सा होवाच मैत्रेयी यत् नु मे इयम् भगोः सर्वा पृथिवी वित्तेन पूर्णा स्यात् कथम् तेन अमृता स्याम् इति न इति होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः यथा एव उपकरणवताम् जीवितम् तथा एव ते जीवितम् स्यात् अमृतत्वस्य तु न आशा अस्ति वित्तेन इति
sā hovāca maitreyī yat nu me iyam bhagoḥ sarvā pṛthivī vittena pūrṇā syāt katham tena amṛtā syām iti na iti hovāca 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?" — "No," said Yājñavalkya. "Your life would be like the life of the well-provided. But of immortality there is no hope through wealth."
8f35bcb9a5b7 · publicado 27 jul 2026, 0:54:37 UTC
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Maitreyī's question is of the kind that breaks a life in two: "if the whole earth with all its wealth were mine, would I become immortal by it?" Not "how much is due to me" but "does it buy eternity?" — the sage's wife tests the inheritance by the last measure. And her husband's answer is honest to the end: "your life would be like the life of the well-provided" — more comfortable, no more; amṛtatvasya tu nāśāsti vittena — "of immortality there is no hope through wealth".
A formula among the everlasting ones: wealth prolongs conveniences, not being; at the last frontier the purse is empty however thick it is. The Kaṭha will say the same through Naciketas ("a man is not to be satisfied with wealth", KaU 1.27), the Chāndogya through the fate of lunar merits (kṣīyate). Maitreyī has heard — and is about to make the choice that immortalised her name.