Yagyavalkya

Yagyavalkya (7th century BC) was a sage of ancient India who existed before the composition of the Brihadaranyak Upanishad (c. 700 BC) in which he appears proposing and discussing some fundamental questions of being and the reality. He is known for his debates on the nature of being, consciousness, impermanence, and the self. He proposed the epistemic doctrine of "neti, neti" which is Sanskrit meant "not this, not this" to rule out what is not the God, the Universal Self, or Atma the Soul. He is also mentioned in various Brahmanas and the Aranyakas, the sacred texts of Hinduism. Yagyavalkya Smriti and Yoga Yagyavalkya are also attributed to him.

Wisdom & Quotes

• A husband is not dear for love of the husband — a husband is dear for love of the self. Similarly, wife, sons, wealth, cattle, priests and warriors, worlds, gods, the Vedas, everything — none of them are dear in their own right, but all are dear for love of the Self. — Brihadaranyaka
• Truly you can see and hear and perceive and know the self, Maitreyi. And when you have seen, heard, perceived and known the Self, you will know all things. — Brihadaranyaka
• Where seems to be a duality of self and not-self, one sees, smells, tastes, perceives, hears, touches and knows something other. But when all is the Self, there is not consciousness of anything other than the Self. ... Thus Maitreyi, I have instructed you — this is immortality. — Brihadaranyaka