Tat Tvam Asi
Encyclopedia
Tat Tvam Asi a Sanskrit sentence, translated variously as "That thou are," "Thou are that," "You are that," or "That you are," is one of the Mahāvākyas
(Grand Pronouncements) in Vedantic Sanatana Dharma. It originally occurs in the Chandogya Upanishad
6.8.7, in the dialogue between Uddalaka and his son Śvetaketu
; it appears at the end of a section, and is repeated at the end of the subsequent sections as a refrain. The meaning of this saying is that the Self
- in its original, pure, primordial state - is wholly or partially identifiable or identical with the Ultimate Reality
that is the ground and origin of all phenomena.
Major Vedantic schools offer different interpretations of the phrase:
††Note: We find pumlinga Sabdās such as Brahman, Ātman, Rājan, Śarman, Varman appearing as Brahmā, Ātmā, Rajā, Varmā, Śarmā in Vishnu Sahasranaamam. When ever a word Brahmā appears, it actually mean Brahman. Similary Ātmā means Ātman, Śarmā means Śarman etc. Even in Sandhya Vandanam whose mantras are essentially a part of Veda, during Invocation(Āvāhanam) of Gāyātrī
in between it comes as Brahmaa Śiraha(ब्रह्माशिरः), it does not mean that the mantra means Brahmaa Aśiraha (ब्रह्म+अशिरः), while it actually mean that Brahman Śiraha (ब्रह्मन्+शिरः); Though Madhwa cited that he interpreted according to Bhartrihari, here the Dvaita
interpretation of him that Sa Ātmātatvamasi as Sa Ātma atatvamasi is wrong since it actually mean Sa Ātman tatvamasi.
. The Advaita school of Shankara
assigns a fundamental importance to this Mahāvākya and three others of the same kind from three other Upanishads. This is actually a statement meted out by Sage Aruni
to Shvetaketu
, his son. It says literally 'That thou are'. In other words that Brahman
which is the common Reality behind everything in the cosmos is the same as the essential Divinity, namely the Atman
, within you. It is this identity which is the grand finale of Upanishadic teaching, according to Advaita. The realisation of this arises only by an intuitive experience and is totally different from any objective experience. It cannot be inferred from some other bit of knowledge. To comprehend the meaning an analysis of the three words in the pronouncement is needed.
The entity indicated by the word 'That' according to the notation used in the Vedas
, is Brahman, the transcendent Reality which is beyond everything that is finite, everything that is conceived or thought about. You cannot give a full analogy to it and that is why the Vedas say words cannot describe it. It cannot even be imagined because when there is nothing else other than Brahman it has to be beyond space and time. We can imagine space without earth,water, fire and air. But it is next to impossible to imagine something outside space. Space is the most subtle of the five elemental fundamentals. As we proceed from the grossest to the subtle, that is, from earth to water, to fire, to air, and to space the negation of each grosser matter is possible to be imagined within the framework of the more subtle one. But once we reach the fifth one, namely space or Ākāsha, the negation of that and the conception of something beyond, where even the space is merged into something more subtle, is not for the finite mind. The Vedas therefore declare the existence of this entity and call it 'sat' (existence), also known as Brahman.
form the fundamental source text for everything in Hinduism
. Each of the four Vedas has metaphysical speculations, known as Upanishads, at the end. Among the various discussions in these Upanishads there are mahavakyas
(Grand pronouncements), which are of foundational import and deep significance. Tat tvam asi (meaning, That Thou Art) is one such. This is from Chandogya Upanishad
. Different schools of philosophy interpret such fundamental statements in significantly different ways, so as to be consistent with their own philosophical thought. Below is the interpretation of the Vishishtadvaita
school.
Shankara however does not claim the person is God, but that the person is unreal, so no contradictions with science.
