From individual self to universal Self In chapter 2, section 4 of Brahadaranyaka Upanishad the ‘ Yajnavalkya-Maitreyi dialogue’ follows a strange line of argument that would leave most westerners bewildered -- and that’s because the argument put forward by sage Yajnavalkya would sound outright fallacious to a westerner brought up on western logic and mathematics. ( See my previous post ) The question that a westerner would ask: how can a part be equal to a whole, or in other words, how can an individual self be equal to the universal Self that Yajnavalkya wants his wife Maitreyi to understand. The English readers, especially those who are very particular (or shall I say finicky) about the usage of personal pronouns and reflexive pronouns would say that the guy is putting needless emphasis on pronouns in order to drive his point home. Well, Yajnavalkya has his own style and logic and that’s what we are here to understand. It is so very intrinsic to the Hindu ethos. ...