हिन्दी
Upamanyu’s son, Prācīnaśāla; Puluṣa’s son, Satyayajña; Bhāllavi’s son, Indradyumna; Śarkarākṣa’s son, Jana; and Aśvatarāśva’s son, Buḍila—these eminent householders, who were Vedic scholars, once met to decide the issue: Who is our Self? And what is Brahman?
They talked among themselves and decided what to do. One of them said: ‘Revered sirs, Uddālaka Āruṇi is the person who now knows about this Vaiśvānara Self. Let us go to him then.’ So, they all went to him.
(Uddālaka understood that they had come to ask him about the Vaiśvānara Ātman) He decided: ‘These eminent householders and Vedic scholars will ask me questions, and I may not be able to answer all of them. Therefore, I will direct them to another teacher’.
Uddālaka told them - ‘Sirs, at the present time King Aśvapati, the son of Kekaya, alone knows about the Vaiśvānara Ātman. With your permission, we will go to him.’ They then left to see Aśvapati.
When they arrived, Aśvapati had each of his guests worshipped separately. The next morning, after getting up from bed, he said to them - ‘There is no thief in my state, no miserly person, no drunkard, no Brahmin who does not perform the agnihotra sacrifice, no one who is uneducated, no adulterer, and therefore no adulteress. Sirs, I am performing a sacrifice. The amount of money I will be giving to each priest in this sacrifice, I will give to each one of you. Revered sirs, please stay here’.
They said - ‘When a person visits someone, first and foremost, he states why he has come. At the present time, you are the one who knows about the Vaiśvānara Ātman. Please tell us about it’.
He said to them - ‘I will give you my answer tomorrow morning.’ The next day they went back to him in the forenoon with some fuel in their hands. Without initiating them, he said this—
