यदेव ते कश्चिदब्रवीत्तच्छृणवामेति; अब्रवीन्म ऊदङ्कः शौल्बायनः, प्राणो वै ब्रह्मेति; यथा मातृमान्पितृमानाचार्यवान्ब्रूयात्, तथा तच्छौल्वायनोऽब्रवीत्प्राणो वै ब्रह्मेति, अप्राणतो हि किं स्यादिति; अब्रवीत्तु ते तस्यायतनं प्रतिष्ठाम्? न मेऽब्रवीदिति; एकपाद्वा एतत्सम्राडिति; स वै नो ब्रूहि याज्ञवल्क्य; प्राण एवायतनम्, आकाशः प्रतिष्ठाः, प्रियमित्येनदुपासीत; का प्रियता याज्ञवल्क्य? प्राण एव सम्राडिति होवाच, प्राणस्य वै सम्राट् कामायायाज्यं याजयति, अप्रतिगृह्यस्य प्रतिगृह्णाति, अपि तत्र वधाशङ्कं भवति यां दिशमेति प्राणस्यैव सम्राट् कामाय; प्राणो वै सम्राट् परमं ब्रह्म; नैनं प्राणो जहाति, सर्वाण्येनं भूतान्यभिक्शरन्ति, देवो भूत्वा देवानप्येति, य एवं विद्वानेतदुपास्ते; हस्त्यृषभं सहस्रं ददामीति होवाच जनको वैदेहः; स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्य, पिता मेऽमन्यत नाननुशिष्य हरेतेति ॥ ३ ॥
yadeva te kaścidabravīttacchṛṇavāmeti; abravīnma ūdaṅkaḥ śaulbāyanaḥ, prāṇo vai brahmeti; yathā mātṛmānpitṛmānācāryavānbrūyāt, tathā tacchaulvāyano’bravītprāṇo vai brahmeti, aprāṇato hi kiṃ syāditi; abravīttu te tasyāyatanaṃ pratiṣṭhām? na me’bravīditi; ekapādvā etatsamrāḍiti; sa vai no brūhi yājñavalkya; prāṇa evāyatanam, ākāśaḥ pratiṣṭhāḥ, priyamityenadupāsīta; kā priyatā yājñavalkya? prāṇa eva samrāḍiti hovāca, prāṇasya vai samrāṭ kāmāyāyājyaṃ yājayati, apratigṛhyasya pratigṛhṇāti, api tatra vadhāśaṅkaṃ bhavati yāṃ diśameti prāṇasyaiva samrāṭ kāmāya; prāṇo vai samrāṭ paramaṃ brahma; nainaṃ prāṇo jahāti, sarvāṇyenaṃ bhūtānyabhikśaranti, devo bhūtvā devānapyeti, ya evaṃ vidvānetadupāste; hastyṛṣabhaṃ sahasraṃ dadāmīti hovāca janako vaidehaḥ; sa hovāca yājñavalkya, pitā me’manyata nānanuśiṣya hareteti || 3 ||
3. ‘Let me hear whatever any one may have told you.’ ‘Udaṅka, the son of Sulba, has told me that the vital force (Vāyu) is Brahman.’ ‘As one who has a mother, father and teacher should say, so has the son of Śulba said this— that the vital force is Brahman, for what can a person have who does not live? But did he tell you about its abode (body) and support?’ ‘No, he did not.’ ‘This Brahman is only one-footed, O Emperor.’ ‘Then you tell us, Yājñavalkya.’ ‘The Vital force is its abode, and the ether (the Undifferentiated) its support. It should be meditated upon as dear.’ ‘What is dearness, Yājñavalkya?’ ‘The vital force itself, O Emperor,’ said Yājñavalkya, ‘for the sake of the vital force, O Emperor, one performs sacrifices for one for whom they should not be performed, and accepts gifts from one from whom they should not be accepted, and it is for the sake of the vital force, O Emperor, that one runs the risk of one’s life in any quarter one may go to. The vital force, O Emperor, is the Supreme Brahman. The vital force never leaves him who knowing thus meditates upon it, all beiṇgs eagerly come to him, and being a god, he attains the gods.’ ‘I give you a thousand cows with a bull like an elephant,’ said Emperor Janaka. Yājñavalkya replied, ‘My father was of opinion that one should not accept (wealth) from a disciple without fully instructing him.’
‘Let me hear whatever,’ etc. ‘Udaṅka, the son of Śulba, has told me that the vital force is Brahman.’ ‘The vital force’ means the deity Vāyu, as ‘the organ of speech’ in the preceding paragraph meant the deity fire. ‘The vital force is its abode, and the ether (the Undiffereṇtiated) its support.’ Its secret name: ‘It should be meditated upon as dear.’ ‘For the sake of the vital force,0Emperor, one performs sacrifices for one for whom they should jiot be performed, such as even an outcast, and even accepts gifts from one from whom they shoutrt not be accepted, for instance, an Ugra[3]; and one runs the risk of one’s life in any quarter infested by robbers etc. that one may go to. All this is possible because the vital force is dear: It is for the sake of the vital force, O Emperor. Therefore the vital force,0Emperor, is the Supreme Brahman. The vital force never leaves him,’ etc. The rest has been explained.