Yajnavalkya: Encyclopedia - Yajnavalkya

Yajnavalkya

Sage Yajnavalkya of Mithila (perhaps 1800 BC) advanced a 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun and the moon. He is also credited with the authorship of the Shatapatha Brahmana, in which the references to the motions of the sun and the moon are found. He is also a major figure in the Upanishads. His deep philosophical teachings in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, and the apophatic teaching of 'neti neti' etc. is found to be startlingly similar to the Buddhist Anatta doctrine.

The name of Sage Yajnavalkya of Mithila stands distinguished both in the Shrutis and in the Smritis. Yajnavalkya is especially known for his unsurpassed spiritual wisdom and power. The seer of a Shukla Yajurveda (A version of Yajurveda, attributed to Yajnavalkya) from Lord Surya or Sun God, the revealer of knowledge of Brahman to Janaka the king of Mithila and others, Yajnavalkya hails supreme among sages of sacred memory. As to his obtaining the Shukla Yajurveda from Sun God, there is the following Story.

According to Indian tradition, Yajnavalkya was the son of sage Devarata and was the pupil of sage vaishampayana who was teaching yajurveda to several other students along with Yajnavalkya. Once, Vaishampayana got angry with Yajnavalkya since the latter displayed too much sense of pride in being abler than other students. The angry teacher asked his pupil yajnavalkya to give him back all the knowledge of yajurveda he got from him.

As per the demands of his Guru, Yajnavalkya vomitted all the knowledge that he acquired from his teacher in form of eaten food. Other disciples of vaishampayana took the form of Tittiri birds and consumed the vommitted stuff because it was knowledge and they were very eager to receive the same. When they ate it, they had the direct revelation of those Yajurveda mantras. As the Tittiri birds ate this Veda, it is thenceforth called the Taittiriya Yajurveda. It is also known as Krishna Yajurveda or Black-yajurveda on account of it being a vomited substance.

Then Yajnavalkya determined not to have any human Guru thereafter. Thus he began to propitiate the Sun-God, Surya. Yajnavalkya worshipped and extolled the Sun, the master of the Vedas, for the purpose of acquiring the fresh Vedic portions not known to his preceptor, Vaishampayana.

The Sun-God, the glorious Lord Hari, pleased with Yajnavalkya’s penance, assumed the form of a horse and taught the sage such fresh portions of the Yajurveda as were not known to any other. This portion of the Yajurveda goes by the name of Shukla Yajurveda or White-yajurveda. It is also known as Vajasaneya Yajurveda, because it was evolved in great rapidity by Surya in the form of a horse through his manes. In Sanskrit term "Vaji" means horse. Yajnavalkya divided this Vajasaneya Yajurveda again into fifteen branches, each branch comprising hundreds of Yajus Mantras. Kanva, Madhyandina and others learnt those branches.

Yajnavalkya married two wives. One was Maitreyi and the other Katyayani. Of the two, Maitreyi was a Brahmavadini ( one who is interested in the knowledge of Brahman ) . When Yajnavalkya wished to divide his property between the two wives before starting for the fourth Ashrama of his life (sanyasa) , Maitreyi asked whether she could become immortal through wealth. Yajnavalkya replied that there was no hope of immortality through wealth and that she would only become one among the many who were well-to-do on earth. On hearing this, Maitreyi requested Yajnavalkya to teach her what he considered as the best. Then Yajnavalkya elaborately described to her the sole greatness of the Absolute Self, the nature of Its existence, the way of attaining infinite knowledge and immortality, etc. This immortal conversation between Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi is recorded in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The central theme of the discourse is this: "All things are dear, not for their sake, but for the sake of the Self. This Self alone exists everywhere. It cannot be understood or known, for It alone is the Understander and the Knower. Its nature cannot be said to be positively as such. It is realised through endless denials as ‘not this, not this’. The Self is self-luminous, indestructible, unthinkable".

Wisdom of Yajnavalkya revealed to a greater extent in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad where he imparts his teachings to his wife maitreyi and King janaka. He also participates in a competition arranged by King Janaka about the selecting great Brhama Jnani ( knower of Brahman) and wins after defeating several learned scholars and sages. This forms a beautiful chapter filled with lot of philosohical and mystical question-answers in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad. In the end, Yajnavalkya took Vidvat Sanyasa (renunciation after the attainment of the knowledge of Brahman) and retired to the forest.

Yajnavalkya was one of the greatest sages ever known. His precepts as contained in the Upanishads (The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad) stand foremost as the crest-jewel of the highest teachings on knowledge of Brahman.

See also: History of astronomy, Indian science, List of Indians

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