सः यथा सैन्धवघनः अनन्तरः अबाह्यः कृत्स्नः रसघनः एव एवम् वा अरे अयम् आत्मा अनन्तरः अबाह्यः कृत्स्नः प्रज्ञानघनः एव एतेभ्यः भूतेभ्यः समुत्थाय तान्य् एव अनुविनयति न प्रेत्य संज्ञा अस्ति इति अरे ब्रवीमि इति ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः
saḥ yathā saindhavaghanaḥ anantaraḥ abāhyaḥ kṛtsnaḥ rasaghanaḥ eva evam vā are ayam ātmā anantaraḥ abāhyaḥ kṛtsnaḥ prajñānaghanaḥ eva etebhyaḥ bhūtebhyaḥ samutthāya tāny eva anuvinayati na pretya saṃjñā asti iti are bravīmi iti ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥ
As a lump of salt has no inside and no outside, and is wholly one solid mass of taste, so, my dear, this ātman has no inside and no outside, and is wholly one solid mass of knowing (prajñāna-ghana). Having risen out of these elements, [a being] vanishes after them. After departing there is no [separate] awareness — so I say to you, my dear." Thus spoke Yājñavalkya.
6fb5c3f1954e · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:19:03 AM UTC
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The culminating parable, with two new facets against 2.4.12. First: the salt here is not dissolved in water — it is taken as a lump: saindhava-ghana, "with no inside and no outside, wholly one solid mass of taste": salt has no unsalted core and salty rind — as the ātman has no layer where it is not consciousness. Second: instead of vijñāna-ghana we have prajñāna-ghana — "a solid mass of knowing", in the very word that will enter the fourth great utterance (prajñānaṁ brahma, Aitareya 3.3).
And again the hard saying, "after departing there is no awareness" (na pretya saṁjñāsti): objective consciousness, composed of the elements, departs after the elements. Words that for the second time in the Upaniṣad throw its best pupil into confusion — and for the second time deliberately: the truth about the indestructible must pass through the terror of an apparent annihilation in order to be cleansed of it.