According to Advaita, there are 3 orders of reality:
1. paramarthika satyam (absolute reality)
2. vyavaharika satyam (empirical reality)
3. pratibhasika satyam (subjective reality)
"I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who is pretty, cause of causes, primeval, without beginning and a form of time,
Who danced again and again on the head of serpent Kaliya in the river Yamuna,
Who is black in colour, ever present in time and destroys the evil effects of Kali,
And who is the cause of the march of time from the past to the future."
-Adi Sankara Bhagwat Pada
. Every Jiva individually is the body of Isvara, just as the Cosmos as a whole is. The 'Tat' of the statement refers to Iswara who resides in the Cosmic Body and the 'Tvam' refers to the same Iswara who indwells the Jiva and has got the Jiva as the body. All the bodies, the Cosmic and the individual, are held in adjectival relationship (aprthak-siddhi) in the one Isvara. Tat Tvam Asi declares that oneness of Isvara.
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:
Sanskrit in Devanagari:
तत्त्वमस्यादिवाक्येन स्वात्मा हि प्रतिपादितः ।
नेति नेति श्रुतिर्ब्रूयादनृतं पाञ्चभौतिकम् ।। २५।।
IAST
:
tattvamasyādivākyena svātmā hi pratipāditaḥ /
neti neti śrutirbrūyādanṛtaṁ pāñcabhautikam //25//
By such sentences as "That thou art," our own Self is affirmed. Of that which is untrue and composed of the five elements - the Sruti (scripture) says, "Not this, not this
."
Mahavakyas
The Mahavakyas are "The Great Sayings" of the Upanishads, the foundational texts of Vedanta. Though there are many Mahavakyas, four of them, one from each of the four Vedas, are often mentioned as "the Mahavakyas"...
(Grand Pronouncements) in Vedantic Sanatana Dharma. It originally occurs in the Chandogya Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
6.8.7, in the dialogue between Uddalaka and his son Śvetaketu
Shvetaketu
Svetaketu, also spelled Shvetaketu , is the Upanishadic young man, the son of sage Uddalaka, the grandson of sage Aruni, and represents the quintessential seeker of knowledge...
; it appears at the end of a section, and is repeated at the end of the subsequent sections as a refrain. The meaning of this saying is that the Self
Self (spirituality)
Religious views on the self vary widely. The self is a complex and core subject in many forms of spirituality. Two types of self are commonly considered - the self that is the ego, also called the learned, superficial self of mind and body, "false self", an egoic creation, and the Self which is...
- in its original, pure, primordial state - is wholly or partially identifiable or identical with the Ultimate Reality
Ultimate Reality
Ultimate reality is a term used in philosophy to indicate the underlying nature of reality, see:*Absolute *Reality*Brahman*God*Haqq*Dharmakaya*Mysticism...
that is the ground and origin of all phenomena.
Major Vedantic schools offer different interpretations of the phrase:
- Advaita - absolute equality of 'tat', the Ultimate Reality, BrahmanBrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
, and 'tvam', the Self, JivaJivaIn Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism which survives physical death. It has a very similar usage to atma, but whereas atma refers to "the cosmic self", jiva is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living...
. - ShuddhadvaitaShuddhadvaitaShuddadvaita is the "purely non-dual" philosophy propounded by Vallabhacharya , the founding philosopher and guru of the or , a Hindu Vaishnava tradition focused on the worship of Krishna. Vallabhacharya's pure form philosophy is different from Advaita...
- oneness in "essence" between 'tat' and individual self; but 'tat' is the whole and self is a part. - VishishtadvaitaVishishtadvaitaVishishtadvaita Vedanta is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedānta being Advaita, Dvaita, and Achintya-Bheda-Abheda. VishishtAdvaita is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy...
- identity of individual self as a part of the whole which is 'tat', BrahmanBrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
. - DvaitadvaitaDvaitadvaitaDvaitadvaita was proposed by Nimbarka, a Vaishnava Philosopher who hailed from Andhra Region. Nimbarka’s philosophical position is known as Dvaitadvaita . The categories of existence, according to him, are three, i.e., Chit, acit, and Isvara...
