यदेव ते कश्चिदब्रवीत्तच्छृणवामेति; अब्रवीन्मे विदग्धः शाकल्योः, हृदयं वै ब्रह्मेति; यथा मातृमान्पितृमानाचार्यवान्ब्रूयात्, तथा तच्छाकल्योऽब्रवीद्धृदयं वै ब्रह्मेति, अहृदयस्य हि किं स्यादिति; अब्रवीत्तु ते तस्यायतनं प्रतिष्ठां? न मेऽब्रवीदिति; एकपाद्वा एतत्सम्राडिति, स वै नो ब्रूहि याज्ञवल्क्य; हृदयमेवायतनम्, आकाशः प्रतिष्ठा, स्थितिरित्येनदुपासीत; का स्थितिता याज्ञवल्क्य? हृदयमेव सम्राडिति होवाच, हृदयं वै सम्राट् सर्वेषां भूतानामायतनम्, हृदयं वै सम्राट् सर्वेषां भूतानां प्रतिष्ठा, हृदये ह्येव सम्राट् सर्वाणि भूतानि प्रतिष्ठितानि भवन्ति; हृदयं वै सम्राट् परमं ब्रह्म; नैनं हृदयं जहाति, सर्वाण्येनं भूतान्यभिक्शरन्ति, देवो भूत्वा देवानप्येति, य एवं विद्वानेतदुपास्ते; हस्त्यृषभं सहस्रं ददामीति होवाच जनको वैदेहः; स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः, पिता मेऽमन्यत नाननुशिष्य हरेतेति ॥ ७ ॥
इति प्रथमं ब्राह्मणम् ॥yadeva te kaścidabravīttacchṛṇavāmeti; abravīnme vidagdhaḥ śākalyoḥ, hṛdayaṃ vai brahmeti; yathā mātṛmānpitṛmānācāryavānbrūyāt, tathā tacchākalyo’bravīddhṛdayaṃ vai brahmeti, ahṛdayasya hi kiṃ syāditi; abravīttu te tasyāyatanaṃ pratiṣṭhāṃ? na me’bravīditi; ekapādvā etatsamrāḍiti, sa vai no brūhi yājñavalkya; hṛdayamevāyatanam, ākāśaḥ pratiṣṭhā, sthitirityenadupāsīta; kā sthititā yājñavalkya? hṛdayameva samrāḍiti hovāca, hṛdayaṃ vai samrāṭ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāmāyatanam, hṛdayaṃ vai samrāṭ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ pratiṣṭhā, hṛdaye hyeva samrāṭ sarvāṇi bhūtāni pratiṣṭhitāni bhavanti; hṛdayaṃ vai samrāṭ paramaṃ brahma; nainaṃ hṛdayaṃ jahāti, sarvāṇyenaṃ bhūtānyabhikśaranti, devo bhūtvā devānapyeti, ya evaṃ vidvānetadupāste; hastyṛṣabhaṃ sahasraṃ dadāmīti hovāca janako vaidehaḥ; sa hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ, pitā me’manyata nānanuśiṣya hareteti || 7 ||
iti prathamaṃ brāhmaṇam ||7. ‘Let me hear whatever any one may have told you.’ ‘Vidagdha, the son of Śakala, has told me that the heart (mind, here, Prajāpati) is Brahman.’ ‘As one who has a mother, father and teacher should say, so has the son of śakala said this—that the heart is Brahman. For what can a person without the heart have? But did he tell you about its abode and support?’ ‘No, he did not.’ ‘This Brahman is only one-footed, O Emperor.’ ‘Then you tell us, Yājñavalkya.’ ‘The heart is its abode, and the ether (the Undifferentiated) its support. It should be meditated upon as stability.’ ‘What is stability, Yājñavalkya?’ ‘The heart itself, O Emperor,’ said Yājñavalkya, ‘the heart, O Emperor, is the abode of all beings, and the heart, O Emperor, is the support of all beings; on the heart, O Emperor, all beings rest; the heart, O Emperor, is the Supreme Brahman. The heart never leaves him who knowing thus meditates upon it; all beings 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.’
Vidagdha, the son of Śakala, etc. The heart is Brahman. The heart, O Emperor, is the abodeof all beings. We have already said in the section relating to Śākalya that all beings consisting of name, form and action depend on the heart (mind) and rest on it.[4] ‘Therefore on the heart, O Emperor, all beings rest. Hence it should be meditated upon as stability.’ Prajāpati (Hiraṇyagarbha) is the presiding deity of the heart.