Ajatasatru and Balaki

Most Upanisadic stories follow a familiar pattern: a seeker approaches a teacher, asks a question, and receives instruction. The story of Ajatasatru and Balaki reverses this completely. Here, a proud brahmin approaches a king not to learn but to teach. He boasts that he can declare the nature of Brahman. The king, instead of refusing, encourages him - and then proceeds to refute every definition the brahmin offers, until the brahmin falls silent and becomes the student.

It is a story about intellectual humility, the inadequacy of defining Brahman as any object, and the method of indirect indication (laksana) that points to the Self without turning it into an object of knowledge.

The Proud Scholar

Once there lived a man named Balaki of the Garga family. He was a famed Vedic scholar, an eloquent speaker who had travelled through many kingdoms - the Usinaras, the Satvans, the Matsyas, the Kurus, the Pancalas, the Kasis, and the Videhas. Wherever he went, he was recognised as a man of learning.

He came to King Ajatasatru of Kasi (Varanasi) and said:

“Let me declare Brahman to you.” (BU 2.1.1 / KU 4.1)

It was an audacious offer. A brahmin, by birth and learning, offering to teach a ksatriya king about the ultimate reality - reversing the expected hierarchy. But Ajatasatru did not take offence. Instead, he said:

“For this proposal I give you a thousand cows. People indeed rush here saying, ‘Janaka, Janaka.’” (BU 2.1.1 / KU 4.2)

The mention of Janaka was a subtle challenge. Janaka was another king - a knower of Brahman himself. Ajatasatru implied: many come to me, not the other way around. But he was willing to listen.

Balaki’s Definitions

Balaki began. He offered one definition after another, each identifying Brahman with something perceptible:

“The person who is in the sun - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

Ajatasatru replied: “No, no! Please do not talk about him. I meditate upon him as the Full, the Unmoving, the All-sufficient.”

“The person who is in the moon - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as the great king Soma, the self of food.”

“The person who is in lightning - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as self-luminous.”

“The person who is in space - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as the Full, the non-active.”

“The person who is in the wind - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as Indra, the terrible, the unvanquished army.”

“The person who is in fire - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as the powerful.”

“The person who is in water - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as the reflection.”

“The person who is in a mirror - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as the brilliant one.”

“The sound that follows a man while he walks - I meditate upon that as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon it as life.”

“The person who is in the quarters - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as the second, the inseparable.”

“The person who consists of shadow - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as death.”

“The person who is in the self - I meditate upon him as Brahman.”

“No, no! I meditate upon him as the self-possessed.” (BU 2.1.2-13)

In each case, Ajatasatru did not say Balaki was wrong - he said “no, no” and offered a deeper understanding. The person in the sun is not Brahman, but that which the person in the sun points to - the Fullness, the All-sufficient - is worthy of meditation. The person in the moon is not Brahman, but that which sustains all as food - the life-giving principle - points beyond itself.

Each correction redirected Balaki’s attention from the external object to the underlying principle. The sun, moon, lightning - these are objects. Brahman is not an object.

Balaki Falls Silent

Balaki had exhausted his list. He had offered thirteen definitions, spanning the entire cosmos - from the sun to the moon to the wind to the fire to the mirror to the echo to the shadow. Each one had been refuted.

He fell silent.

Ajatasatru asked: “Is that all, Balaki?”

The great scholar who had come to teach the king had nothing more to say.

The Sleeping Man

Then Ajatasatru did something extraordinary. He took Balaki by the hand and led him outside. They came to a man who was sleeping deeply.

Ajatasatru called out to the sleeper, using the very names Balaki had used for Brahman:

“O you, clad in white raiment! O Soma! O King!”

The man did not wake. No amount of calling, no sacred name, could rouse him from his sleep.

Then Ajatasatru reached out and touched the man. Immediately, the man woke.

Ajatasatru asked Balaki: “When this person was asleep, where had the one who consists of intelligence gone? From where did he come back?” (BU 2.1.14-15)

Balaki did not know.

The King’s Teaching

Ajatasatru began to teach:

“When a man sleeps, the Self, having grasped the functions of the mind, rests in the space within the heart.” (BU 2.1.16)

The Self withdraws the senses and the mind from external objects. It does not cease to exist - it gathers itself, contracts into its own being, resting in the cave of the heart.

“When he dreams, the Self creates dream-objects. Freed from the body, he watches dreams created by his own light.” (BU 2.1.17-18)

The dreamer is a creator. The same Self that perceives the waking world now projects an inner world. The light of consciousness does not come from outside - it is the Self’s own light.

“When a man is in deep sleep, he desires no desires and dreams no dreams. He is embraced by the Supreme Self and knows nothing without or within.” (BU 2.1.19)

Sleep is not nothing. It is the Self returned to its own nature, free from the agitation of desires and the restlessness of perception. The sleeper rests in the Self.

“As a great fish swims from one bank to the other - the east and the west - so does this infinite Being move between the waking state and the dream state.” (BU 2.1.19)

The Self, like a great fish, moves freely between the states of consciousness. It touches waking, touches dreaming, rests in deep sleep - but it is never confined to any of them. The fish lives in the water, not on the banks; the Self lives in consciousness itself, not in any particular state.

The Truth of Truth

Ajatasatru concluded his teaching with the most profound declaration:

“Its secret name (Upanisad) is ‘satyasya satyam’ - the Truth of truth. The vital force is truth, and It (the Self) is the Truth of that.” (BU 2.1.20)

The vital force (prana) is truth in the sense that it is the immediate reality we experience - the life that animates the body, the consciousness that illumines the mind. But beyond even this is the Self, which is the Truth of that truth - the reality behind the reality, the light behind the light.

If prana is a ray of light, the Self is the sun from which it comes. If prana is a wave, the Self is the ocean. Prana is real - but the Self is the Reality of that reality.

The Meaning

The story of Ajatasatru and Balaki teaches several profound lessons:

1. Brahman cannot be pointed to as an object. Every one of Balaki’s definitions identified Brahman with something that can be perceived - the sun, the moon, fire, space, sound, shadow. Ajatasatru’s refutation showed that Brahman is not any object of perception. It is the subject - the one who sees, not the thing seen.

2. The Self is known through demonstration, not definition. Ajatasatru did not give Balaki a new definition. He showed him a sleeping man. The teaching was experiential: “See for yourself. When you sleep, where does consciousness go? It does not go anywhere - it returns to itself.”

3. The teacher may come from anywhere. A ksatriya king taught a brahmin scholar. Spiritual wisdom transcends social hierarchy. The teacher is not the one with the most impressive credentials but the one who has seen the truth.

4. The method is neti neti. Each “no, no” of Ajatasatru is a negation: not this sun, not this moon, not this lightning. The negations do not lead to nothing - they clear the ground for the positive realisation that Brahman is the Self, the Truth of truth that cannot be objectified but can be directly known.

Further study: The Self that Ajatasatru taught is the same Atman explored on the Atman page. The method of negation parallels the analysis of the Adhyasa concept. Brahman as the ultimate reality that cannot be objectified is discussed on the Brahman page. The three states of consciousness that the sleeping man demonstrates are the subject of the Avasthatraya page.

Source citations: Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 2.1.1-20 and Kausitaki Upanisad 4.1-20. Key citations: BU 2.1.1 (the offer), BU 2.1.2-13 (Balaki’s definitions), BU 2.1.14 (sleeping man demonstration), BU 2.1.15-19 (teaching on the states), BU 2.1.20 (satyasya satyam). Translations consulted: Swami Madhavananda, Swami Nikhilananda, Patrick Olivelle, Swami Krishnananda.