- equal non-difference and difference between the individual self as a part of the whole which is 'tat'. - DvaitaDvaitaDvaita is a school of Vedanta founded by Shri Madhvacharya....
†† of MadhvacharyaMadhvacharyaMadhvācārya was the chief proponent of Tattvavāda "Philosophy of Reality", popularly known as the Dvaita school of Hindu philosophy. It is one of the three most influential Vedānta philosophies. Madhvācārya was one of the important philosophers during the Bhakti movement. He was a pioneer in...
- “Sa atmaa-tat tvam asi” in Sanskrit is actually “Sa atma-atat tvam asi” or “Atman, thou art not that”. In refutation of Mayavada (Mayavada sata dushani), text 6, 'tat tvam asi" is translated as "you are a servant of the Supreme (VishnuVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
)" - Acintya Bheda Abheda - inconceivable oneness and difference between individual self as a part of the whole which is 'tat'.
††Note: We find pumlinga Sabdās such as Brahman, Ātman, Rājan, Śarman, Varman appearing as Brahmā, Ātmā, Rajā, Varmā, Śarmā in Vishnu Sahasranaamam. When ever a word Brahmā appears, it actually mean Brahman. Similary Ātmā means Ātman, Śarmā means Śarman etc. Even in Sandhya Vandanam whose mantras are essentially a part of Veda, during Invocation(Āvāhanam) of Gāyātrī
Gayatri
Gayatri is the feminine form of , a Sanskrit word for a song or a hymn. Gayatri is a consort of Brahma and the goddess of learning. Brahma married her when there was a need for a companion during a yajna. Brahma had to start the yajna along with his wife...
in between it comes as Brahmaa Śiraha(ब्रह्माशिरः), it does not mean that the mantra means Brahmaa Aśiraha (ब्रह्म+अशिरः), while it actually mean that Brahman Śiraha (ब्रह्मन्+शिरः); Though Madhwa cited that he interpreted according to Bhartrihari, here the Dvaita
Dvaita
Dvaita is a school of Vedanta founded by Shri Madhvacharya....
interpretation of him that Sa Ātmātatvamasi as Sa Ātma atatvamasi is wrong since it actually mean Sa Ātman tatvamasi.
In Advaita
Tat tvam asi is the Mahāvākya (Grand Pronouncement) from Chandogya UpanishadChandogya Upanishad
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
. The Advaita school of Shankara
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
assigns a fundamental importance to this Mahāvākya and three others of the same kind from three other Upanishads. This is actually a statement meted out by Sage Aruni
Aruni
Aruni or Uddalaka or Uddalaka Aruni is a great Upanishadic sage. Aruni was one among the disciples of sage Ayodha Dhaumya, along with Upamanyu and another named 'Veda'...
to Shvetaketu
Shvetaketu
Svetaketu, also spelled Shvetaketu , is the Upanishadic young man, the son of sage Uddalaka, the grandson of sage Aruni, and represents the quintessential seeker of knowledge...
, his son. It says literally 'That thou are'. In other words that Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
which is the common Reality behind everything in the cosmos is the same as the essential Divinity, namely the Atman
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
, within you. It is this identity which is the grand finale of Upanishadic teaching, according to Advaita. The realisation of this arises only by an intuitive experience and is totally different from any objective experience. It cannot be inferred from some other bit of knowledge. To comprehend the meaning an analysis of the three words in the pronouncement is needed.
Who is this 'Thou'?
