Indra and Virochana

The story of Indra and Virochana is the Upaniṣads’ most dramatic teaching on the three states of consciousness (avasthatraya) and the witness-self (sākṣī) that transcends them. Two beings - a god and a demon - receive the same teaching from the same teacher and understand it in opposite ways. One returns satisfied after thirty-two years; the other stays for one hundred and one, returning three times with doubts, each time receiving a deeper understanding, until the final revelation of the bodiless Self.

Prajāpati’s Declaration

Long ago, Prajāpati, the Creator, made a great proclamation to the gods and the demons:

“The Self that is free from sin, free from old age, free from death, free from sorrow, free from hunger, free from thirst - whose desire is the Real, whose resolve is the Real - that Self is to be sought after, that Self is to be inquired into. He who finds and knows this Self obtains all worlds and all desires.” (CU 8.7.1)

Seven negations define this Self: it is untouched by sin, age, death, sorrow, hunger, thirst - and implied, by all the limitations that afflict embodied existence. Two positive qualities: its desire is the Real (satyakāma), and its resolve is the Real (satyasaṅkalpa). Whatever the true Self desires and wills, that is what happens, because the true Self is not separate from the reality it desires.

Hearing this, both the gods (devas) and the demons (asuras) desired to seek this Self. Indra, the king of the gods, and Virochana, the king of the demons, set out separately to approach Prajāpati as disciples, carrying fuel in their hands as the custom required. They did not speak to each other, but both had the same goal.

The First Teaching: The Person in the Eye

They lived with Prajāpati as celibate students for thirty-two years. Then Prajāpati asked them: “For what purpose have you been living here?”

They answered, quoting his own words back to him: “You declared that the Self is free from sin, free from old age, free from death, free from sorrow, free from hunger and thirst - whose desire is the Real, whose resolve is the Real. We have been living here seeking that Self.”

Prajāpati gave his first teaching:

“The person that is seen in the eye - that is the Self. This is the immortal, the fearless. This is Brahman.” (CU 8.7.4)

But both were puzzled. “Lord,” they asked, “which person - the one we see reflected in water, or the one we see in a mirror? Which is that Self?”

Prajāpati told them to look at themselves in a pan of water. They did, and when he asked what they saw, they replied: “We see ourselves entirely - from the head to the hair and the nails - just as we are.”

Then Prajāpati gave a curious instruction:

“Adorn yourselves well, put on your best clothes and ornaments, and look again.” (CU 8.8.2)

They adorned themselves and looked. “We see ourselves as well-adorned, well-dressed, well-cleaned,” they said.

Prajāpati declared: “That is the Self. This is the immortal, the fearless. This is Brahman.”

The Fork in the Road

Both departed, satisfied that they had understood. But Prajāpati watched them leave and thought to himself: “They are departing without having fully realised the Self. Those who follow this teaching will be defeated.”

Here the two paths diverge forever.

Virochana returned to the demons satisfied. He proclaimed to them: “The self alone is to be worshipped here. The self alone is to be served. By worshipping and serving the self, one wins both this world and the next.” (CU 8.8.5)

He thought the Self was the body - the adorned body, the reflected body, the beautiful body. This became the doctrine of the demons: materialism, hedonism, the worship of the physical self. The demons began to decorate the bodies of the dead with offerings, believing that the self is only what can be seen and touched.

Indra, however, before he even reached the gods, stopped. He saw a fatal defect:

“As this self (the body) is well-adorned when the body is well-adorned, well-dressed when the body is well-dressed, well-cleaned when the body is well-cleaned - so also, if the body is blind, this self becomes blind; if the body is lame, this self becomes lame; if the body is crippled, this self becomes crippled; and with the death of the body, this self dies. I see no good in this teaching.” (CU 8.9.1)

Indra returned to Prajāpati with fuel in hand. He had the humility to admit he had not understood.

The Second Teaching: The Dream Self

Prajāpati was pleased. “So it is, Indra. I will teach you further. Live here another thirty-two years.” (CU 8.9.3)

After another thirty-two years - sixty-four in total - Prajāpati spoke again:

“That which moves about freely in dreams, enjoying various objects - that indeed is the Self. This is the immortal, the fearless. This is Brahman.” (CU 8.10.1)

The Self is not the physical body, because the dreamer can see when the body’s eyes are closed, can walk when the body is lying still, can experience a world when the senses are withdrawn. The Self must be subtler than the body.

Again Indra departed, satisfied. But again, before reaching the gods, he stopped. He saw another defect:

“In dreams, one feels as though a sword is cutting the body, as though one is chased by enemies, as though one is being crushed - one experiences suffering. In dreams, one even weeps and feels pain. I see no good in this teaching.” (CU 8.10.2)

The dream self, though freed from the limitations of the gross body, is still subject to pleasure and pain, fear and desire. The Self cannot be the dreamer, because the dreamer is still afflicted.

He returned. Prajāpati asked: “Why have you returned, Indra, satisfied in heart?”

