01The white Yajus
He was a pupil of Vaishampayana, who held the Yajurveda from Vyasa. The Vishnu Purana says that after a quarrel, the guru asked him to give back what he had learned; Yajnavalkya brought it up, and the other pupils, taking the form of tittiri birds, picked it up, which is why that recension is the Taittiriya. Yajnavalkya then worshipped Surya, who gave him a fresh Yajus. This is the Shukla Yajurveda, with its Vajasaneyi Samhita and the Shatapatha Brahmana.
02The debate at Janaka’s court
King Janaka of Videha set aside a thousand cows, each with ten gold pieces tied to its horns, for the most learned among the brahmins at his yajna. Yajnavalkya told his pupil to drive them home. The third chapter of the Brihadaranyaka records what followed: Ashvala, Artabhaga, Bhujyu, Ushasta, Kahola, Uddalaka Aruni, Gargi twice, and finally Vidagdha Shakalya, each questioning him. To Shakalya he described the Atman as ‘neti, neti’, not this, not this. Later he left home for sannyasa after dividing his wealth between his two wives, Katyayani and Maitreyi. The Yajnavalkya Smriti on dharma and law bears his name.
“This Self is ‘not this, not this’. It is not grasped, for it cannot be grasped.”
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.9.26