Story · 39
A Single Half-Verse: Half a Line, a Whole Life
A great many rishis once sat together in one long discussion, and the debate ran on, verse after verse, commentary after commentary. Then one old rishi rose and spoke a single half-line, “सर्वं ब्रह्ममयं जगत्।” That was all, and everyone else went quiet.
Rama asked Vasistha, “Gurudev, after hearing all of this, if everything had to be said in one small thing, what would it be?”
Vasistha was quiet for a while, then said, “Rama, there is one half-line. Only half, and everything is inside it.”
This happened many years ago, when a great many rishis sat together.
A long discussion had broken out among them.
They argued at length, recited many verses, and offered much commentary.
Then the oldest rishi rose and said, “Brothers, enough has been said.”
Everyone stopped and turned to look at him.
“I will give you one half-line. If you understand it, you have understood everything. And if you do not, then more debate is needed.”
The rishi drew a breath and spoke.
“सर्वं ब्रह्ममयं जगत्।”
Everyone stayed silent for a long time.
Then one rishi asked.
“Only this?”
“Only this.”
“But this is such a plain thing to say.”
“Yes, and that is exactly the point.”
“Then why was there so much debate?”
The old rishi said, “Because understanding a plain truth takes a great deal of debate. Without the debate, a plain truth feels heavy, hard to accept.
“But one day the debate ends, and then only this half-line remains.
“Everything is made of Brahman, everything is Brahman itself. This world is Brahman, you are Brahman, and I too am Brahman.
“That is all there is.”
After this the rishis left, one by one.
Some had understood it, and some had not.
Those who had understood grew calm, and those who had not kept on debating.
Many years passed after that, and this half-line traveled onward.
In every generation someone would hear it, argue over it for a while, and then fall still.
After many years the line came into the Yoga Vasistha, and Rama heard it.
Rama was silent for a long time.
Vasistha said, “Rama, did you understand?”
“I do not know, Gurudev.”
Vasistha laughed.
“Rama, that is the right answer. Understanding arrives slowly, so let it be for now.”
Rama looked out toward the water of the river.
Literary background
This story draws on various references within the shastras. सर्वं ब्रह्ममयं जगत् is a famous Vedantic sutra: all this world is Brahman. The entire teaching of the shastras can be folded into this one half-line. This is the shortest of these stories, yet its weight is the heaviest.
A philosophical view
Many rishis sit together, there is much debate, there are many verses. The oldest rishi among them rises and speaks a single half-line, “सर्वं ब्रह्ममयं जगत्।” That is all. Everyone falls silent. Someone asks, only this. The old man answers, only this. The debate had been necessary so that this plain truth would not seem plain. The story tells us that the whole gist of Vedanta fits into one half-line, and everything else is a way of speaking that half-line so that someone might hear it.
The Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) wrote at the close of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) that whatever cannot be spoken of, one should pass over in silence, and that his whole book was a ladder to be thrown away once you had climbed it. The half-line is that same ladder. Speaking “सर्वं ब्रह्ममयं जगत्” takes all the debate, and once it has been spoken the debate falls away. What remains is only that half-line, and the silence behind it.