The question Yajnavalkya refused to answer simply
Yajnavalkya, the sage at the center of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, was asked by his wife Maitreyi what would make her immortal. He did not tell her to pray. He did not name a god. He told her to understand what the self actually is, because, he said, it is not for the sake of the husband that the husband is dear, but for the sake of the self. Not for the sake of the gods that the gods are dear, but for the sake of the self. Everything you have ever loved, you loved because the self was shining through it.
