यत् एव ते कश्चिद् अब्रवीत् तत् शृणवाम इति अब्रवीन् मे जित्वा शैलिनिः वाक् वै ब्रह्म इति यथा मातृमान् पितृमान् आचार्यवान् ब्रूयात् तथा तत् शैलिनिः अब्रवीत् वाक् वै ब्रह्म इति अवदतः हि किं स्यात् इति अब्रवीत् तु ते तस्य आयतनम् प्रतिष्ठाम् न मे अब्रवीत् इति एकपात् वा एतत् संराट् इति सः वै नः ब्रूहि याज्ञवल्क्य वाक् एव आयतनम् आकाशः प्रतिष्ठा प्रज्ञा इति एनद् उपासीत का प्रज्ञता याज्ञवल्क्य वाक् एव संराट् इति ह उवाच वाचा वै संराट् बन्धुः प्रज्ञायते ऋग्वेदः यजुर्वेदः सामवेदः अथर्वाङ्गिरसः इतिहासः पुराणम् विद्याः उपनिषदः श्लोकाः सूत्राणि अनुव्याख्यानानि व्याख्यानानि इष्टम् हुतम् आशितम् पायितम् अयम् च लोकः परः च लोकः सर्वाणि च भूतानि वाचा एव संराट् प्रज्ञायन्ते वाक् वै संराट् परमं ब्रह्म न एनम् वाक् जहाति सर्वाणि एनम् भूतानि अभिक्षरन्ति देवः भूत्वा देवान् अप्येति यः एवम् विद्वान् एतद् उपास्ते हस्त्यृषभम् सहस्रम् ददामि इति ह उवाच जनकः वैदेहः सः ह उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः पिता मे अमन्यत न अननुशिष्य हरेत इति
yat eva te kaścid abravīt tat śṛṇavāma iti abravīn me jitvā śailiniḥ vāk vai brahma iti yathā mātṛmān pitṛmān ācāryavān brūyāt tathā tat śailiniḥ abravīt vāk vai brahma iti avadataḥ hi kiṃ syāt iti abravīt tu te tasya āyatanam pratiṣṭhām na me abravīt iti ekapāt vā etat saṃrāṭ iti saḥ vai naḥ brūhi yājñavalkya vāk eva āyatanam ākāśaḥ pratiṣṭhā prajñā iti enad upāsīta kā prajñatā yājñavalkya vāk eva saṃrāṭ iti ha uvāca vācā vai saṃrāṭ bandhuḥ prajñāyate ṛgvedaḥ yajurvedaḥ sāmavedaḥ atharvāṅgirasaḥ itihāsaḥ purāṇam vidyāḥ upaniṣadaḥ ślokāḥ sūtrāṇi anuvyākhyānāni vyākhyānāni iṣṭam hutam āśitam pāyitam ayam ca lokaḥ paraḥ ca lokaḥ sarvāṇi ca bhūtāni vācā eva saṃrāṭ prajñāyante vāk vai saṃrāṭ paramaṃ brahma na enam vāk jahāti sarvāṇi enam bhūtāni abhikṣaranti devaḥ bhūtvā devān apyeti yaḥ evam vidvān etad upāste hastyṛṣabham sahasram dadāmi iti ha uvāca janakaḥ vaidehaḥ saḥ ha uvāca yājñavalkyaḥ pitā me amanyata na ananuśiṣya hareta iti
"Let us hear what [your teachers] have told you." — "Jitvan Śailini told me: 'Speech is Brahman'." — "As one who has a mother, a father and a teacher would say it, so Śailini said: 'speech is Brahman'; for what would one have who does not speak? But did he tell you its dwelling and its support?" — "He did not." — "That is a one-footed [Brahman], your majesty." — "Then tell us yourself, Yājñavalkya!" — "The dwelling of speech is speech itself, its support is space; it should be venerated as knowledge." — "And what is knowledge, Yājñavalkya?" — "Speech itself, your majesty," he said. "By speech, your majesty, a friend is known; the Ṛg-veda, the Yajur-veda, the Sāma-veda, the Atharvāṅgirases, the histories, the purāṇas, the sciences, the upaniṣads, the verses, the sūtras, the expositions, the commentaries, sacrifices, oblations, food, drink, this world, the other world and all beings are known by speech: speech is the highest Brahman. Speech does not leave him who, knowing this, venerates it; all beings flow toward him; becoming a god, he goes to the gods." — "I give you a thousand cows with a bull-elephant," said Janaka. Yājñavalkya answered: "My father held that one should not take a fee without having taught [the whole]."
b4f4469305b2 · publicado 27 jul 2026, 1:09:40 UTC
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A new genre: not an interrogation but a joint audit. Janaka lays out his collection — six theses from six teachers, and the first is: "speech is Brahman" (Jitvan Śailini). Yājñavalkya is twice just: the thesis is honoured ("as a man with a mother, a father and a teacher would say it" — in due form of succession; "what would one have who does not speak?") — and weighed: without a "dwelling and support" (āyatana, pratiṣṭhā) it is ekapād, a "one-footed" Brahman, a quarter of the truth (as with Gārgya before Ajātaśatru, 2.1).
And it is filled out in due form: the dwelling of speech is speech itself, its support is space, and it is to be venerated as prajñā, knowledge: everything knowable — from the Vedas to food and both worlds — "is known by speech"; speech is the treasurer of all that is known (cf. 1.5.8). The fruit: "speech does not leave the knower" — the gift of the word becomes sure.
The end of the scene is a lovely pairing of nobilities: the king pays at once, a thousand cows with a bull-elephant — and the sage declines: "my father taught: do not take a fee before you have taught it whole." A teaching is no ware to be carried off in pieces; and a son honours his father's rule across the decades. Six times over Yājñavalkya will measure in this way: honour, weigh, fill out — and take no payment until the end.