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Yaagyavalkya and Gaargee
You must read the Brihadaaranyak Upanishad, especially its 2nd and the 4th Chapters where Yaagyavalkya pours the highest wisdom on Maitreyee and King Janak, till they become stunned completely. "Go on, Yaagyavalkya, say further, I will give you a thousand cows as big as elephants. Go on, tell me further, further. I am not satisfied. You are raining nectar on me. Go on, Yaagyavalkya." So the nectar flowed from the words of Sage Yaagyavalkya, and the highly satisfied King said - "Go on, go on further, great Sage, further! I am not satisfied. I'm giving you thousands of cows as big as bulls, take."

Some preliminary qualifications are prescribed : Vivek, Vairaagya, Shat-sampatti, Mumukshutwa – discrimination, dispassion, the six virtues and longing for liberation. If anyone is distracted in the direction of anything else than the Self, then the Self will hide itself fully away somewhere.

There are very great things which should not be read by impure minds, in the Brihadaaranyak Upanishad. We should not go to the Upanishad with these subtle longings - "Let me see if I can find something there." You should say, "I shall find it." The Brihadaaranyak Upanishad is a supermarket – you can find anything there. It is a forest, a large, large forest of knowledge – Brihadaaranyak. It is Brihad - very large, very vast, impregnable for every kind of knowledge, and Aaranyak - a forest. So Briahadaaranyak means a large vast forest.

Yaagyavalkya, though a great Brahm Gyaanee, was a great Karm Kaandee too. He caused many Yagya to be performed and himself became the Aachaarya of those great Yagya. He was a celebrated Shrotriya and a Brahm-nishth Guru.

Once King Janak of Videh wanted to know from which real Brahm Nishth to receive Brahm Vidyaa. In order to find out who was the real Brahm Nishth, Janak performed a huge Bahu-dakshinaa sacrifice to which all the Rishi from far and wide were invited. And he offered 1,000 cows with their calves, all their horns being decked with enormous gold and 10 gold coins tied to each cow's horn. Then he proclaimed to the assembled ones, "Whosoever is the best Braahman amongst you may drive these cows home". None dared to get up and take away the cows as they were afraid of censure by the others. But Yaagyavalkya stood up and asked his disciple Samashravaa to drive the cows home, so he did.

Seeing this the other Braahman got angry and said to one another, "How can he declare himself to be the best among us?" King Janak also asked him - "O Rishi, How could you drive these cows just like that?" Yaagyavalkya replied - "Because I consider myself the most learned person, that is why." Then many rose to have discussion with him but all sat down after asking a few questions only. Thereupon several Rishi challenged Yaagyavalkya with many questions relating the knowledge of Ved and on transcendental matters to all of which Yaagyavalkya gave prompt reply. "Do not talk much about it," Yaagyavalkya tells some of the questioners in the assembly of King Janak. Still once Shaakalya went on arguing, "Where is its location, where is it located? Where is the heart located?" Yaagyavalkya said - "Hey, don't ask too much lest your head may fall off."
Shaakalya asked - "Tell me about the great Purush that is described in the Upanishad. If you don't understand this, your head will fall just now." And he did not know the Purush described in the Upanishad that well, and robbers took his head away.

Many illustrious sages like Ashwal, the priest of Janak, Aartabhag, Bhujyu, Ushast, Uddaalak challenged him and Yaagyavalkya answered all their questions and defeated them in the debate. Gaargee was the first to argue with him (See also Gaargee-Yaagyavalkya). In that congress she challenged the sage Yaagyavalkya with perturbing questions on the Aatmaa (soul) but Yaagyavalkya satisfied her very well. At last she declared Yaagyavalkya the best Braahman. In Vaidik literature, she is honored as one of the great natural philosophers. There was a great debate in which Yaagyavalkya won over all the others. Janak was convinced that Yaagyavalkya was the best Brahm-nishth and received Brahm Vidyaa from him thereafter.

The third and the fourth chapters of the Brihadaaranyak Upanishad abound with the great philosophical teachings of Yaagyavalkya. Yaagyavalkya was also the author of the famous "Yaagyavalkya Smriti". His other works are "Yaagyavalkya Shaakhaa, Pratigyaa Sutra, "Shatapath Braahman", and "Yog Yaagyavalkya".

At the sacrifice of Janak, there was an exchange of words between Yaagyavalkya and Vaishampaayan also. But on hearing that Yaagyavalkya had obtained a fresh Ved from Soorya Dev, Vaishampaayan was much pleased and he requested Yaagyavalkya to teach that Ved to his own disciples also. Yaagyavalkya consented and taught his Ved to the disciples of Vaishampayan also. In the end, Yaagyavalkya took Vidwat Sanyaas (renunciation after the attainment of the knowledge of Brahm) and retired to the forest.

Yaagyavalkya was one of the greatest sages ever known to mankind. We find him arguing with and overcoming even his teacher Uddaalak at the court of Janak. His precepts, as contained in the Upanishad, stand foremost as the crest-jewel of the highest teachings on Brahm Vidyaa.

Yaagyavalkya and Maitreyee-2
From Brihadaaranyak Upanishad, Part 4, Ch 5

1. Yaagyavalkya had two wives: Maitreyee and Kaatyaayanee. Of these, Maitreyee was conversant with the Knowledge of Brahm, while Kaatyaayanee had an essentially feminine outlook. One day Yaagyavalkya, when he wished to embrace another mode of life,

2. said - "Maitreyee, my dear," said Yaagyavalkya, "I am going to renounce this life. Let me make a final settlement between you and Kaatyaayanee (his other wife)."

3. Thereupon Maitreyee said: "Venerable Sir, If indeed the whole earth, full of wealth, belonged to me, would I be immortal through that?" "No," replied Yaagyavalkya, "Your life would be just like that of people who have plenty. Of Immortality, however, there is no hope through wealth."

