THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"""""""""""""""DEVELOPMENT OF ITS CONCEPTION 57life to express the various distinctions among objects,or the many,"are mere abuses of our speech,since they are ill-spent or wasted, themanyOnehaving no existence at all. Only theexists, and when that is known all else is known,and the use of words breaks down. This idea isexpressed in Brh. iv. 4. 21tarn eva dhiro vijnaya prajnam kurvlta brahmanah,nanudhyayad bahun sabdan vaco viglapanamhi tat."(Trans.)Knowing him alone let the wise Brahmana form his prajna(understanding), let him not meditate on many words,for that is simply the fatigue of vac (speech) .^ This in brief is the spirit of Yajnavalkya s Idealism. It may conveniently be viewed in threeaspects :1. The Atman is the only reality.2. The Atman is the subject of knowledge in us(cf. hi. 4. 2, iii. 7. 23, iii. 8. n), hence3. The Atman is itself unknowable. (Cf. ii. 4. 14,iv. 5. 15, etc.)It may be pointed out that there is no contradiction, as many have been led to suppose, in the statements the Atman is unknowable and byknowing the Atman all is known or the Atmanalone is to be known." The word knowledgeis used in two different aspects. The Atman isunknowablewhen by knowledgeis meant a