The story

Yajnavalkya was preparing to leave the householder's life for the forest, and wished to settle his affairs between his two wives. He called Maitreyi and said he would divide his wealth between her and Katyayani. Maitreyi asked a question that turned the moment from inheritance into teaching: "If the whole earth filled with wealth were mine, would it make me immortal?" "No," said Yajnavalkya. "Your life would be like the lives of the rich. There is no hope of immortality through wealth." "Then what would I do with what cannot make me immortal? Tell me instead what you know."

And so, glad, he taught her. It is not for the sake of the husband, he said, that the husband is dear, but for the sake of the Self. Not for the sake of the wife is the wife dear, but for the sake of the Self. So with wealth, with the gods, with all beings — everything is loved for the sake of the Self that loves through us. The Self is what is to be seen, heard, reflected on, known. Knowing it, all is known.

It is one of the gentlest arguments in the Upanishads: trace any love you have to its root, and you find not the object but the Self for whose sake the object shines. Maitreyi asked not for half a kingdom but for that — and the text remembers her name for it.

Figures and teachings in this dialogue

• Yajnavalkya
• Maitreyi
• Teaching: Neti, Neti

Questions to explore

• What does Maitreyi see in refusing wealth that 'cannot make her immortal'?
• How does 'all things are dear for the sake of the Self' answer her?