Brihadaranyaka Upanishad | Part III. Ch V. Yajnavalkya and Kahola

How does the knower of Brahman behave?

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The Upanishads

Photo by Chiara David

1. Next Kahola, the son of Kushitaka, questioned him. "Yajnavalkya," said he, "explain to me the Brahman that is directly and immediately perceived-the self that is within all."

"This is your self that is within all." "Which self is within all, Yajnavalkya?"

"It is that which transcends hunger and thirst, grief, delusion, old age and death. Having realized this Self, brahmins give up the desire for sons, the desire for wealth and the desire for the worlds and lead the life of religious mendicants. That which is the desire for sons is the desire for wealth and that which is the desire for wealth is the desire for the worlds; for both these are but desires. Therefore a brahmin, after he is done with scholarship, should try to live on that strength which comes of scholarship. After he is done with that strength and scholarship, he becomes meditative and after he is done with both meditativeness and non-meditativeness, he becomes a knower of Brahman.

"How does the knower of Brahman behave? Howsoever he may behave, he is such indeed. Everything else but this is perishable."

Thereupon Kahola, the son of Kushitaka, held his peace.

1. The Upanishads translated by Swami Nikhilananda
   

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