Yajnavalkya and King Janaka

The dialogue between Yajnavalkya and King Janaka of Videha is perhaps the most complete and systematic teaching on the witness consciousness (saksin) in the entire Upanisadic literature. It covers the five progressive lights that illumine human experience, the three states of consciousness (avasthatraya), the analogies of the great fish and the falcon, and concludes with the final description of the Self as “not this, not this” (neti neti). Unlike the Yajnavalkya-Maitreyi dialogue, which is intimate and personal, this is a royal teaching - a king questioning a sage in the full court of philosophical inquiry.

The King’s Boon

The dialogue begins with a backstory. Yajnavalkya and Janaka had once discussed the Agnihotra sacrifice, and Yajnavalkya, pleased with the king’s sincerity, offered him a boon. Janaka chose not wealth or power, but the right to ask Yajnavalkya any spiritual question he wished. The boon was granted.

Now the king begins his inquiry:

“Yajnavalkya, what serves as the light for a man?” (BU 4.3.2)

It is the most fundamental question: by what light do we see, act, know, and live? The answer is not simple, and Yajnavalkya does not give it all at once. He leads the king through five levels, each one subtler than the last.

The Five Progressive Lights

1. The Sun

“The light of the sun, O Emperor,” said Yajnavalkya; “it is through the light of the sun that a man sits, goes out, works, and returns.”

Janaka agrees. In the daylight, we see by the sun. This is obvious - but it is only the first and most external answer.

2. The Moon

“When the sun has set, what serves then as his light?” “The moon indeed is his light.”

The moon is subtler than the sun - a reflected light, softer, less direct. Yet it still illuminates.

3. Fire

“When the sun has set and the moon has set, what serves then as his light?” “Fire indeed is his light; for having fire alone for his light, man sits, goes out, works, and returns.”

Fire is the light we make ourselves, bringing it into dark spaces where neither sun nor moon can reach.

4. Sound / Speech

“When the sun has set, and the moon has set, and the fire has gone out, what serves then as his light?” “Sound indeed is his light; for having sound alone for his light, a man sits, goes out, works, and returns. Therefore, O King, when one cannot see even one’s own hand, yet when a sound is raised, one goes towards it.”

This is the most surprising answer. Sound (or speech, vak) serves as a light when all external lights are gone. In absolute darkness, a voice guides us - the sound of a loved one, a call for help, the spoken word that orients us in space. Speech is an inner light that bridges one consciousness to another.

5. The Self

Now the king asks the culminating question:

“When the sun has set, and the moon has set, and the fire has gone out, and no sound is heard, what serves then as his light?”

There is no external light left. No sun, no moon, no fire. No voice to guide. In the complete absence of all objective illumination, what remains?

Yajnavalkya answers:

“The Self indeed is his light; for by the light of the Self alone a man sits, goes out, works, and returns.” (BU 4.3.6)

The Self (atman) is self-luminous (svayam-jyotih). It does not borrow its light from anything. It is the light by which all other lights are known. When the sun is known, it is the Self that knows it. When the moon is known, it is the Self that knows it. When a sound is heard, it is the Self that hears it. All external lights are objects of the Self’s awareness - the Self alone is the subject, the knower, the light of consciousness itself.

Janaka is silent. The teaching is about to begin.

The Three States of Consciousness

Yajnavalkya now leads Janaka through the three states of consciousness (avasthatraya), showing how the Self, though present in all three, is identical with none of them.

The Waking State (Jagrat)

“This very Atman, consisting of knowledge, is the light within the heart. Being the same, It traverses both worlds - this world and the next. It appears to think, It appears to move. For when It becomes identified with the body, It is enveloped by the dream-state and the waking-state.” (BU 4.3.7)

In the waking state, the Self functions through the physical senses, engages with the external world, and identifies with the body-mind complex. It thinks, acts, experiences pleasure and pain. Yet even here, the Self is not truly doing any of these things - it merely appears to do so, like the sun that appears to move but never leaves its place.

The Dream State (Svapna)

When the body sleeps but the mind remains active, the Self enters the dream state:

“There are no chariots in that state, nor animals to be yoked to them, nor roads there, but he himself creates the chariots, animals, and roads. There are no pleasures there, no joys, no delights, but he himself creates the pleasures, joys, and delights. There are no tanks there, no lakes, no rivers, but he himself creates the tanks, lakes, and rivers. He indeed is the maker.” (BU 4.3.10)

In the dream state, consciousness reveals its creative power. Freed from the constraints of external reality, it projects an entire world from its own impressions and memories. The dreamer is the sole creator, perceiver, and experiencer of the dream. As Yajnavalkya says in a verse:

“After having subdued by sleep all that belongs to the body, he, not asleep himself, looks down upon the sleeping senses. Having taken the light of consciousness, he returns to his own place - the golden Person, the solitary Swan.” (BU 4.3.11)

The dreamer is a solitary creator - a golden swan (hamsa) that moves freely in the space of its own mind.

