Namaste,
My name is Sandeep.
Today we have a very special story from ancient India.
Yajjavalkya was a sage and one of the greatest scholars of his time.
This sage had two wives,
Katyayini and Maitreyi.
Katyayini,
An average housewife,
Did not share Yajjavalkya's interest in spirituality and philosophy.
Maitreyi,
However,
Tried to participate fully in the intellectual and mystical endeavors of his famous husband.
One day,
Yajjavalkya said to Maitreyi,
I want to renounce the householder's life and I intend to divide our property between you and Katyayini.
Maitreyi was not shocked to hear this solemn pronouncement because ancient Indian society expected all men to embrace the monastic life in their old age.
But she was sad that Yajjavalkya was offering mere wealth to her while he himself was about to take up a life of contemplation.
So she asked her husband,
Can wealth help me attain to eternal happiness?
Never,
Replied the sage.
Your life will be just like that of the other rich people.
There is no hope of lasting happiness through wealth.
Maitreyi,
What shall I do with that which will not make me eternally fulfilled and happy?
Instead of this,
Please allow me to have some of your wisdom.
On hearing this,
Yajjavalkya was overwhelmed with joy.
He said,
You have been my beloved all along and now you have said something.
After my own heart,
I will teach the supreme truth of self to you,
Which is the source of all joy.
Please listen carefully.
Yajjavalkya then began to discourse on the subtle knowledge of the self.
He said,
We love so many persons and objects,
But that love is secondary since they only contribute to the pleasure of the self.
It is not for the sake of the husband that he is loved by the wife,
But it is for the sake of her own self that he is loved.
Similarly,
In cases of other bonds and affections,
Our love for the self alone is primary.
Therefore,
Our real self,
Which is the source of all joy,
Is alone worthy of any pursuit.
As a lump of salt dropped into water dissolves in it,
So also the individual evolves as a separate entity from the ocean of pure existence or being.
And after attaining oneness with the self,
And after attaining oneness with the ocean again,
No more has such thought as I so and so am the son or daughter of so and so etc.
Maitreyi asked,
You have thrown me into confusion here.
You say that self is pure existence,
Yet you say that on attaining it,
One has no more existence.
Yajjavalkya said,
I have not said anything contradictory.
We through ignorance identify ourself with the body,
Mind,
Organs,
Personality,
Memory etc.
And imagine our individual existence.
When that identification disappears,
Our individual existence also vanishes.
Merit it on this subtle truth and then you will be able to grasp it.
Yajjavalkya finished his exposition.
A husk fell upon the place,
Maitreyi pondered over the sage's words.
She felt that the truth was ever shining forth within her heart.
Through dispassion and purity of heart,
Maitreyi attained to the perfection,
That is eternal happiness in the true self.