4. Then Maitreyee said: "What should I do with that which would not make me immortal? Tell me, venerable Sir, of that alone which you know to be the only means of attaining Immortality."

5. Yaagyavalkya replied: "My dear, you have been my beloved even before and now you say what is after my heart. Come, sit down; I will explain it to you. As I explain it, meditate on what I say."

6. Then Yaagyavalkya said: "Verily, Not for the sake of the husband, my dear, is the husband loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self which, in its true nature, is one with the Supreme Self." "Verily, not for the sake of the wife, my dear, is the wife loved, but she is loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, not for the sake of the sons, my dear, are the sons loved, hut they are loved for the sake of the self. ""Verily, not for the sake of wealth, my dear, is wealth loved, but it is loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, not for the sake of the Braahman, my dear, is the Braahman loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, not for the sake of the Kshatriya, my dear, is the Kshatriya loved, but he is loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, not for the sake of the worlds, my dear, are the worlds loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, not for the sake of the gods, my dear, are the gods loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, not for the sake of the beings, my dear, are the beings loved, but they are loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, not for the sake of the All, my dear, is the All loved, but it is loved for the sake of the self." "Verily, My dear Maitreyee, It is the Self that should be realized - should be heard of, reflected on and meditated upon. By the realization of the Self, my dear, through hearing, reflection and meditation - all this is known.

7. "The Braahman rejects one who knows him as different from the Self. The Kshatriya rejects one who knows him as different from the Self. The worlds reject one who knows them as different from the Self. The gods reject one who knows them as different from the Self. The beings reject one who knows them as different from the Self. The All rejects one who knows it as different from the Self. This Braahman, this Kshatriya, these worlds, these gods, these beings and this All - are that Self.

8-10. "As the various particular kinds of notes of a drum, when it is beaten, cannot be grasped by themselves, but are grasped only when the general note of the drum or the general sound produced by different kinds of strokes is grasped; "And as the various particular notes of a conch, when it is blown, cannot be grasped by themselves, but are grasped only when the general note of the conch or the general sound produced by different kinds of blowing is grasped; "And as the various particular notes of a Veenaa, when it is played, cannot be grasped by themselves, but are grasped only when the general note of the Veenaa or the general sound produced by different kinds of playing is grasped; Similarly, no particular objects are perceived in the waking and dream states apart from Pure Intelligence.

11. "As from a fire kindled with wet fuel various kinds of smoke issue forth, even so, my dear, the Rig - Ved, the Yajur - Ved, the Saam - Ved, the Atharv Aangiras, history (Itihaas), mythology (Puraan), the arts (Vidyaa), the Upanishads, verses (Shlok), aphorisms (Sootra), elucidations (Anu-Vyaakhyaan) and explanations (Vyaakhyaan) are like the breath of this infinite Reality. From this Supreme Self are all these, indeed, breathed forth.

12. "As the ocean is the one goal of all waters (i.e. the place where they merge), so the skin is the one goal of all kinds of touch, the nostrils are the one goal of all smells, the tongue is the one goal of all savors, the ear is the one goal of all sounds, the mind is the one goal of all deliberations, the intellect is the one goal of all forms of knowledge, the hands are the one goal of all actions, the organ of generation is the one goal of all kinds of enjoyment, the excretory organ is the one goal of all excretions, the feet are the one goal of all kinds of walking, the organ of speech is the one goal of all the Ved.

13. "As a lump of salt dropped into water becomes dissolved in water and cannot be taken out again, but wherever we taste the water it tastes salt, even so, my dear, this great, endless, infinite Reality is Pure Intelligence alone. This self comes out as a separate entity from these elements and with their destruction this separate existence also is destroyed. After attaining oneness it has no more consciousness. This is what I say, my dear." So said Yaagyavalkya.

14. Then Maitreyee said: "Just here you have bewildered me, venerable Sir, by saying that after attaining oneness the self has no more consciousness." Yaagyavalkya replied: "Certainly I am not saying anything bewildering, my dear. This Reality is enough for knowledge, O Maitreyee."

15. "For when there is duality, as it were, then one sees another, one smells another, one tastes another, one speaks to another, one hears another, one thinks of another, one touches another, one knows another. But when to the knower of Brahm, everything has become the Self, then what should he see and through what, what should he smell and through what, what should he taste and through what, what should he speak and through what, what should he hear and through what, what should he think and through what, what should he touch and through what, what should he know and through what? Through what should one know That Owing to which all this is known? "This Self is That which has been described as ‘Not this, not this.’ It is imperceptible, for It is never perceived; undecaying, for It never decays; unattached, for It never attaches Itself; unfettered, for It never feels pain and never suffers injury. Through what, O Maitreyee, should one know the Knower? "Thus you have the instruction given to you. This much, indeed, is the means to Immortality." Having said this, Yajnavalkya renounced home.

"O Maitreyee, I have told you everything, I am now departing from this place," Yaagyavalkya said. All this teaching to his consort Maitreyee ended with this renunciation. This renunciation is of a different kind. It is called Vidwat Sanyaas. It is not the Sanyaas that people take ordinarily for the sake of knowing something. Here, it renounces having already known everything. It is called Vidwat Sanyaas and not Vividishaa Sanyaas. It is not Karm Sanyaas. Thus in the end, Yaagyavalkya took Vidwat Sanyaws (renunciation after the attainment of the knowledge of Brahm) and retired to the forest. What happened to Yaagyavalkya afterwards, no one knows. The whole story ends here with this stunning, shaking, earth-shaking statement. We cannot say anything more than this. Nowhere will you find statement or speaking of this kind.

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