The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad : 2. Swami Krishnananda

05/02/2019
2.

"Na va are patyuh kamaya patih priyo bhavati, atmanas tu kamaya patih priyo bhavati;
na va are jayayai kamaya jaya priya bhavati; atmanas tu kamaya jaya priya bhavati;
na va are sarvasya kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati;
atmanas tu kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati."  (Bri.U. 2.4.5) :

Nobody loves anything for its own sake. Here is a masterstroke of genius from Yajnavalkya, the great sage: Nobody loves anything for its own sake. We are accustomed to this slogan of love, and we consider that as something very pre-eminent in our daily life. We love people, we love wealth, we love land, we love property.

There is such a thing called love in this world, but who does love want, and what is the purpose of this love?

Psychologically, as well as metaphysically and philosophically, there seems to be an error in our notion that anything can be loved at all. The word ‘love’ becomes a misnomer when we investigate into its essences. If by love we mean affectionately clinging to something that is other than our own self, then love does not exist in this world. If love means asking for something other than one’s own self, clinging to something other than one’s self, feeling happy with that which is not one’s self – if that is the definition of love, then love is hypocrisy; it does not exist.

But if we say that love does not always mean love for something other than one’s own self – it should be love for one’s own self – who will love one’s own self? That is, again, a psychological problem. Neither does love for another seem to be justifiable, nor does love for one’s own self seem to be meaningful.

For the sake of the Self, everything is dear – is a very precise statement of sage Yajnavalkya. This statement is so precise, so concentrated, that its meaning is not obviously clear on its surface, because it does not appear that people love themselves, and it is difficult to make sense of this statement if you just say you love property because you are loving your Self.

Nobody will understand what exactly this statement means. Am I loving myself when I love property? It does not look like that. I cling to something that I regard as my belonging. It does not mean that I am clinging to my own body when I am clinging to something which is my belonging – property, wealth, treasure, relation.

Yajnavalkya says: “You do not understand things properly. That is why the meaning is not clear to you.”

To be continued ..