Yagnavalkya was a renounced sage in ancient India. His name has been derived from the word yagna meaning 'ritual', and the meaning of his name is "not ritualistic". This implies that Yagnavalkya had unconventional approaches to most pre-existing concepts, adding to the vedic scriptures his refreshingly logical ideas. It is assumed that Yagnavalkya, as well as his wife Maitreyi, lived in the Tretha Yuga due to their constant appearances in the Ramayana. More specifically, he was born on a Sunday in the month of Karthik (oct-nov) in present day Vadnagar, Gujarat. His parents were Devaratha and Sunandadevi.
Not much is known about his childhood but he showed signs of being a prodigy at vedic studies. He studied under the great sage Vaishampayana who was also his maternal uncle. Under his tutorship, he quickly discovered his deep understanding of all vedic scriptures and turned out to be the best student in Vaishampayana's ashram. He also learned yoga under sage Vassishta and did his further studies under sage Uddalaka.
His expertise was such that the Surya deva and Saraswathi devi decided to impart their knowledge to him. This led to the formation of the Shukla Yajurveda. This is a part of the Yajur Veda and describes sacrifices and rituals.
The knowledge Yagnavalkya himself had gathered over the years was fit to be turned into a new scripture. The story goes that once, Yagnavalkya had a disagreement with his guru Vaishampayana and in a rage, the guru asked him to return all the knowledge that he had learnt. Yagnavalkya vomited the knowledge and left. The guru was astounded, for the knowledge he had imparted had been beautifully refined in Yagnavalkya's mind. He asks his students to turn into tittiri birds (Partridges) and consume that knowledge. This ultimately got compiled into a scripture called Taitreya Upanishad which is a collection of wisdom regarding various concepts and situations.
Yagnavalkya's prowess at philosophy earned him fame all across India and he frequented the kingdom of king Janaka, as he often hosted seminars and discussions on various scriptures. Once, he was in a debate with yogini Maitreyi, who questioned him about his Shukla Yajurveda. Seeing his confidence while answering her, she decides that a union of their minds would be beneficial and they get married. The debate also earned him the name "Sarvajani", meaning 'The knower of all'. Yagnavalkya took another wife, named Kathayani. Maitreyi and Kathyayani had a discussion about divisions of property with Yagnavalkya soon after their marriage. The entire conversation has been turned into the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which displays the multiple view points regarding Bramhan, materialism and the properties of energy. Multiple shruthis and smritis have also been attributed to him, though there are differences in their origin. Some say Yagnavalkya himself composed these works while others believe that they are only named after him. Some of his most prominent works are Yoga Yagnavalkya, Yagnavalkya Smriti, Yagnavalkya Shaka and Shatapatha Bramhana.
No matter how many discrepancies occur in the works attributed to him, one thing is for sure, Yagnavalkya has been immortalised by his innumerable contribution to Hindu scriptures.
~V.N
Comentários