Sage Brahmavadhini Maitreyi

 

Sage Brahmavadhini Maitreyi

We saw the story of Anusuya and Arundhati. (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/05/anusuya-and-trimurtis.html; https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/05/arundhati.html), Brahmavadhini Lopamudra (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/05/lopamudra-and-agasthya.html.) and Brahmavadhini Gargi (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/06/sage-brahmavadhini-gargi.html).

We saw the lives of the women sages Anusuya, Aundhati and Lopamudra. Each of these women are known for their wisdom and knowledge. They were Rishipathnis but also more. That does not mean that they played second fiddle to their well known and learned husbands. In the case of Sage Gargi, she chose to remain unmarried and pursue the path of knowledge.

Let us look at another great sage of the Vedic age, Sage loBrahmavadhini Maitreyi. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mentions her as the second wife of Sage Yagnavalkya. In the Mahabharata Maitreyi is mentioned as an unmarried girl who pursued vedantic knowledge.

Who was Yagnavalkya? He was a sage in the court of Rajarishi Janaka. In the city of Mithila, there was a Maharishi named Katyayana. His daughter Katyayani was a beautiful and intelligent girl. When she came of marriageable age, Katyayana heard about the Yagnavalkya. He went to him and offered his daughter in marriage. Yagnavalkya accepted and the couple led an ideal life of happiness and contentment. They had four children Katyayana, Chandrakanta, Mahameda and Vijaya.

In another town called Janakpur, near Mithila, there was a Vedic scholar in King Janaka’s court called Mitra. He had an extremely beautiful and accomplished daughter called Maitreyi. During her formative years, Maitreyi was very much influenced by her maternal aunt Gargi. Her association and interactions with Gargi, made Maitreyi take an active interest in gaining in-depth knowledge of the scriptures and Vedas. Seeing her niece’s interest in these matters, Gargi tutored her.

As Gargi was also in the court of King Janaka, she knew Yagnavalkya well and had a high opinion of his scholarship and knowledge. She felt that the niece Maitreyi would benefit from learning from Yagnavalkya. Gargi took Maitreyi to Yagnavalkya.

Maitreyi was immediately drawn to the sharp intellect and erudite speech of Yagnavalkya. Her respect and admiration for him increased manifold when she listened in on his debates where he managed to demolish the arguments of many learned scholars with clear and cogent logic. Maitreyi developed an affection towards Yagnavalkya and was very keen to become his disciple. Maitreyi felt that she would need a preceptor like Yagnavalkya to better understand the scriptures.

Maitreyi developed an affection for Yagnavalkya at a personal level too. She realised that the only way to learn from a teacher like Yagnavalkya is to become his direct disciple. Her desire to be his student and her personal affection for him made her think that she could fulfil both her objectives by marrying Yagnavalkya. There was a small problem though. Katyayani, the first wife of Yagnavalkya was a family friend of Matireyi’s family. Maitreyi knew of Yagnavalkya even before she met him as her friend’s husband. Maitreyi decided to approach Katyayani and take her consent and permission to marry Yagnavalkya.

But before that, Maitreyi obtained the permission of her parents to the proposal. Then she got the consent of her aunt Gargi to her wish. She then went to Katyayani with her parents and spoke to her about her wish to marry Yagnavalkya. (Must have been a very strange conversation indeed.

Katyayani realised that the young Maitreyi was bent on Yagnavalkya, albeit for the right reasons. She not only gave her consent but actually brought up the proposal to Yagnavalkya herself. Yagnavalkya and Katyayani have a long discussion on the outcome of such a second union. Yagnavalkya, was careful not to disrupt his household. He first convinces himself that Katyayani would not become jealous of Maitreyi. After a long discussion and once convinced, Yagnavalkya accepts Maitreyi as his wife.

The trio, Yagnavalkya, Katyayani and Maitreyi settle into a peaceful domestic rhythm doing their duties. While Katyayani was content doing her household chores as before. Maitreyi was not too interested in the worldly activities of running a house, cooking and managing the children. She was single minded in her pursuit of knowledge. Despite that, Yagnavalkya advised her to go through the grind of household work so that she can understand the regular pressures and issues of someone in the grihasthashrama.

As time passed, Yagnavalkya was feeling the need to give up his position as a house holder. He wanted to retire to a life of abstinence as a sanyasin. He told his wives that he wanted to divide his possessions between them and sought their permission to give up his life as a grihastha. Katyayani acceded to his request.

Hearing this, Maitreyi asked him “Dear brahmana, by taking the wealth that you offer me, do I become immortal?” Yagnavalkya replied “No. Wealth does not make you immortal. It can only give you the life of comfort of the wealthy.”

Maitreyi replied “What will I do with wealth if it is not going to give me immortality.” Then Yagnavalkya gives her a detail about the self and the Brahman.

Summarised below is a simplified version of the dialogue between Yagnavalkya and Maitreyi. (This is an attempt to make it easy for understanding. Please do go through the original if interested. https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-brihadaranyaka-upanishad/d/doc117950.html)

Yagnavalkya said “When a person loves his / her partner, child, a protector, a guru not because of an actual love for that person but due to the importance of that person for one’s own happiness. The priority of happiness due to the closeness of a person or a thing emanates from the importance one attaches to that person / object To avoid disappointment and unhappiness it is better not to derive one’s happiness from external stimulus – be it people or things.”

Yagnavalkya continued “Therefore our love for other objects is secondary, since they contribute to the pleasure of the Self; and our love for the Self alone is primary. Therefore ‘the Self, my dear Maitreyī, should he realised, is worthy of realisation, or should be made the object of realisation. It should first be heard of from a teacher and from the scriptures, then reflected on through reasoning, and then steadfastly meditated upon. When these three are combined, then only true realisation of the unity of Brahman is accomplished, not otherwise—by hearing alone.”’

Hearing this Maitreyi said “How does the knowledge of one lead to the knowledge of the other?”

Yagnavalkya said “Maitreyi, the self or the ātman that is worth knowing. Search for the ātman, hear about it, think about it and meditate about the ātman. There is nothing else worth thinking about, worth possessing because nothing else exists other than This.”

“Once you understand the ātman, you will be able to draw the linkage between the ātman and any object or person. That way when you lose that object or person you are only losing that link and are able to manage your sorrow.”

Once you possess the ātman, you possess every

thing. If you do not, whatever you possess is not of any value as these possessions will leave you one day.”

“Things which are outside you do not belong to you. Therefore, it is no use crying over them. If they become 'you' they cannot leave you, because you cannot be dispossessed of yourself. You are dispossessed of only those things which are not yours. This point, you must understand."

Then the dialogue goes on to understand the infinite of the atman and the mistake of thinking that it is restricted to individuals. The mind that is finite, located and lodged in the body, does not understand the fact that finite objects that are outside are only appearances of a single indivisible Reality. So, the finite tries to clings to the finite, not knowing this fact of infinitude that is at the background of these finite forms.”

Maitreyi is credited with ten shlokas in the Rig Veda. Her depth of knowledge and capability to defend her knowledge earned her the title of Brahmavadhini.

After Yajnavalkya leaves and becomes a sannyasi, Maitreyi becomes a sannyasini too– she too wanders and leads a renunciate's life.

Maitreyi’s intellectual prowess and virtuosity have bestowed upon her a revered status in Indian culture. Across Puranas and ancient scriptures, she stands tall as a paragon of erudition and virtue, symbolizing the intellectual capabilities of women in ancient India. Her legacy endures through various avenues, including educational institutions like the college named in her honor in New Delhi and the Matreyi Vedic Village, a sanctuary of spiritual retreat in Tamil Nadu.