Yajnavalkya, a great sage of the Upanishadic age, was famous for his unsurpassed spiritual wisdom and power. He was the seer of Shukla Yajurveda Samhita, and is credited with the authorship of the Shatapatha Brahmana (including the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad), Yogayajnavalkya Samhita and Yajnavalkya Smriti. The third and the fourth chapters of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad abound with the great philosophical teachings of Yajnavalkya.
Yajnavalkya, the son of sage Devarata, lived a householder’s life with his two wives: Maitreyee and Katyayani. Of the two, it was Katyayani who kept the household going. It was she who always cared most for her position as a wife. On the other hand, Maitreyee loved to sit near her husband and hear him talk to his pupils. She was more interested in spiritual matter - listening to such discourses and participating in discussions. Therefore, she was known as brahmavadini, the one more interested in the knowledge of Brahman.
Towards the last phase of his life Yajnavalkya decided to give up his householder’s responsibilities and live the life of a forest recluse. So, one day he called Maitreyee in and said to her, “Maitreyee, I am forsaking all and leaving home. If you want I can make separate provisions for Katyayani and yourself.”
Hearing these words of her husband Maitreyee said to him, “Lord, if all my possessions were to fill the entire earth, would they bring me immortality?”
Yajnavalkya replied, “No dear, that could never be. You could live a life of enjoyment like others who have wealth. But, there would be no hope of immortality.”
“What then am I to do with that which cannot make me immortal?” exclaimed Maitreyee.
On hearing these words of Maitreyee, Yajnavalkya said to her, “You have been always dear to me, now you have become dearer still.” Saying this, Yajnavalkya began to explain to Maitreyee not only the nature of true love but also the greatness of the Absolute Self, the nature of its existence, the way of attaining infinite knowledge and immortality.
“My dear Maitreyee, know that a wife loves her husband not for his sake but for her own sake, for the sake of the Self. In loving him she loves the One who is both in her as well as in him. It is really this One whom she loves. Similarly it is so for the husband, and indeed, for all love relationships - father and son, mother and son, mother and daughter, father and daughter, friend and friend, and so on. Whatever is held to be dear is so because of that one Self. It is this Self that has to be seen, heard of, thought about, meditated upon. This being known all else is known.
“Dear Maitreyee, as there can be no water without the sea, no touch without the skin, no smell without the nose, no taste without the tongue, no form without the eye, no sound without the ear, no thought without the mind, no wisdom without the hear, no work without hands, no walking without the feet, no scriptures without the words, so there can be nothing without the Self.
“As a lump of salt thrown in water dissolves and cannot be taken out again. Even so the separate self dissolves in the sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal. Separateness arises from identifying the Self with the body, which is made up of the elements, when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate self. This is what I wanted to tell you my beloved!”
To this Maitreyee replied: “I am confused, O Blessed One, when you say there is no separate self. Could you please enlighten me.”
“O beloved Maitreyee”, said Yajnavalkya, “ reflect upon what I have said and you will not be confused. As long as there is separateness, one sees, hears, smells, speaks to thinks of, knows, but when the Self is realized as the indivisible unity of life, who can be seen by whom, who can be smelled by whom, who can be thought of by whom, who can be known by whom? O Maitreyee, my beloved, how can the knower be ever known?”
Hearing this Maitreyee had nothing more to say but to reflect on the teachings given to her to so then she merges in the infinite and the immortal.
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