The Deep Sleep State (Suṣupti)

Now the teaching moves to the deepest state:

“Having enjoyed himself and roamed in the dream state, and having seen only what is to be seen, he returns to the state of deep sleep. He draws himself together, and rests in the lotus of the heart. When this being is embraced by the Supreme Self, he knows nothing without or within.” (BU 4.3.15)

In deep sleep, the Self withdraws completely from all objects, desires, and dualities. It rests in its own true nature - pure, undifferentiated consciousness. The Upanisad describes this state with extraordinary language:

“There the father becomes no father, the mother no mother, the worlds no worlds, the gods no gods, the Vedas no Vedas. There the thief becomes no thief, the murderer no murderer… He becomes without desire, without evil, without fear.” (BU 4.3.16)

All distinctions dissolve. All identities fall away. What remains is not nothing - it is the Self in its natural state, free from the superimpositions of name, form, and relation.

But Janaka may wonder: if deep sleep is the natural state of the Self, why do we not attain liberation simply by sleeping? Yajnavalkya provides the answer:

“That it does not see in that state is because, although seeing then, it does not see; for the vision of the witness can never be lost, because it is immortal. But there is no second thing separate from it that it could see.” (BU 4.3.23)

In deep sleep, the Self continues to be consciousness - it simply has no object to be conscious of. The seeing is still present; only the seen is absent. This is why we remember having slept peacefully: there was awareness of peace, even if no specific content was known.

The Fish Analogy

“As a large fish swims alternately to both banks of a river - the east and the west - so does this infinite being move to both these states: the dream state and the waking state.” (BU 4.3.18)

A great fish dwells in the water, not on either bank. It can approach the east bank or the west bank, but it never leaves its native element. The Self similarly touches the waking and dream states but never leaves its own nature as pure consciousness. The states are visited; the Self abides.

The Falcon Analogy

“As a hawk or a falcon, flying in the sky, becomes tired, and stretching its wings, flies down to its nest, so does this infinite being hasten to that state where, deep in sleep, he desires no more desires and dreams no more dreams.” (BU 4.3.19)

The falcon soars through vast spaces - the waking and dream worlds - but when it grows weary, it returns to its nest. The nest is deep sleep, where the Self rests in its own blissful, undifferentiated nature. The nest is not the falcon’s final destination - it is where it regathers its strength for another day of flight. Similarly, deep sleep is not liberation, but it gives us a taste of the peace that awaits when all seeking ceases.

The Self as Self-Luminous

The central teaching of this dialogue is that the Self is self-luminous (atmajyoti). It requires no external source of illumination to be known, because it is awareness itself. As Yajnavalkya states:

“This is the form of the Atman that is free from evil, free from old age, free from death, free from grief, free from hunger and thirst; whose desire is the Real, whose resolve is the Real.” (BU 4.3.14)

The Self is not something that possesses light - it is light. The sun shines, the moon shines, fire shines, but all these are objects that are themselves known by the Self. They are like lamps that reveal a room - but who reveals the lamp? The eye sees the lamp, but the Self sees the seeing.

Neti, Neti

When Janaka asks for the final description of the Self, Yajnavalkya gives the classic apophatic teaching:

“That Self is described as ‘Not this, not this’ (neti, neti). It is imperceptible, for It is never perceived; undecaying, for It never decays; unattached, for It is never attached; unfettered, for It never feels pain and never suffers injury.” (BU 4.4.22)

The Self cannot be positively described because every description would make it an object of knowledge, and the Self is the subject of all knowledge. “Not this, not this” does not mean the Self is nothing - it means the Self is not any thing that can be pointed to, named, or conceptualised.

The Great Declaration

The dialogue closes with Yajnavalkya’s final declaration:

“That great, unborn Self is undecaying, immortal, undying, fearless; It is Brahman. Brahman is indeed fearless. He who knows It as such becomes the fearless Brahman.” (BU 4.4.25)

Janaka, the great king who had everything - wealth, power, knowledge - received the one thing that surpasses all possessions. He became a knower of Brahman.

Further study: This dialogue is the definitive teaching on the three states of consciousness, explored on the Avasthatraya page. The witness-self (saksin) is examined on the Atman page. The method of negation (neti neti) connects to Adhyasa. See also the related Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi dialogue, which covers the same teaching from a different perspective.

Source citations: Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, Book 4, Chapters 3-4. Key citations: BU 4.3.2-6 (the five lights), BU 4.3.7 (waking state), BU 4.3.10-14 (dream state), BU 4.3.15-23 (deep sleep and witness), BU 4.3.18 (fish analogy), BU 4.3.19 (falcon analogy), BU 4.4.22 (neti neti), BU 4.4.25 (final declaration). Translations consulted: Swami Madhavananda, Swami Nikhilananda, Patrick Olivelle.