यः एषः स्वप्ने महीयमानः चरति एषः आत्मा इति ह उवाच एतत् अमृतम् अभयम् एतत् ब्रह्म इति सः ह शान्तहृदयः प्रवव्राज सः ह अप्राप्य एव देवान् एतत् भयम् ददर्श तत् यदि अपि इदम् शरीरम् अन्धम् भवति अनन्धः सः भवति यदि स्रामम् अस्रामः न एव एषः अस्य दोषेण दुष्यति
yaḥ eṣaḥ svapne mahīyamānaḥ carati eṣaḥ ātmā iti ha uvāca etat amṛtam abhayam etat brahma iti saḥ ha śāntahṛdayaḥ pravavrāja saḥ ha aprāpya eva devān etat bhayam dadarśa tat yadi api idam śarīram andham bhavati anandhaḥ saḥ bhavati yadi srāmam asrāmaḥ na eva eṣaḥ asya doṣeṇa duṣyati
"He who moves about in a dream, exalted — that is the ātman. That is the immortal, the fearless, that is Brahman." Indra went away with a heart at peace — but before he had even reached the gods, he saw the danger: "Even if this body is blind, he is not blind; if it is lame, he is not lame. He suffers no harm from its defects…
f13650516ca8 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 23:54:28 UTC
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The second lesson is a rung higher: the ātman is the one who "moves about in a dream, exalted" (svapne mahīyamānaḥ): the dreamer wandering in a world of his own, free of the body's maimings. And at first Indra accepts it gladly: the body is blind — the dreamer sees; the body is lame — he flies; the flesh's defects do not cling to him.
Every lesson of Prajāpati's is not a deception but a rung: the dreamer really is nearer the ātman than a reflection, as the subtle is nearer the spirit than the gross. The teacher leads through the sheaths — body, dream, deep sleep — and lets his pupil live a while on each, so that he may feel out its limit for himself. A pedagogy that is the reverse of cramming: not to spare a pupil the intermediate answers but to lead him through them. And again the saving "before he had even reached the gods": Indra is developing the reflex of checking — the gift of thinking things through to the end.