ahaṁ tenāmṛtāho na iti — "would I become immortal by it — or not?": she herself prompts the terrible answer, ready to hear it. And the answer is the old one, minted for ever: "a life like that of the well-provided — no more; of immortality through wealth there is no hope" (amṛtatvasya tu nāśāsti vittena).
The repetition of this scene after all the conversations with Janaka changes its weight: we now know the price of the question — we have heard of the "great loss" of one who does not know (4.4.14) and of the wretchedness of one who departs without knowledge (3.8.10). Maitreyī applies to her inheritance, at the very threshold, the one measure by which Yājñavalkya measured all that night — and the inheritance does not survive it.