_Yajnavalkya_ was a great sage. You know the rule in India was that every man must give up the world when he became old. So _Yajnavalkya_ said to his wife: “My beloved, here is all my money and my possessions, and I am going away.” She replied: “Sir, if I had this whole earth full of wealth would that give me immortality?” _Yajnavalkya_ said: “No, that cannot be. Your life will be that of the rich, and that will be all, but wealth cannot give you immortality.” She replied: “That through which I shall become immortal, what shall I do to gain that? If you know that, tell me.” _Yajnavalkya_ replied: “You have always been my beloved; you are more beloved now by this question. Come, take your seat, and I will tell you, and when you have heard, meditate upon it.” He continued: “It is not for the sake of the husband that the wife loves the husband, but for the sake of the _Âtman_ (the Self) that she loves the husband, because she loves the Self. None loves the wife for the sake of the wife, but it is because he loves the Self that he loves the wife. None loves the children for the sake of the children, but because he loves the Self, therefore he loves the children. None loves wealth on account of the wealth, but because he loves the Self, therefore he loves wealth. None loves the Brahmin for the sake of the Brahmin, but because he loves the Self, he loves the Brahmin. So none loves the _Kshatriya_ for the sake of the _Kshatriya_, but because he loves the Self. Neither does anyone love the world on account of the world, but because he loves the Self. None similarly loves the gods on account of the gods, but because he loves the Self. None loves anything for that thing’s sake, but it is for the Self of that thing that he loves it. This Self therefore, is to be heard, is to be reasoned, and is to be meditated upon. Oh my _Maitreyi_, when that Self has been heard, when that Self has been seen, when that Self has been realized, then all these things become known.” What does this mean? Before us we find a curious philosophy. That the Self shines through all these various things which we call the world. The statement has been made that every love is selfishness in the lowest sense of the word; because I love myself, therefore I love another; it cannot be. There have been philosophers in modern times who have said that self is the only motive power in the world. That is true, and yet it is wrong. This self is but the shadow of that real Self which is behind. It appears wrong and evil because it is limited. That very love we have for the Self, which is the universe, appears to be evil, because it is seen through limitation. Even when a wife loves a husband, whether she knows it or not, she loves the husband for that Self. It is selfishness as it is manifested in the world, but that selfishness is really but a small part of that “Self-ness.” Whenever one loves, one has to love in and through the Self.