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The Personality of Y˜jñavalkya as portrayed in Yogay˜jñavalkya

Dr.K.S.Balasubramanian,Dy. Director,The K.S.R.Institute,Chennai- 600 004

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Y˜jñavalkya, the well known legendary saint was well versed in all the Vedas,

Ved˜ðgas, Yoga, ·yurveda, Law, Politics, code of conduct etc. The fact that many

texts are ascribed to this great personality is a testimony to this. His name appears

frequently in the Vedic texts likeB®had˜raõyaka Upaniÿad andatapatha Br˜hmaõa,

epics and Puraõas likeR˜m˜yaõa, Mah˜bh˜rata,Viÿõu Pur˜õa, Bh˜gavata Pur˜õa,

Brahm˜õýa Pur˜õa, and Skandapur˜õa .He is also considered as an incarnation of 

lord Viÿõu. He is well known as the preceptor of King Janaka on spiritual science.

According toB®had˜raõyaka Upaniÿad , he had two wives MaitreyŸ andK˜ty˜yanŸ.

He founded the ukla YajurVeda school. The V˜jasaneyŸ Samhit˜ was revealed to

him directly by the Sun god. Texts like Y˜jñavalkya Sm®ti , Y˜jñavalkya ikÿ˜,

B®hadyogi- Y˜jñavalkya Sm®ti, SarasvatŸ Stotra  are ascribed to him. These are

 probably by different authors by the same name.

Y˜jñavalkya, the seer, is well-known for his sharp intellect, deep knowledge

and spiritual attainment in Vedic literature. The author of  Yoga y˜jñavalkya  (YY )

 bearing the same name also exhibits these qualities. YY depicts him as a multi-faceted

 personality. The first five verses describe his greatness in spiritual, intellectual and

 physical aspects:

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The adjectives ‘ jñ˜nanirmala  (I.1)’, sad˜ dhy˜anapar˜yaõa  (I.1),  jitendriya 

(I.2),  yogeÿu pariniÿ÷hita  (I.2), tapasvin , (I.3), brahmaõya (I.3) etc. describe his

spiritual prowess.

The words jit˜h˜ra  and jit˜maya  indicate that he had his body perfectly under 

his control by Yogic practices. His description of the process of meditation and

sam˜dhi confirms this. After explaining to G˜rgŸ, the secret of Yogic

techniques, the felicity in which he enters into sam˜dhi  , gives the idea that he

was an adept in Yoga.

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The terms sarvaþ˜stratattvajña (I.1), vedaved˜ðgatattvajña (I.2) and sarvaþ˜strajña 

(I.8) express his knowledge in many branches of science.

(i) Y˜jñavalkya reveals his knowledge in Yoga throughout YY . He also refers

to a technique by the great saint Agastya (VII.32) while describing praty˜h˜ra and

refers to some predecessors without mentioning their names (VII.22) :

1. YY. XII. 42

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(ii) He was also aware of the practice by Tantriks, as is known from the passage

(VIII.4) :

(iii) The adepts in Yogic practice should possess knowledge in·yurveda also.

In ancient days, both these sciences borrowed some concepts from each other.

Y˜jñavalkya reveals his knowledge on physiology and anatomy to which he devotes

special attention. He also refers to the views of  Aþv ins , the

celestial physicians while describing the vital points (marmasth˜na ) in the

human body. (YY. VII.7) :

Y˜jñavalkya also discusses (VIII.32-9) remedy for diseases due to v˜ta  , pitta and

kapha. He says that these are the views of physicians (bhiÿagvar˜× – VIII.32) and

also Aþvins (VIII.38).

(iv)Y˜jñavalkya’s knowledge in ·gama andmantraþ˜stra is also made known

through his statements.

(a) He classifies japa into two broad divisions and further sub-divisions 2.

2. YY. II.14-7

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 Japa

M˜nasika V˜cika  

(mental) (oral)

mananam dhy˜nam up˜mþu uccai×

(reflection) (meditation) (uttering throgh lips) (loud)

He says (YY II. 18) that one should know the ®ÿi, chandas, its adhidevat˜ 

(presiding deity) and practise mantrajapa, which alone would yield the desired

result:

He also refers to mantra on iva andViÿõu, during pr˜õay˜ma (VI.16cd, 64ab) :

(b) His knowledge in aiv˜gama is also made known by his description of the

 body, which he divides into five parts corresponding to five elements and

corresponding to bŸjamantras  (VIII.14-22). Here he uses the technical aiv˜gama

terms like Ÿþvara  , sad˜þiva  , bindu and nad˜nte parameþvara.