'Thou' stands for the inherent substratum in each one of us without which our very existence is out of question. Certainly it is not the body, mind, the senses, or anything that we call ours. It is the innermost Self, stripped of all egoistic tendencies. It is Ātman.The entity indicated by the word 'That' according to the notation used in the Vedas
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
, is Brahman, the transcendent Reality which is beyond everything that is finite, everything that is conceived or thought about. You cannot give a full analogy to it and that is why the Vedas say words cannot describe it. It cannot even be imagined because when there is nothing else other than Brahman it has to be beyond space and time. We can imagine space without earth,water, fire and air. But it is next to impossible to imagine something outside space. Space is the most subtle of the five elemental fundamentals. As we proceed from the grossest to the subtle, that is, from earth to water, to fire, to air, and to space the negation of each grosser matter is possible to be imagined within the framework of the more subtle one. But once we reach the fifth one, namely space or Ākāsha, the negation of that and the conception of something beyond, where even the space is merged into something more subtle, is not for the finite mind. The Vedas therefore declare the existence of this entity and call it 'sat' (existence), also known as Brahman.
That and This
The Ātman or the innermost core of our self seems to have an individuality of its own. So, in saying that it is the same as the unqualified Brahman in the Infinite Cosmos, we seem to be identifying two things: one that is unlimited and unconditioned, and one that is limited and conditioned. Whenever someone says, for instance, that the person B whom you are meeting just now is the same as the person A whom you saw twenty years ago at such and such a place, what is actually meant is not the identity of the dresses of the two personalities of A and B, nor of the features (those of B may be totally different from A), but of the essential person behind the names. So whenever such an identity is talked about we have to throw away certain aspects which are temporarily distinctive or indicative in both and cling on only to those essentials without which they are not what they are. B and A may have distinct professions, may have different names, may have different attitudes towards you or towards a certain issue, or may have an additional identity, exemplified by, say, having different passports—but still they are the same, is what is being asserted by the statement 'B is the same as A'.Brahman minus its Māyā and Ātman minus its avidyā are identical
In the same way, when Brahman and Atman are identified by this Mahāvākya, we have to discard those inessential qualities that are only indicative (and therefore extraneous), choosing only to explore what commonality or essentiality there is in them that is being identified. Brahman is the primordial Cause of this Universe. But this is a predication of Brahman and so is extraneous to the identity about which we are speaking. The Self, or Ātman, appears to be limited by an individuality which keeps it under the spell of ignorance; this is extraneous to the essentiality of the Ātman. So what is being identified is Brahman, minus its feature of being the Cause of this Universe and Ātman minus its limitations of ignorance-cum-delusion. That these two are the same is the content of the statement 'Tat tvam asi'. The cosmic Māyā is what makes Brahman the cause of this Universe. The individual avidyā (ignorance) is what makes the Ātman circumscribed and delimited. So the Mahāvākya says that Brahman minus its Māyā and Atman minus its avidyā are identical.In Vishishtadvaita
The VedasVedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
form the fundamental source text for everything in Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
. Each of the four Vedas has metaphysical speculations, known as Upanishads, at the end. Among the various discussions in these Upanishads there are mahavakyas
Mahavakyas
The Mahavakyas are "The Great Sayings" of the Upanishads, the foundational texts of Vedanta. Though there are many Mahavakyas, four of them, one from each of the four Vedas, are often mentioned as "the Mahavakyas"...
(Grand pronouncements), which are of foundational import and deep significance. Tat tvam asi (meaning, That Thou Art) is one such. This is from Chandogya Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....
. Different schools of philosophy interpret such fundamental statements in significantly different ways, so as to be consistent with their own philosophical thought. Below is the interpretation of the Vishishtadvaita
Vishishtadvaita
Vishishtadvaita Vedanta is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedānta being Advaita, Dvaita, and Achintya-Bheda-Abheda. VishishtAdvaita is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy...
school.
Objections to the Advaita interpretation
The proclamation of Śankaracarya 'Tat Tvam Asi' is correct that both Ātmā and Paramātmā are sat-cit-ānanda, meaning qualitative unity of the Soul and God. However Ātmā, being localized Paramātmā consequently has localized consciousness. Paramātma, being the reservoir of Ātmā is situated within every heart is burning for me badly sentenceTherefore 'Tat Tvam Asi' falls short to understand that the Soul is not equal to the Absolute Truth in all respects. For example, as a single drop of water has the same qualities as an ocean of water, so has our consciousness the qualities of God's consciousness but is proportionally subordinate. Furthermore, if Ātmā and Paramātmā were indeed one and the same, it would be possible for any ordinary person to claim omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence in equivalence to God. Scientifically we know this to be false.Shankara however does not claim the person is God, but that the person is unreal, so no contradictions with science.
