Yaajnavalkya: Epic Characters of Puranas

By Dr. A.S. Venugopal

Yaajnavalkya, son of Sage Brahmaratha and Sunanda, was a rare brahmajnani. It is said that the Lord initiated him into the Vedas even as he  was in his mother's womb. He was born with the blessings of the Sun God. He had the privilege of studying all the four Vedas from the four respective gurus- Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini and Sumanthu. He mastered the Karmakanda(which describes the performance of yajnas) and the Jnanakanda(which describes the Godhead). In trying to single handedly help one of his gurus (Vaishampayana) to free him from the sin of killing a brahmin which the guru had earned, Yaajnavalkya ended up inviting the guru's wrath. The guru thought that the sage had been arrogant by suggesting that he  was capable of handling the situation alone. This was when he had to give up all the knowledge that he had earned. But, he did it with grace and left the gurukula. The knowledge that he gave up was received by the rishis and this came to be known as Thaithariya, a branch of Yajurveda. Lord Suryadeva initiated him into newer aspects of Yajurveda that hadn't been revealed to anyone till then. This came to be known as Shukla Yajurveda. Yaajnavalkya taught this to Kanva, Madhyandina and to his other disciples. Thus his preceptor's curse turned out to be a blessing. Yaajnavalkya got married to Kathyayini. King Janaka was on the lookout for a brahmajnani whom he could accept as his preceptor. In the conference of mighty scholars that the king had organized for the purpose, Yaajnavalkya shone as he was accepted to be the greatest of brahmajnanis. The sage accepted Maithreyi as his spiritual partner as no woman other than the wife was allowed to stay on the ashram premises. In course of time, the sage wished to free himself of all worldly attachments and aim for salvation. The Ishavasya Upanishad, which is the smallest Upanishad, represents Yaajnavalkya's philosophy. It contains in a nutshell the ideas of knowledge, devotion and action. In other words, it teaches us the art of living and gives us supreme knowledge of Atma and Paramatma. Yaajnavalkya's greatness was acknowledged by Sri Shankaracharya and other great religious leaders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana
• Release date: May 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9789389028003

Book preview

EPIC CHARACTERS OF PURĀNAS

Yaajnavalkya

Written by

Dr. A. S. Venugopal

Kannada writer and retired professor,

Kamala Nehru College, Shimoga

Translated by

Prof. G. S. Mudambadithaya

© Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, Bengaluru. All rights reserved.

Published by:

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॥ Sri Ranga Sadguruve Namah ॥

We joyfully invoke the blessings of the Lord, Purana Purusha to the sacred fourth blossom of Sri Bharatha Darsana and Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana.

The two pioneer publishing organizations have so far brought out the Epic Characters of the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha and the ten Great Maharshis the makers our immortal culture, in the form of ten small books each with the sole object of introducing our young boys and girls to veritable storehouse of Indian cultural heritage and by doing so the publishers have endeared themselves to the reading public. Now they have taken up the laudable task of introducing great characters from another branch of literature relating to our culture, called the Puranas.

A purana is a form of literature which delineates vedic principles in the form of history, stories, examples, plays and images, in a simple but interesting style so that even common men can understand and enjoy them. The principles are not presented in a mandatory form, but in a simple form just like the advice given by a friend and that is why it is called Mithrasammitha. Great men are of the opinion that a thorough knowledge of the Puranas is essential to explain the meaning of the Vedas. Ithihasa puranabhyam. Vedam samupa Brhmayeth ॥

The puranic literature besides telling us about the original creation, the later subsidiary creation, family history, it also describes the evolution of our great culture.

We get references to puranas in the vedas. We also see parts of some of these puranas in the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha. Though they were written at different times, they were collected and edited by sage Vedavyasa and this collected work come to be called Purana Samhita. There are eighteen puranas and the same number of upapuranas. The Purana literature is as wide as an ocean and this great flow has come down to us in three great forms namely Satvik, Rajas and Tamas. Here only a few models have been presented to the reading public. The word Purana has the generally accepted meaning ‘old’ ’Purana prathna, prathna, purathana chiranthana. Though it is very old, it ever fresh presents to us truths which are universal in nature and these truths are presented to us in a very attractive style. Purapi navam puranam by its setting it is Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Satyam