280 The Religion of the Veda
drab;er ,- Katyayanf, on the other hand, knew only what women are supposed to understand. Now Yajnavalkya desired to change his life of householder to that of religious hermit.
“Maitreyi,” says he, “ I shall now retire from the condition of householder, and as a. preliminary divide my goods between thee and Kittyfiyani‘.” Then spake Maitreyi : “ If, 0 lord, this whole earth with all its wealth belonged to me, would I then become immortal, or not ? ” “ By no means,” replies Yajnavalkya. “ Only like the life of the rich would thy life he ; wealth does‘ not carry with it the expectation of immortality.” ’I‘hen replied Maitreyi‘: “ That through which I do not become immortal, what good is that to me? Expound to me rather thy knowledge.” Then Yajnavalkya: “Truly thou wast previously dear to us, beloved lady, and now thou hast increased our love. Well then, I shall expound it to thee ; attend then, to what I say : All things of the world, and every relation in the world are dear to us not because of their own value, but because of the drama, their true essence. Wife, husband, sons, wealth ; the high stations of priest and warrior; the worlds, the gods, the Veda, and the sacrifice are dear to us not because of their own value, but because of the taxman, their true essence. As one grasps the tones of an instrument with the instrument itself so are grasped all things when the drama is grasped. Truly he that hath seen, heard, row cognised, and understood the dimer: he knows the whole
world.” 1
We may be sure that Yajnavallcya does not really intend to expound to his beloved Maitreyi‘ the ex-
1 C f. Ramakrishna, 11?: 1.273 and Sayings, p. 135 (number 161).
