Yajnavalkya

Agora

Yajnavalkya

traditionally c. 800–720 BCE

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Your innermost self is one with the ground of all reality – and this self cannot be described, only pointed to by saying what it is not.

Placement

South Asian & Tibetan Philosophy · Metaphysics, Religion, Existence & Self

Sage of the Upanishads: the innermost self (Atman) is one with the ground of the world (Brahman).

Key ideas

Atman is Brahman
Neti neti – not this, not that

Teachers: Uddalaka Aruni

Students: Maitreyi

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Influence

Influenced by 1

Uddalaka Aruni studied with

studied with later tradition ✓
Known only from the Upanishadic tradition: a lineage of teachers in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (6.3.7) makes Yajnavalkya Uddalaka’s pupil, while in 3.7 the two meet as rivals in debate; outside these texts nothing is known of either. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 6.3.7, 3.7, tr. P. Olivelle, Upaniṣads, 1996
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Uddalaka Aruni › traditionally c. 830–760 BCE

Influenced 7

Maitreyi taught

taught later tradition
Known only from the Upanishadic narrative: in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.4, 4.5) Yajnavalkya instructs his wife Maitreyi on the self before he leaves home; outside these texts nothing is known of either. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4, 4.5, tr. P. Olivelle, Upaniṣads, 1996
Evidence: AI draft
Maitreyi › traditionally c. 780–700 BCE
Adi Shankara

influenced
Shankara’s longest Upanishad commentary is on the Brihadaranyaka, where he read Yajnavalkya’s ‘not this, not this’ (neti neti) as pointing to the attributeless Brahman. Shankara, Brihadaranyakopanishad-bhashya, tr. Swami Madhavananda (1934); Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, tr. P. Olivelle, Upanisads (1996)
Evidence: AI draft
Adi Shankara › c. 700–750 · conventionally dated 788–820
Ramanuja

influenced
Ramanuja based his view of the world and selves as the body of God on Yajnavalkya’s teaching of the inner controller (antaryamin) in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Ramanuja, Vedarthasangraha; Sribhashya; J. B. Carman, The Theology of Ramanuja (1974); J. J. Lipner, The Face of Truth (1986)
Evidence: AI draft
Ramanuja › c. 1077–1157 · traditionally 1017–1137
Madhvacharya

influenced
Madhva commented on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which preserves Yajnavalkya’s teaching, among the ten principal Upanishads, and read it in support of a real difference between God and selves. Madhva, Brihadaranyakopanishad-bhashya; B. N. K. Sharma, History of the Dvaita School of Vedanta and Its Literature (1960)
Evidence: AI draft
Madhvacharya › c. 1238–1317
Arthur Schopenhauer

influenced
The link runs through the Upanishads: Schopenhauer read the Oupnek’hat (1801–02), which includes Yajnavalkya’s teachings from the Brihadaranyaka, and called it the consolation of his life (Parerga, 1851). A. Schopenhauer, Parerga und Paralipomena II (1851); A. H. Anquetil-Duperron, Oupnek’hat (1801–02); U. App, Schopenhauer’s Compass (2014)
Evidence: AI draft
Arthur Schopenhauer › 1788–1860
Rabindranath Tagore

influenced
The link runs through the Upanishads, in which Yajnavalkya’s teaching is preserved: Tagore, raised with them in daily family worship, built his lectures Sadhana (1913) on them. R. Tagore, Sadhana: The Realisation of Life (1913), preface
Evidence: AI draft
Rabindranath Tagore › 1861–1941
Sri Aurobindo

influenced
The link runs through the Upanishads, in which Yajnavalkya’s teaching is preserved: Aurobindo read them as a philosophy of the One becoming the world (The Life Divine, 1939–40). Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine (1939–40); Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, tr. P. Olivelle, Upanisads (1996)
Evidence: AI draft
Sri Aurobindo › 1872–1950

Criticism

Criticized by 1

Gargi Vachaknavi

criticised by
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Gargi challenges Yajnavalkya at Janaka’s court on what the world is woven upon; he answers with the imperishable (akshara), and she declares him unbeaten. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.6, 3.8 (3.8.12), tr. P. Olivelle, Upaniṣads, 1996
Evidence: AI draft
Gargi Vachaknavi › traditionally c. 780–700 BCE

Works

c. 700 BCEBrihadaranyaka Upanishad
Compiled by many hands; its central dialogues feature the sage Yajnavalkya: Atman and Brahman – a foundational text of Vedanta.

Position

Yajnavalkya’s teaching centres on the atman, the innermost self. It cannot be grasped as an object, for it is the seer that is never seen and the knower that is never known; it can only be described negatively, as “not this, not this” (neti neti). This self is ultimately one with brahman, the ground of all reality. In his dialogue with Maitreyi he explains that we love spouse, children and wealth for the sake of the self, and that knowing the self is the true goal. Liberation comes from this knowledge, not from ritual. His ideas laid the foundation for Vedanta, especially Shankara’s non-dualism.

Life & context

Yajnavalkya is a sage of the late Vedic period whose teachings are preserved above all in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, one of the oldest Upanishads, probably composed in the first half of the first millennium BCE. There he appears at the court of King Janaka of Videha, debating other Brahmins and teaching his wife Maitreyi. Whether he was a single historical person is uncertain.