The Brahmin's Wife Asks How the Self Is Grasped

Verse 1 (14.35.1)

नेदमल्पात्मना शक्यं वेदितुं वाऽकृतात्मना । बहु चाल्पं च संक्षिप्तं विस्तृतं च मतं मम ॥

nedamalpātmanā śakyaṃ vedituṃ vā'kṛtātmanā | bahu cālpaṃ ca saṃkṣiptaṃ vistṛtaṃ ca mataṃ mama

This cannot be understood by one of small mind or by one whose self is untrained. To me it seems at once much and little, brief and extended.

Note on the text: Page heading reads ब्राह्मण उवाच (14-35-1x), but the words are the wife's; the CE heads 14.34.1 brāhmaṇy uvāca. Speaker corrected to the Brahmin's wife.

Verse 2 (14.35.2)

उपायं तं मम ब्रूहि येनैषा लभ्यते मतिः । तन्मन्ये कारणं कर्म यत एषा प्रवर्तते ॥

upāyaṃ taṃ mama brūhi yenaiṣā labhyate matiḥ | tanmanye kāraṇaṃ karma yata eṣā pravartate

Tell me the means by which this understanding is gained. I think that the action from which it arises must be its cause.

Note on the text: Page's heading 14-35-1x ब्राह्मण उवाच covers this verse too; the wife is plainly the one asking (CE 14.34.1 brāhmaṇy uvāca covers 14.34.1-2). Speaker corrected to the Brahmin's wife.

Verse 3 (14.35.3)

अरणीं ब्राह्मणीं विद्धि गुरुरस्योत्तरारणिः । तपःश्रुतेभिमथिनी ज्ञानाग्निर्जायते ततः ॥

araṇīṃ brāhmaṇīṃ viddhi gururasyottarāraṇiḥ | tapaḥśrutebhimathinī jñānāgnirjāyate tataḥ

Know the lower kindling-stick to be the Brahmin's wife, and the upper stick to be her teacher. Austerity and learning are the churning; from them the fire of knowledge is born.

Verse 4 (14.35.4)

यदिदं ब्रह्मणो लिङ्गं क्षेत्रज्ञ इति संज्ञितम् । ग्रहीतुं येन यच्छक्यं लक्षणं तस्य तद्वद ॥

yadidaṃ brahmaṇo liṅgaṃ kṣetrajña iti saṃjñitam | grahītuṃ yena yacchakyaṃ lakṣaṇaṃ tasya tadvada

This sign of Brahman that is called the field-knower: tell me the mark by which it can be grasped.

Note on the text: Page heading misprinted ब्राह्मणयुवाच (14-35-4x); read ब्राह्मण्युवाच, the wife (CE 14.34.4 brāhmaṇy uvāca). Speaker given as the Brahmin's wife. CE's last line reads tat kva nu; the page's tadvada is a recension variant, kept.

Verse 5 (14.35.5)

अलिङ्गो निर्गुणश्चैव कारणं नास्य विग्रहे । उपायमेव वक्ष्यामि येन गृह्येत भावना ॥

aliṅgo nirguṇaścaiva kāraṇaṃ nāsya vigrahe | upāyameva vakṣyāmi yena gṛhyeta bhāvanā

It has no mark and no qualities, and there is no cause for it in a body. I shall tell you only the means by which the thought of it can be grasped.

Verse 6 (14.35.6)

सम्यगप्युपदिष्टस्य ह्यमृतस्येव तृप्यसे । कर्मबुद्धिरबुद्धित्वाज्ज्ञानलिङ्गान्निपातितः ॥

samyagapyupadiṣṭasya hyamṛtasyeva tṛpyase | karmabuddhirabuddhitvājjñānaliṅgānnipātitaḥ

Though rightly instructed, you are satisfied as if with nectar; through want of understanding the mind bent on action has been thrown down from the sign of knowledge.

Verse 7 (14.35.7)

इदं कार्यमिदं नेति न मोक्षेषूपदिश्यते । पश्यतः शृण्वतो बुद्धिरात्मनैवोपजायते ॥

idaṃ kāryamidaṃ neti na mokṣeṣūpadiśyate | paśyataḥ śṛṇvato buddhirātmanaivopajāyate

"This is to be done, this is not": no such rule is laid down in the teachings on liberation. For one who sees and hears, understanding arises of itself.

Verse 8 (14.35.8)

यावन्त इह शक्येरंस्तावतोंऽसान्प्रकल्पयेत् । अव्यक्तान्व्यक्तरूपांश्च शतशोऽथ सहस्रशः ॥

yāvanta iha śakyeraṃstāvatoṃ'sānprakalpayet | avyaktānvyaktarūpāṃśca śataśo'tha sahasraśaḥ

One should imagine as many parts as can be imagined here, manifest and unmanifest in form, by the hundred and by the thousand.

Verse 9 (14.35.9)

सर्वानुमानयुक्तांश्च सर्वान्प्रत्यक्षहेतुकान् । यतः परं न विद्येत ततोऽभ्यासे भविष्यति ॥

sarvānumānayuktāṃśca sarvānpratyakṣahetukān | yataḥ paraṃ na vidyeta tato'bhyāse bhaviṣyati

All of them are joined to inference and all rest on direct perception. Beyond them there is nothing further to be known, and so practice will come of it.

Verse 10 (14.35.10)

ततस्तु तस्या ब्राह्मण्या मतिः क्षेत्रज्ञसंशये । क्षेत्रज्ञानेन परतः क्षेत्रज्ञोऽन्यः प्रवर्तते ॥

tatastu tasyā brāhmaṇyā matiḥ kṣetrajñasaṃśaye | kṣetrajñānena parataḥ kṣetrajño'nyaḥ pravartate

Then in that Brahmin's wife, in her doubt about the field-knower, understanding arose: beyond the knowledge of the field, another field-knower moves.

Note on the text: CE 14.34.10 is headed vāsudeva uvāca; page heading श्रीभगवानुवाच kept.

Verse 11 (14.35.11)

क्व नु सा ब्राह्मणि कृष्ण क्व चासौ ब्राह्मणर्षभः । याभ्यां सिद्धिरियं प्राप्ता तावुभौ वद मेऽच्युत ॥

kva nu sā brāhmaṇi kṛṣṇa kva cāsau brāhmaṇarṣabhaḥ | yābhyāṃ siddhiriyaṃ prāptā tāvubhau vada me'cyuta

Where now is that Brahmin's wife, Krishna, and where is that best of Brahmins, by whom this success was won? Tell me of both, O Achyuta.

Verse 12 (14.35.12)

मनो मे ब्राह्मणं विद्धि बुद्धिं मे विद्धि ब्राह्मणीम् । क्षेत्रज्ञ इति यश्चोक्तः सोऽहमेव धनंजय ॥

mano me brāhmaṇaṃ viddhi buddhiṃ me viddhi brāhmaṇīm | kṣetrajña iti yaścoktaḥ so'hameva dhanaṃjaya

Know my mind to be the Brahmin and my intellect to be the Brahmin's wife. And he who was called the field-knower, that am I, Dhananjaya.

Note on the text: CE 14.34.12 is headed vāsudeva uvāca; page heading श्रीभगवानुवाच kept.