Yajur Veda · Shatapatha Brahmana of the Shukla Yajur Veda · 435 mantras
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad
Central theme: Aham Brahmasmi; the great dialogues of Yajnavalkya
Mahavakya
अहं ब्रह्मास्मि
Ahaṁ brahmāsmi
“I am Brahman.”
— Brihadaranyaka 1.4.10
The longest Upanishad. Six chapters of cosmology, ritual mysticism, and the great Yajnavalkya dialogues: with Janaka, with Maitreyi (his wife — "by what shall one know the knower?"), with Gargi Vachaknavi (the woman philosopher whose questions reduce all elements to akasha and beyond), and the brahmodya at Janaka's court where Yajnavalkya wins a thousand cows. The mahavakya "Aham Brahmasmi" (I am Brahman) and the prayer "Asato Ma Sadgamaya" both appear here.
Brihadaranyaka 1.3.28
असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय
Asato mā sad-gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir-gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya
From the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness lead me to light, from death lead me to immortality.
Neti, neti — not this, not this — until only the witness remains.