Love (prīti/sneha) as Soteriology: Vedānta and the “Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī Dialogue” of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad

The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad stands high in the firmament of Indian philosophical-soteriological tradition. Besides its uncontroversial antiquity, going back to pre-buddhist times, the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is considered by all schools of Vedānta one of the most important Upaniṣads. It embodies, as perhaps no other, the fundamental knowledge (jñāna) and devotional discipline (bhakti) that leads one to definitive Liberation (mokṣa) from ignorance (avidyā) and existential suffering (duḥkha). The objective of the present article is to analyse the fundamental contents of the “Yājñavalkya-Maitreyī Dialogue”, which adorns section 2.4.1-14 of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, and whose main theme is Love (prīti/sneha). The analysis will follow a comparative approach, placing face-to-face the textual hermeneutics of two of the major schools of Vedānta, viz., Advaita Vedānta (Non-Duality) and Dvaita Vedānta (Duality) - often seen, in western circles, as mutually excluding philosophical streams.