Yājñavalkya
A figure from the books
#Yajnavalkya
Yājñavalkya · fl. c. 8th–7th century BCE
In the books · 1 chapter
Who this is
Philosophy — the dominant voice of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, the oldest Upaniṣad, and by tradition the compiler of the White (Śukla) Yajurveda.
“The greatest debater of the ancient world answered every question anyone dared ask, took the prize before he had proven anything, watched an opponent die of a question, taught karma as a secret and the self as "not this, not this" — and then gave it all away and walked into the forest.”
The big idea, in the book's words:
“The self that knows can never be a thing that is known — you cannot see the seer of seeing — so it can only be described by negation: neti, neti, "not this, not this." And what that self becomes is made by what it does: good by good action, bad by bad.”
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