Hello my dear listeners, hope you all are enjoying Yagnavalkya’s debates in the courtroom of King Janaka. We heard how he defeated Ashwala and Arthabhaaga in part 1, then silenced Bhujyu, Usasta and Kahola in part 2. Part 3 is an important episode as it perhaps describes one of the most celebrated debates in the history of the Upanishads. Brihaadaaranyaka Upanishad has recorded this glorious and engaging debate beautifully. This part celebrates our Ancient India’s one of greatest Rishika, and women scholars Gargi Vaachaknavi. So I welcome you all to a great episode in which we will listen to the debates between Gargi and Yagnavalkya and how he stood his ground with his responses. Now I take you all to the courtroom where king Janaka’s symposium was taking place. The symposium was filled with learned men and women debating on the Brahman. During the debate, Kahola lost to Yaagnavalkya. After his defeat, he sat down at his place. Yagnavalkya looked at the members of the symposium. They all were awestruck and wondered how could Yagnavalkya defeat such great scholars on the other. His vision and philosophy on Brahman were astonishing. Yagnavalkya smiled and joined his hands and was about to take leave when he was interrupted by Gargi Vaachakanavi.
She stood up and greeted Yagnavalkya with folded hands. Yagnavalkya was quite surprised to see a woman challenging him as he never expected to be challenged by a woman! He greeted her back and walked towards her. Gargi asked him - “Yagnavalkya, as you explained to Kahola and Usasta that ‘all is pervaded by water, then tell me, who pervades water?”
Yagnavalkya smiled and replied - “O Gargi, my salutations to you for asking such an interesting question! I think water is pervaded by air!” Here in this question, Gargi had asked about the 5 elements or panchabhuta. Prithvi or Earth is the first element of panchabhuta which is pervaded by “Apas”, which is Water. Water is pervaded by Agni or Fire, Agni is pervaded by Vayu or Air and Vayu is pervaded by Aakaasha or Space or Cosmos. Yagnavalkya was well versed on these hierarchical connections of these 5 elements. He very well knew that Earth was pervaded by Water. He knew about -“kham vayur jyotiraphah prithivi vishvasya dharini’ which means - the universe is borne (supported) by space (Kham), air (vayu), fire (jyoti), water (apah) and earth (prithivi). These elements reconnect us with the nature outside of us and help us to connect to our inner Self.Also it is important to understand that Gargi had a presumption that every effect is impregnated by its cause just like the threads woven in a cloth, lengthwise which is called “warp” and breadthwise which is called “woof”, the limited by the unlimited and the gross by the subtle. For an example a “clay pot” which is an effect pervaded by its cause which is “clay”. That means only because of “clay”, the “clay pot” was formed. Similarly in the hierarchy of Panchabhuta, the “earth” is an effect which is pervaded by its cause which is “water”, “Water” which is an effect is pervaded by its cause which is “Fire”. The “Fire” which is the effect which is pervaded by its cause the “Air”. The “Air” which is an effect is pervaded by its cause which is the “Space”! The Space is causeless and infinite. The Space doesn’t have any beginning or end. It is limitless, boundary less and infinite. Friends don’t you think, this concept is actually a combination of various theories such as the “Big Bang”, “origin of earth” and other related theories on how earth was formed. A Belgian priest named “Georges Lemaitre” first suggested the “Big-bang” theory in 1920s, when he theorised that Universe began from a single primordial Atom. As per Scientific American, the Hubble’s law points to a “big-bang” 13.7 billion years ago! An article in the National Geographic states that in the first 10^-43 seconds of its existence, the universe was very compact, less than a million billion billionth the size of a single atom. Then it went through cosmic inflation, and after the inflation as the time passed by, the matter cooled and diverse kind of particles began to form and eventually they condensed to form the stars and galaxies including our earth! By the time the universe was billionth of a second old, the universe had cooled down enough for the four fundamental forces to separate from one another. The universe’s fundamental particles were formed, but still very hot and these particles condense. Until 180 million years after the big bang, it took for gravity to gather clouds of hydrogen and form stars. The hydrogen helped the stars to get ignited. Our Sun was born in this manner. The Earth along with other planets is believed to be born 4.5 billion years ago, as the solidified cloud of dust and gases left over from the creation of the star named the “Sun”. Due to the radioactive decay, gradually the earth heated. The iron and silicates formed the core of the earth over the period of many thousands of years....