According to Advaita, there are 3 orders of reality:
1. paramarthika satyam (absolute reality)
2. vyavaharika satyam (empirical reality)
3. pratibhasika satyam (subjective reality)
"I salute that Govinda who is the extreme limit of happiness,
Who is pretty, cause of causes, primeval, without beginning and a form of time,
Who danced again and again on the head of serpent Kaliya in the river Yamuna,
Who is black in colour, ever present in time and destroys the evil effects of Kali,
And who is the cause of the march of time from the past to the future."
-Adi Sankara Bhagwat Pada
Ramanuja on the Mahavakya
In the expression 'Blue Lotus' for example, the two attributes of 'blueness' and 'lotus nature' both inhere in a common substratum without losing their individuality. Such subsistence of many attributes in a common substratum is the correct apposition (samānādhikaranya), rather than the mere apposition as propounded by the advaita school. Direct meanings of the expressions should be taken, simultaneously fulfilling the conditions of Samānādhikaranya.Meaning of the Mahavakya
The mighty Iswara, who is the indweller in the cosmic Body is also the indweller in every JivaJiva
In Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism which survives physical death. It has a very similar usage to atma, but whereas atma refers to "the cosmic self", jiva is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living...
. Every Jiva individually is the body of Isvara, just as the Cosmos as a whole is. The 'Tat' of the statement refers to Iswara who resides in the Cosmic Body and the 'Tvam' refers to the same Iswara who indwells the Jiva and has got the Jiva as the body. All the bodies, the Cosmic and the individual, are held in adjectival relationship (aprthak-siddhi) in the one Isvara. Tat Tvam Asi declares that oneness of Isvara.
Avadhuta Gita
The following was extracted from Avadhuta GitaAvadhuta Gita
Avadhuta Gita is a Hindu text based on the principles of Advaita Vedanta . The singer of the Avadhuta Gita is Dattatreya, an Avadhuta, and according to the Nath Sampradaya, the work was heard and transcribed by two of Dattatreya's disciples—Swami and Kartika...
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:
Sanskrit in Devanagari:
तत्त्वमस्यादिवाक्येन स्वात्मा हि प्रतिपादितः ।
नेति नेति श्रुतिर्ब्रूयादनृतं पाञ्चभौतिकम् ।। २५।।
IAST
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...
:
tattvamasyādivākyena svātmā hi pratipāditaḥ /
neti neti śrutirbrūyādanṛtaṁ pāñcabhautikam //25//
By such sentences as "That thou art," our own Self is affirmed. Of that which is untrue and composed of the five elements - the Sruti (scripture) says, "Not this, not this
Neti neti
In Hinduism, and in particular Jnana Yoga and Advaita Vedanta, neti neti may be a chant or mantra, meaning "not this, not this", or "neither this, nor that"...
."
See also
- VedantaVedantaVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
- BrahmanBrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
- JivaJivaIn Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva is a living being, or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism which survives physical death. It has a very similar usage to atma, but whereas atma refers to "the cosmic self", jiva is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living...
- Soham (Sanskrit)Soham (Sanskrit)Soham is the Sanskrit for "I myself" or "It is I" or "He is I".When it applies to a person's name, according to Vedic philosophy it means identifying oneself with the universe or ultimate reality. Some say that when a child is born it cries Koham-Koham which means Who am I?. That is when the...
- Thou Art GodThou Art GodThou Art God is a statement of divine immanence that is popular within Neopaganism and other religions. The phrase is also stated numerous times in the pages of Robert A...
- Uddalaka