Muni Yajnavalkya is a well known Acharya in Vedas. He was bestowed with great wisdom right from his childhood. When he was learning Krishna Yajurveda in acharya Vaishampayana’s Gurukula, his questions would corner the guru himself most of the times. Once, after getting cornered by Yajnavalkya, Guru Vaishampayana got so enraged that he ordered the shishya to leave his Gurukula at once and return all the Krishna Yajur Veda he had taught. Poor Yajnavalkya had no choice and obediently vomited out in bits and pieces all the Krishna Yajur Veda he had learnt. The classmates knew the great wisdom of Yajnavalkya and they thought the vomited bits of Krishna Yajur Veda will have highly assimilated knowledge and if they consume it, they could easily get wisdom of Krishna Yajur Veda instantaneously. But as humans, one cannot eat vomitus, hence they turned themselves into Partridge or Baka Pakshi or Tittiria bird, which is known to eat everything, and consumed all the bits and pieces of vomitus. After that they turned back as humans. In course of time, they propagated Krishna Yajur Veda, since they got the knowledge by converting themselves to the bird Tittiria, it is known to be called as Krishna Yajur Veda Tittiria Samhita.
Poor Yajnavalkya, after losing all the knowledge, goes and prays to Surya Bhagavan. Pleased by his devotion, Sun God himself imparts knowledge of Yajur Veda. That was known as Shukla Yajur Veda. It is also known as Vaajasaneya Samhita. Vaaja means rice or food, vaajasa means provider of food (Surya) and Vaajasaneya means son of Surya Bhagavan. Yajnavalkya was considered as Son of Surya Bhagavan as he was the direct student of sun god.
The most popular and vast Brihadaranyaka Upanishad belongs to Shukla Yajur Veda. It is known to contain whatever other Upanishads have. It has 3 sections – Madhu Kandam, Muni Kandam and Khila Kandam. The mid section is called Muni Kandam, because it contains mainly Yajnavalkya’s teachings. Ishavasya Upanishad also belongs to Shukla Yajur Veda.
One can get to know the depth of Yajnavalkya’s knowledge by studying Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
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