Rishi Yagyavalkya teaching Janak Maharaja, the king of Mithila & father of Vaidehi aka Sita
Yajnavalkya (Sanskrit: याज्ञवल्क्य, Yājñavalkya)
of Videha (7th century BCE) was
a sage and philosopher of Vedic India. He was one of
the first philosophers in recorded history,
alongside Uddalaka Aruni. In
the court of King Janaka of Mithila, he was renowned for his
expertise in Vedic ritual and his unrivaled talent in theological
debate. He expounded a doctrine of neti neti to describe
the universal Self or Ātman. He later became a wandering
ascetic. His teachings are recorded in the Shatapatha Brahmana and
the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
He is traditionally credited with the
authorship of the Shatapatha Brahmana (including the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad]l), besides the Yoga Yajnavalkya and the Yājñavalkya
Smṛti. He is also a major figure in
theUpanishads.
According to traditional accounts,
Yājñavalkya was the son of Devarāta and was the pupil of
sage Vaisampayana. Once, Vaisampayana got angry with
Yājñavalkya as the latter argued too much to separate some latter additions
to Yajurveda in being abler than other students. The angry teacher
asked his pupil Yājñavalkya to give back all the knowledge of Yajurveda that he
had taught him.
As per the demands of his Guru,
Yājñavalkya vomited all the knowledge that he acquired from his teacher in form
of digested food. Other disciples of Vaisampayana took the form
of partridge birds and consumed the digested knowledge (a metaphor
for knowledge in its simplified form without the complexities of the whole but
the simplicity of parts) because it was knowledge and they were very eager to
receive the same.
The Saṃskṛt name
for partridge is "Tittiri". As the Tittiri (partridge) birds ate
this Veda, it is thenceforth called the Taittirīya Yajurveda. It is also
known as Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda or
Black-Yajurveda on account of it being a vomited substance. The Taittirīya Saṃhitā thus
belongs to this Yajurveda.
Then Yājñavalkya determined not to have
any human guru thereafter. Thus he began to propitiate the Sun God, Surya.
Yājñavalkya worshipped and extolled the Sun, the master of the Vedas, for
the purpose of acquiring the fresh Vedic portions not known to his preceptor,
Vaiśampāyana.
The Sun God, pleased with Yājñavalkya's
penance, assumed the form of a horse and graced the sage with such fresh
portions of the Yajurveda as were not known to any other. This portion of the
Yajurveda goes by the name of Śukla Yajurveda or White-Yajurveda on account of
it being revealed by Sun. It is also known as Vajasaneya Yajurveda, because it
was evolved in great rapidity by Sun who was in the form of a horse through his
manes.The rhythm of recital of these vedas is therefore to the rhythm of the
horse canter and distinguishes itself from the other forms of veda recitals.
In Sanskrit, term "Vaji" means horse. Yājñavalkya divided this
Vajasaneya Yajurveda again into fifteen branches, each branch comprising
hundreds of Yajus Mantras. Sages like Kanva, Madhyandina and others learnt
those and Śukla Yajurveda branched into popular recensions named after them.
It is important to note that within the
hierarchy of Brāhmaṇas,
certain sects believe in the Kṛṣṇa
Yajurveda while others practice from the Śukla
Yajurveda.
Yājñavalkya married two wives. One
was Maitreyi and the other Katyaayanee. Of the
two, Maitreyi was a Brahmavadini (one who is interested in
the knowledge of Brahman).The descendant sects of Brahmans are the progeny
of the first wife Katyaayanee. When Yājñavalkya wished to divide his property
between the two wives, Maitreyi asked whether she could become immortal through
wealth. Yājñavalkya 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. When she heard this, Maitreyi
asked Yājñavalkya to teach her what he considered as the best. Then Yājñavalkya
described to her the greatness of the Absolute Self, the nature of its existence,
the way of attaining infinite knowledge and immortality, etc. This immortal
conversation between Yājñavalkya and Maitreyi is recorded in
the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
Wisdom of Yājñavalkya is shown
in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad where he gives 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). His intellectual dialogues with Gargi (a
learned scholar of the times) form a beautiful chapter filled with lot of
philosophical and mystical question-answers in Brhadaranyaka
Upanishad. He was then praised as the greatest Brahmajnyani by all the
sages at the function organised by king Janaka In the end, Yājñavalkya took
Vidvat Sanyasa (renunciation after the attainment of the knowledge
of Brahman) and retired to the forest.
Now, I have shared with you a bit about
Rishi Yajnavalkya, which covers the first part of the question to an extent. I
will share with you more of him in the upcoming postings. Now, coming to the
other part of the question, viz. 'who am I?' I can just claim that my
name is Venkatesan. But, that leaves the answer incomplete, because that is my
name. That's all. To be frank, this question remains unanswered for centuries.
Those who can answer this question are the exponents of knowledge but took to
silence, because they knew silence is the best answer for everything.
On the other hand, those who claim to
have known the answer and give answers are, to be frank, in may humble opinion,
knew nothing. It is the same as the great Sage Thirumoolar said கண்டவர் விண்டிலர் விண்டவர் கண்டிலர், in a rough translation this means those
who have seen have not shared, those who tried to share have not seen it. This
thumb rule applies to not only to God (for believers), but also for those who
try to realise themselves. 'Know thyself' said Aristotle. Have we, or will we
ever?
I leave the question to you to ponder.
Let us think more things aloud..... in the coming days.
