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YAKSHA PRASHNA(The Questions of the Yaksha)

What is weightier than earth? Mother

What is taller than the sky? Father

What is faster than the wind? MindWhat is more numerous than grass? Thoughts

kimsvidgurutaram bhumeh

kimsviduccataram ca khat

kimsvidccheghrataram vayohkimsvidbahutaram trnat

mata gurutara bhumehktatpitoccatarastatha

manahshighrataram vata

ccinta bahutari trnat

Commentary

i) We call this earth Mother Earth - Bhumi Mata. We worship her as a mother. What can be moreimportant? The mother who gave birth to us is more important. Our mother is verily our God.

ii) For us humans our parents who gave us life in this world are like gods, the highest, the mostimportant beings. This is consistent with the Upanishadic pronouncement "Matr devo bhava, pitr

devo bhava" (May your mother and father be like gods to you).

iii) In an instant the mind can travel anywhere, everywhere and back again.

iv) What grows faster than grass? Thoughts grow faster. Waves and waves of thoughts arise in

our minds constantly and move away. There is no end to it. They grow and grow and continue togrow with newer and newer layers of thoughts - faster than grass.

Summary

1. We should respect our parents.

2. We should keep our mind under control.

3. We should trim our thoughts, weeding out unnecessary worries.

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Who is the friend of a traveller? A companion

Who is the friend of a householder? A spouseWho is the friend of the sick? A doctor

Who is the friend of the dying? His charity

kimsvi tpravasato mi tram

kimsvinmi tram grhesatahaturasya tu kim mitram

kimsvinmi tram marishyatah

sarthahpravasato mitram

bharyamitram grhesatah

aturasya bhisan mitram

danam mitram marishyatah

Commentary

i) A traveller's best friend is the companion traveller.

ii) A householder's true friend is his wife. A Hindu man takes a woman by the hand at the

wedding ceremony and walks seven steps (sapta padi) with her around the fire as both pledgetheir eternal friendship to each other. He says: "With these seven steps you have become my

life's companion. We are both friends. I shall never fail to be your friend. May you also never fail

to be my friend . . . ." " This is the understanding, the promise, the commitment that binds aHindu couple.

iii) For a sick person the most desirable friend is a doctor.

iv) For the dying person the charity done during a lifetime serves as a friend by providing a sense

of fulfillment and preparation for the life to come.

Summary

This group of questions stresses the need for and the role of friends and the need to be involved

with others in a mutual, healthy, giving and receiving of support. The first three friendships

referred to in this stanza are with other persons but the last category, the friend at the end of one'slife, is one's own lifetime of giving.

By renouncing what does one become loved? Pride

By renouncing what is one free of sorrow? Anger

By renouncing what does one become wealthy? DesireBy renouncing what does one become happy? Greed

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kim nu hitva priyo bhavati

kim nu hitva na shocati

kim nu hitvarthavanbhavati

kim nu hitva sukhi bhavet

manam hitva pri yo bhavati

krodham hitva na shocatikamam hitvarthavanbhavati

lobham hitva sukhi bhavet

Commentary

i) The question focuses on the need to be loved, to be free of sorrow, and on happiness and

wealth.

ii) The answers revolve around controlling the mind in such a way that we gradually ridourselves of our enemies within: pride, anger, desire and greed.

iii) When one succeeds in giving up desire, there is little need for material possessions and one's

sense of well-being (original meaning of wealth) increases. Wealth is viewed here in the context

of what one may have in relation to one's desire.

Summary

1. Every action/inaction is controlled by the mind. Therefore we should practice control of our

minds.

2. Renunciation is not mindless self-denial but a method of exerting control over ourselves.

What treasure is the best? Skill

What wealth is the best? Education

What is the greatest gain? HealthAnd the greatest happiness? Contentment

dhanyanamut tamam kimsvid

dhananam syatkimuttamam

labhanamuttamam kimsyatsukhanam syatkimuttamam

dhanyanamuttamam dakshyam

dhananamuttamam shrutamlabhanam shreya arogyam

sukhanam tush ti rut tama

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Commentary

i) To be skillful is to be fortunate and worthy of recognition.

ii) To be an educated person is to be a wealthy person.

iii) To be healthy is to possess the greatest gift.

iv) To be contented is to be happy

Summary

1. We should develop skills in areas which interest us most and continue to maintain those skills

in order to excel.

2. The emphasis in our studies should be acquisition of knowledge, especially the higherknowledge.

3. A person who is not contented and is a slave to greed is a slave to everyone. A person who

makes desire a slave rules the world.

4. These questions and answers provide a practical guide to mental, social and physical well-

being.

What is a man's self? His progenyWho is his God-given friend? His wife

What supports his life? Rain

What is his principal duty? Charity

kimsvidatma manushyasyakimsviddaiva kritahsakta

upajivanam kimsvidasya

kimsvidas ya para yanam

putra atma manushyasya

bharya daivakritahsakhaupajivanam ca parjanyo

danamasya parayanam

Commentary

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2. In addition, the duties to one's own self are equally important and these include a constant

effort to obtain knowledge of the self.

What makes the sun rise? BrahmaWho moves around him? Gods

What causes the sun to set? Dharma

How is he held firm? Truth

kimsvidadityamunnayati

ke ca tasyabhitashcarah

kashcainamastam nayati

kasmimshca pratitishthati

brahmadityamunnayati

devastasyabhitashcarah

dharmascastamnayati ca

satye ca pratitishthati

Commentary

i) There are two interpretations to this riddle;(11) one sees the sun (aditya) as the natural wonder,

the life-giving center of this world system and a principal creation of Brahma; the otherinterprets the sun to be the atma jyoti, the inner light.

The sun rises into view each morning as ordained by the Creator, Brahma. At the same time, the

supreme knowledge of the Vedas causes the illumination of the atma jyoti.

ii) As Savitri said to Yama in an earlier section of the Mahabharata, "It is the truth of the good

(people) that causes brilliance in the sun." Also, "By the power of the Rig Veda the sun rises in

the morning; the same sun stays fixed at high noon by the power of the Yajur Veda; It is the

power of the Sama Veda that causes his brilliance at setting."*

iii) Gods keep the Atman company, just as the planets, named after the Gods, circle the sun.

When the self is realized through knowledge, that inner illumination leads to the man-God

relationship which is the quest of Hinduism.

iv) The sun and the atma j yoti are firmly fixed in truth. The sun is held in space by physical laws

of gravitation, energy and motion - by evident truths. The atma jyoti is sustained by eternal

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Truth, which exists beyond time.

v) The end result of this knowledge is dharma or right conduct. Dharmic action performed under

the guidelines of one's own faith is interpreted as the cause for the brilliance of the atma jyoti.

*from the Taittiriya Brahmana.

Summary

The sun in all its phases, rising, setting or fixed in space, recalls the rising within us of the atma

jyoti. The natural laws governing time and the heavenly bodies and the moral law, dharma, are

equated here.