2021/09/08

Mahāvākyas - WikipediaTat Tvam Asi

Mahāvākyas - Wikipedia

Tat Tvam Asi[edit source]

The phrase "Tat Tvam Asi" in the Malayalam and Devanagari scripts, displayed outside the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, India. The sacred syllable "Om" is the glyph in the middle.

Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7,[21] 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:

[6.2.1] In the beginning, son, this world was simply what is existent - one only, without a second. [6.2.3] And it thought to itself: "let me become many. Let me propagate myself." [6.8.3] It cannot be without a root [6.8.4] [l]ook to the existent as the root. The existent, my son, is the root of all these creatures - the existent is their resting place, the existent is their foundation[7] The finest essence here - that consitutes the self of this whole world; that is the truth; that is the self (ātman). And that's how you are, Śvetaketu.[22]

Etymology and translation[edit source]

Tat Tvam Asi (Devanagari: तत्त्वमसि, Vedictát tvam ási) is translated variously as "Thou art that," "That thou art," "That art thou," "You are that," "That you are," or "You're it":

  • Tat - 'it', 'that', from which an absolutive derivation is formed with the suffix -tvatattva,[23] 'thatness', 'principle', 'reality' or 'truth';[24] compare tathātā, "suchness", a similar absolutive derivation from tathā - 'thus', 'so', 'such', only with the suffix -tā, not -tvaTat refers to Sat, "the Existent,"[3][4] Existence, Being,[25] which is the base of everything.[25] Deutsch: "Although the text does not use the term brahman, the Vedanta tradition is that the Existent (sat) referred to is no other than Brahman."[26]
  • tvam - you, thou[27][25]
  • asi - are, 'art'[25]

Tat, the true essence or root or origin of everything that exists is sat, "the Existent,"[3][4] and this essence is what the individual at the core is.[28][29]

Interpretation[edit source]

Major Vedantic schools offer different interpretations of the phrase:

  • Advaita - absolute equality of 'tat', the Ultimate Reality, Brahman, and 'tvam', the Self, Atman.
  • Shuddhadvaita - oneness in "essence" between 'tat' and individual self; but 'tat' is the whole and self is a part.
  • Vishishtadvaita - tvam denotes the Jiva-antaryami Brahman while Tat refers to Jagat-Karana Brahman.
  • Dvaitadvaita - equal non-difference and difference between the individual self as a part of the whole which is 'tat'.
  • Dvaita of Madhvacharya - “Sa atmaa-tat tvam asi” in Sanskrit is actually “Sa atma-atat tvam asi” or “Atma (Self), thou art, thou art not God”. In refutation of Mayavada (Mayavada sata dushani), text 6, 'tat tvam asi" is translated as "you are a servant of the Supreme (Vishnu)"
  • Acintya Bheda Abheda - inconceivable oneness and difference between individual self as a part of the whole which is 'tat'.
  • Akshar Purushottam Upasana - oneness of the individual self, Atman, with Aksharbrahman, while worshipping Purushottam (God) as a supreme and separate entity.[30][31]