Indra explained his doubt. Prajāpati said: “So it is, Indra. I will teach you further. Live here another thirty-two years.” (CU 8.10.4)

The Third Teaching: The Deep Sleep State

After another thirty-two years - ninety-six in total - Prajāpati taught:

“When a person is fast asleep, completely composed and serene, and sees no dreams - that is the Self. This is the immortal, the fearless. This is Brahman.” (CU 8.11.1)

In deep sleep (suṣupti), there are no dreams, no objects, no suffering. The mind is resolved into its seed state. There is only peace. Surely this must be the Self?

Indra departed, satisfied. But again, before reaching the gods, he stopped. He saw yet another defect:

“In deep sleep, one does not know oneself - ‘I am this’ - nor does one know any existing thing. One is lost in oblivion. I see no good in this teaching.” (CU 8.11.2)

In deep sleep, there is no awareness. The bliss of deep sleep is the bliss of ignorance, not of knowledge. The Self, being of the nature of consciousness (prajñāna), cannot be a state where consciousness is absent.

He returned for the third time. Prajāpati said: “So it is, Indra. I will teach you further, but nothing more than this. Live here for five more years.” (CU 8.12.1)

The Final Teaching: The Bodiless Self

Indra completed one hundred and one years of discipleship. And then Prajāpati gave the final teaching:

“O Indra, mortal indeed is this body, held by death. But it is the support of this deathless, bodiless Self (aśarīra). The embodied self is affected by pleasure and pain. For the embodied self, pleasure and pain never cease. But the bodiless Self is never touched by pleasure and pain.” (CU 8.12.1)

Prajāpati used two analogies to explain:

The wind - it has no body, yet it moves through smoke and fire and air. The wind is not the forms it carries; it is the invisible movement that animates them.

The sky - it has no body, yet it contains clouds, lightning, and stars. The sky is not the forms within it; it is the space that holds them.

Similarly, the Self has no body. It is not the waking experiencer, not the dreamer, not the sleeper. It is the witness - the light of consciousness that illumines all three states without being touched by any of them.

“Having risen above the body and reached the highest light, the Self appears in its own true nature. That is the Self. That is the immortal, the fearless. That is Brahman.” (CU 8.12.3)

And the final description:

“This Self is without breath, without mind, pure, beyond the high and the low.” (CU 8.12.4)

The Teaching concludes as it began - with the same declaration, now fully understood:

“The Self is free from sin, free from old age, free from death, free from sorrow, free from hunger and thirst - whose desire is the Real, whose resolve is the Real. That Self is to be sought after, that Self is to be inquired into. He who finds and knows this Self obtains all worlds and all desires.” (CU 8.12.6)

Why Virochana Failed

The story’s deeper teaching lies in the contrast between Indra and Virochana. Both heard the same words. Both saw the same reflection. But Virochana was satisfied with the first answer because he lacked the capacity for further inquiry. He was attached to the body - to adornment, to appearance, to the world of forms. The teaching that identified the Self with the body confirmed his existing tendency, and so he accepted it without question.

Indra, on the other hand, had viveka - the capacity to discriminate. He could see the defect in each provisional teaching because he was not attached to it. Each time he was told “this is the Self,” he tested the claim against his own experience and found it wanting. His repeated returns to the teacher were acts of intellectual honesty and spiritual humility.

The demons received the doctrine of materialism and the worship of the body. The gods received the doctrine of the bodiless Self. The difference was not in the teaching - it was in the readiness of the student.

The Avasthatraya Method

The progressive teaching follows the method of adhyāropa (superimposition) and apavāda (negation):

Stage	Superimposition (Adhyāropa)	Negation (Apavāda)
1	The Self is the body (waking)	The body perishes - cannot be the immortal Self
2	The Self is the dreamer (dream)	The dreamer suffers - cannot be the blissful Self
3	The Self is the deep sleeper (sleep)	The sleeper is unconscious - cannot be the conscious Self
Final	The Self is the witness beyond all three	The bodiless Self is untouched by any state

Each stage is a provisional identification that is broken when its limitation is seen. The student is led step by step from the gross to the subtle, from the outer to the inner, until nothing remains but the pure witness - the Self that was never truly lost but only veiled.

Further study: The three states of consciousness explored through this story are the subject of the Avasthatraya concept page. The witness-self (sākṣī) is discussed in detail on the Ātman page. The method of superimposition and negation is examined on the Adhyāsa page.

Source citations: Chāndogya Upaniṣad, Prapāṭhaka 8, Khaṇḍas 7-12. Key citations: CU 8.7.1 (Prajāpati’s declaration), CU 8.7.4 (person in the eye), CU 8.9.1 (Indra’s first doubt), CU 8.10.1 (dream teaching), CU 8.11.1 (deep sleep teaching), CU 8.12.1 (bodiless Self), CU 8.12.3-5 (final revelation). Translations consulted: Swami Nikhilananda, Swami Gambhirananda, Swami Lokeswarananda, Patrick Olivelle.