The question Yājñavalkya posed to Brahmā is the fundamental question of liberation: yena karmāṇi nirvāṇaṃ mokṣamavyayam — by what action does one attain liberation, the immutable emancipation? The terms nirvāṇa and mokṣa appear together, bridging Buddhist and Hindu vocabulary. Avyayam — immutable — signals that this is not a temporary state but an irreversible condition. The question presupposes that liberation is possible through action (karma), which sets up the text’s central thesis.