Gargi questions Yajnavalkya ... ......

[Guest guest]

Respected Advaitins ,

 

We have witnessed some interesting discussions in this group

regarding what is BraHman etc in the past few days ....

 

it is my pleasure to bring to you a lively conversatioon between

GARGI AND YAGNAVALAKYA from the upanishads

 

Please read on ....

 

 

And now there arose Gargi, the daughter of Vachaknu. Gargi began with

the question, "Yajnavalkya, all this here is permeated by the waters.

What then permeates the waters?"

"The waters are permeated by air," said Yajnavalkya. " And what

contains the air ?"

"The heavens."

" And where are the heavens contained ?"

"In the world of the Gandharvas."

"And the world of the Gandharvas?In the regions of the Sun."

"And the solar regions?"

"In the worlds of the Moon.And the lunar worlds?"

"In the regions of the stars."

Gargi went on thus with her seemingly endless questions, but

Yajnavalkya had to cry halt when he came to the world of Brahman. Yet

Gargi asked him again, "And what contains this world of Brahman ?"

There upon Yajnavalkya exclaimed, "Your questions are now going

beyond the limit, Gargi. You have been asking too much, and if you

ask more, your head will fall off."

But she was going to make one last attempt. She told the learned

assembly that she was going to put her last questions to Yajnavalkya,

and this would be his final test. She then called out to

Yajnavalkya, "Yajnavalkya, I am going to put two more questions to

you. They are like a couple of arrows. When the king of Videha goes

to war, he pulls the bowstrings and shoots his arrows. In like

manner, I am aiming these arrow-like questions at you. Let us see how

you will ward them off with the appropriate answers."

Y ajnavalkya said, "Very well, try ." Then Gargi said, "Can you tell

me what is above the sky and what is below the earth, and what is in

between the earth and sky?" To this Yajnavalkya replied, "That is

called sutratman, He binds all from within as by a thread and puts

everything on as it were ; He is Brahman." This satisfied Gargi and

she repeated her question to Yajnavalkya, -the very same question

again ; and Yajnavalkya gave the self-same reply.

 

 

Now Gargi turned to the learned men and addressed them thus, "You

had better bow down to Yajnavalkya and take your leave. No one among

you has the power to get the better of him in the matter of learning

or wisdom."

What Yajnavalkya had really sought to convey in his final reply

to Gargi was this. Brahman is the supreme Seer, though He be

invisible. He is beyond all hearing and yet is Himself the Hearer. He

is beyond the ken of mind, but is Himself the supreme Thinker. He is

Unknowable, but is the supreme Knower. There is none other than He

who sees, hears, thinks and knows.

 

www.searchlight.org

 

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Gargi kept on questioning Yajnavalkya on the nature of BraHMAN to get

the correct answer. It is because of Gargi's relentless efforts,

Yajnavalkya came up with an intelligble definition of the concept of

Brahman.

 

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on another note, My own understanding of Shri Ramachandran's timely

intervention is that as a moderator it is his responsibility to see

that the group runs smoothly without too many personality clashes ...

and i think he did a super job of maintiaining the 'order' in the

group by gently hinting that what we need is a genuine discussion not

some 'vithanda- vadam' ... I think, he is absolutely right. Vithanda-

vadams are useless digressions and takes us away from pursueing the

TRUTH.

 

 

Then again, what is Ku-tarka? Is ku-tarka based on faulty logic or

faulty understanding? lEARNED ADVAITINS in this group should not

get 'annoyed' or 'offended' if members ask questions of different

aspects Of ADWAITA. iT IS ONLY BY CONSTANT IMNQUIRY ONE LEARNS! had

Gargi not questioned Yajnavalakya, would we have now in our hands

such a wonderful description of what constitutes 'Brahhman?

 

ONE FINAL POINT- IT IS ALL ABOUT 'RECONCILIATION' ....

 

The very first chapter of Brahma sutras is called 'the samanvaya

adhyAya' or the chapter of reconciliation.

 

The learned members in this group should 'intervene' when they see a

potential for personality conflict ... Advwita is not 'reconcilation

of different personalities' ... Adwiatha is about different views of

what constitutes the ultimate Reality!

 

in any case, we all have options ... if we are irritated by a certain

members posts, we can skip reading them.... but the member has a

right to post his views , however illogical or faulty it may appear

to others!

 

 

Athaato Brahma Jignyasa