An Exhaustive Explanation of the Statement
“That Thou Art” [Tat Twam Asi]
1. I bow down to that Pure Consciousness Divine – a shoreless
ocean of happiness,
which is All-pervading (Vishnu), the Beloved of Shri, the all-knowing Lord
of the
Universe, assuming endless forms and yet ever-free, having an inscrutable
power to
become (apparently) the Cause of creation, maintenance, and dissolution
of the
universe.
2. Again and again I Prostrate at the feet of my Guru, by whose
grace I have come to
realise, “I alone am the All-pervading Essence (Vishnu)”, and that “the
world of
multiplicity is all a super-imposition upon myself.”
3. Scorched by the blazing sun of the three miseries, a student
– dejected with the world
and restless for release, having cultivated all the means of liberation
especially such
virtues as self-control etc. – enquires of a noble teacher:
4. “Merely out of your grace and mercy, holy Teacher, please
explain to me briefly the
means by which I may easily get liberated from the sorrows of this
bondage-to-change”.
5. The teacher said: “Your question is valid, and so very clearly
expressed, I shall
answer it exhaustively to make it as vivid to you as though you are seeing
it near”.
6. Direct knowledge of that total identity between the individual-Self
and the
Universal-Self, stemming forth from the Vedic statements such as “Thou
art that”,
etc., is the immediate means to liberation.
7. The disciple said: “What is the individualised Self ? What,
then, is the Universal Self ?
How can they both be identical ? And, how can statements like “That thou
art”
discuss and prove this identity ?”
8. The teacher said: “I shall answer your question. Who else
can be the individual Self
(Jiva) other than yourself, that asks me this question, “Who am I ?”. There
is no doubt
about it. You alone are the Brahman.
9. The disciple said: Not even the word meaning do I fully
grasp clearly; how can I then
comprehend the significance of the sentence, “I am Brahman” ?
10. The teacher said: “You have said the truth when you complained
that the knowledge
and understanding of the meaning of the words employed in a sentence are
indeed
the cause of the understanding of the full significance of the sentence.
And there are
no two opinions about it.”
11. “Why do you not recognise your own Self, which is an embodiment
of Eternal
Bliss-Essence, the Witnessing Light that illumines the inner equipments
and their
functions ?”
12. “Give up the intellectual misconception that the Self is the
body, etc., and always
meditate upon and think yourself to be the eternal Knowledge-Bliss – the
Witness of
the intellect – a sheer mass of Pure Knowledge”.
13. “The body is not the Self, as like the pot, etc., the body also
has form, etc., and
again, the body is a modification of the great elements such as Akash,
just like the
pot”.
14. The disciple said: “If, by the strength of these arguments, the
gross-body is
considered as “not-Self”, then please exhaustively explain and directly
indicate the
Self – as clearly as a fruit in hand”.
15. The teacher said: “Just as the perceiver of a pot is ever
distinctly different from the
pot and can never be the pot – so too, you, the perceiver of your body,
are distinct
from your body and can never be the body – this you firmly ascertain in
yourself.”
16. “Similarly be sure in yourself that you, the seer of the senses,
are not the senses
themselves, and ascertain that you are neither the mind, not the intellect,
not the vital
air (Prana).”
17. “Similarly be sure that you are not the complex of the gross
and the subtle-bodies,
and intelligently determine, by inference, that you, the ‘seer’, are entirely
distinct from
the ‘seen’.”
18. “’I am He’, the One because of whose presence alone the inert
entities like the body
and the senses, are able to function through acceptance and rejection”.
19. “’I am He’, the One changeless, Innermost Self that moves the
intellect, etc., as a
magnet does the iron filings.”
20. “’I am He’, the One Entity in whose vital presence the body,
senses, mind, and
Pranas, though inert in themselves, appear to be conscious and dynamic,
as though
they are the Self.”
21. “‘He am I’, the One Consciousness, which is the Self that illumines
the modifications
in my mind such as ‘my mind went elsewhere, however, it has been brought
to rest
now’, – ‘He am I’ (So’ham).”
22. “’He am I’, the One Consciousness which is the Changeless Self
that is directly
cognised, that illumines the three states of waking, dream, and deep-sleep,
and that
which illumines appearance and disappearance of the intellect and its functions
– ‘He
am I’ (So’ham).”
23. “Know yourself to be the One Self, a homogenous mass of
Consciousness, which is
the illuminator of the body and therefore quite distinct from it – just
as a lamp that
illumines a pot is always different from the pot illumined. ‘I am a mass
of
Consciousness’ (Aham bodhavigraha).”
24. “Know yourself to be the One for whose sake beings and things
such as children and
wealth – are dear, who is the sole seer and dearest of all. ‘He am I’ –
ascertain thus
and realise, So’ham.”
25. “Know yourself to be the One regarding whom there is always the
anxiety, ‘May I ever
be; never cease to be’, as this Seer is the dearest of all. ‘He am I’ –
thus assert and
realise.”
26. “The Consciousness, the Self, which appears as the Witness, is
that which is meant
by the word ‘thou’. Being free from all changes even the witnessing is
nothing but the
illumining-power of the Self.”
27. “Totally distinct from body, senses, mind, Prana and Ego is that
which is the Self;
therefore, It is absolutely free from the six-modifications, which all
material things
must necessarily undergo. This Self is the indicative meaning of the term
“thou”.