(c) He does not lean towards iva or Viÿõu, or any other deity. The last two

verses (XII.45-6) glorify lord Viÿõu :

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(d) He also recommends worship of lord Vin˜yaka (II.13 ab) :

(v)Y˜jñavalkya also had a good knowledge of the S˜ðkhya philosophy, which

holds the view of satk˜ryav˜da  i.e. the cause and effect existing together and Ny˜ya

system of philosophy which advocate asatk˜ryav˜da , i.e. cause is different from

effect. While rejecting the view of some who hold the view that the region between

middle of the navel and throat is the region of fire3, he says

(VIII.11-13) :

Here, he seems to favour Ny˜ya view (i.e. asatk˜ryav˜da ).

3. Y˜jñavalkya, unfortunately does not refer to any source here.

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(vi) He was also familiar with AdvaitaVed˜nta philosophy as can be seen in

many passages and terms like ‘so’ham’ (IX. 29, 34) and ‘ahameva param brahma’ 

(IX.39). He also favours jŸvanmukti  as advocated by Advaitins. He says (IX.40cd-

41ab) :

(vii) He is well versed in Dharmaþ˜stra too. He insists on varõ˜þramadharma 

and vidhyukta or vaidhikam karma in all the chapters which makes one infer that

he was a strict disciplinarian.

a) He advises that Br˜hmaõa should marry only a girl from the same caste and

 beget children through her (YY .I.31 cd).

 b) According to him a Br˜hmaõa  should perform japa only on Vedic mantras

and never on laukika mantras (VI.15ab) :

c) He prohibits women, Vaiþya  s and udras  from uttering praõava  (VI.16 cd,

17ab) :

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(d) Y˜jñavalkya makes his position clear that while all are eligible to

 practise Yogic techniques, certain restrictions are imposed on people of certain

castes and also women in some circumstances, as mentioned above.

(viii) He is addressed Jit̃ mitra  , sarvabh¨tasama (I.3,5) sarvabh¨tahita (XI.17)

which show that he was established in ahims˜  , for Patañjali says :

‘ ahims˜pratiÿ÷h˜y˜m tatsannidhau vairaty˜ga×’  4

“In the presence of the one who is established in ahims˜ , (the other beings) lose

enmity”.

(ix) He was not averse to women being initiated into Yogic techniques leading

to final salvation. In YY itself, we find that after instructing G˜rgŸ, the various

Yogic techniques, Y˜jñavalkya initiates her in to Yoga (XII.42ab) :

(x) He was respectful towards G˜rgŸ (consdered as his wife in the text).

He addresses his wife lovingly and also extols her qualities and knowledge.

He uses the words sarvajñe,  sarvaþ˜straviþ˜rade   (I.14); viprendre (III.1,7);

4. YS. II.35

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viprendre (IV.38), topodhane (IV.46); viprendre (IV.61); var˜rohe   (VIII.39);

var˜nane  (IX.1); brahmavid˜m vare (X.6); var˜nane   (XI.11); viprendre (XII.5)

var˜nane   (XII.36)

He is depicted as the husband of G˜rgŸ 5 in YY , which is contrary to the

 personality appearing in the B®.Up  and the atapatha Br˜hmaõa , where his two

wives are known as MaitreyŸ and K˜ty˜yanŸ.

From the above discussion it can be seen that Y˜jñavalkya was a strict

disciplinarian endowed with deep knowledge in different branches of study like Yoga,

S˜ðkhya, Advaita Ved˜nta, ·yurveda, Tantra, ·gama, Sm®ti and also Vedas. It

is not impossible for such a great saint to have gained mastery over many branches

of science. Many later writers on Yoga rightly refer to him in respectful terms like

‘YogŸþvara Y˜jñavalkya’ and ‘Bhagav˜n’.

5. YY. I.43ab :

YY. IV.5ab :