28. “Having thus ascertained the meaning of the term “thou” one should
reflect upon what
is meant by the word “that” – employing both the method of negation and
also the
direct method of scriptural assertion.”
29. “’That’, which is free from all the impurities of the Samsara,
‘that’ which is defined by
the Upanishads as: ‘Not large etc., having the qualities of imperceptible
etc., that is
beyond all darkness created by ignorance”.
30. “Having no greater Bliss than Itself, a pure embodiment of External
Consciousness,
and having ‘existence’ for its specific definition, is the All-Pervading
Being – is the
meaning indicated by the term ‘that’; so, the scriptures declare in their
songs.”
31. “That which is proved in the Vedas as All-knowing, All-powerful
and Supreme Lord, is
Itself the Infinite Brahman… make sure of that Brahman in your own understanding.”
32. “That which the scriptures have discussed through examples of
mud etc., as that by
knowing which all else will become known … make sure of that Brahman in
your
understanding.”
33. “That which the scriptures propose to prove as a limitless, and
in order to support that
proposition, called the World of Plurality as Its effects .. make sure
of that Brahman in
your understanding.”
34. “That which the Upanishads clearly establish as the sole object
of deep
contemplation for those who are sincere seekers of liberation – make sure
of that
Brahman in your understanding.”
35. “That which is heard of in the Vedas ‘as having entered each
creature as its
individualised self’, and which is known, from the same sources, to be
their controller
– make sure of that Brahman in your understanding.”
36. “That which the Upanishads declare as the sole paymaster for
all action, and as the
very agent (prompter) in all actions, performed by each individualised
ego – make sure
of that Brahman in your understanding.”
37. “The meaning of the terms ‘that’ and ‘thou’ have been discussed
and finally
determined. Now we shall discuss the meaning of the commandment (Mahavakya)
‘That thou art’. In this, the total identity of the meanings of ‘that’
and ‘thou’ alone is
shown.”
38. “What is meant by the sentence (commandment ‘That thou art’)
is not arrived at,
either through its ‘sequence-of meaning’ or as ‘qualified-by-something’.
An indivisible
Being, consisting of Bliss only – this alone is the meaning of the sentence,
according
to the wise.”
39. “What appears (anjati) as the Witnessing-Consciousness within,
(the individual-Self),
is of the nature of Bliss, One-without-a-second; and the one that is the
Bliss within is
none other than the individualised-Self the Witnessing Consciousness within.”
40. “When, as explained above, the mutual identity between the two
words ‘thou’ and
‘that’ is comprehended, then the idea ‘I am not Brahman’, entertained by
‘thou’, shall
immediately end.”
41. “If as said, the depth-meaning of the term ‘that’ is ‘Mass-of
Bliss, without-second’,
and ‘thou’ is the ‘Witnessing-Consciousness’, then what ? Listen: the Inner-self,
the
Consciousness, that illumines all thoughts, remains as the All-full, One-Mass-of
Bliss, without-a-second.”
42. “The great statements, like ‘That thou art’, established the
identity of what is meant
by the two terms ‘thou’ and ‘That’ in their deeper indicative-meaning.”
43. “How great statement discards the two qualified-meanings, and
reveals what it really
means – this we have carefully commented upon already.”
44. ‘That which shines, as the object of the idea and the word ‘I’,
is Consciousness
expressing in the inner equipments. This is the direct word-meaning of
‘thou’ (twam).”
45. “The Consciousness that is expressed through Maya, which then
becomes the
‘cause of the Universe’, which is described as omnipresent, etc.; that
which is known
only indirectly (meditate); and which is having the nature of existence,
etc., -- that
Eswara is the word-meaning of the term ‘That’.”
46. “In case we insist upon the identity of ‘that’ and ‘thou’ based
upon the word-meaning
of these terms, then for one and the same factor we will have to attribute
contrary
nature; the quality of being mediately and immediately known – and also
insist
qualities of ‘existence of duality’ and also of ‘absolute oneness’, for
one and the same
factor. Identity between such contrariness is impossible hence suggestive-meaning,
‘explanation by implication’ has to be accepted.”
47. “If the direct word-meaning throws up an inconsistency with what
is pointed out by
other proofs and evidences, the sense consistent with its word-meaning
that is
intelligently suggested by the term, is to be accepted – and this is its
suggestive-meaning (lakshana).”
48. “In the statements like ‘that thou art’ etc., the reject-accept
method is to be employed
as in the sentence ‘He is this man’. No other method can be applied.”
49. “Until the direct personal experience of ‘I am Brahman’ is gained,
we must live values
of self-control, etc., and practice listening to teachers, or reading scriptures,
and
doing daily reflection and meditation upon those ideas.”
50. “Through the grace of a spiritual teacher when a seeker gains
a clear and direct
experience of the Supreme Self as expounded in the scriptures, he, the
realised,
becomes free from all ‘ignorance’, which is the foundation for the entire
experience of
this world of plurality.”
51. “No more conditioned by his gross and subtle bodies, free from
the embrace of the
gross and subtle elements, released from the charm of actions, such a man
gets
immediately liberated.”
52. “The liberated-in-life, due to the compelling force of those
actions that have begun to
produce their results (Prarabdha), remains for some time to exhaust them”.
53. “The liberated-in-life comes to gain the State of Absolute Oneness,
the never-ending
immeasurable Bliss, called the Supreme Abode-of-Vishnu, from wherein there
is no
return.”