sequence of teaching mahA vAkyAs

[Guest guest]

namaste.

 

There are these four mahAvAkyAs (great statements) in the upanishads,

one from each vedA. They are

 

prajnAnam brahma (Consciousness is brahman) [ aitareya upanishad, R^gveda)

tat tvam asi (That you are) [chAndogya upanishad, sAma veda)

ayam AtmA brahma (This Atman is brahman) [mAnDUkya upanishad, atharva

veda)

aham brahmAsmi (I am brahman) [br^hadAraNyaka upanishad, yajurveda)

 

My study of upanishads is by daily invoking and prayers to shri Shankara

as my guru and continuing with the study of the upanishads, bhAshyAs and

commentaries. Thus, I do not have practical experience of the gurukula

tradition.

 

I have two questions on these mahA vAkyAs.

 

1. Are these considered mahA vAkyAs also by the vishishTAdvaitins

and the dvaitins?

 

2. In the traditional gurukula teaching, in what sequence are these

mahAvAkyAs taught? Is there a definite sequence?

 

My understanding of the mahAvAkyAs is: while they all point to the

same truth (I am brahman), they are at various levels of recognition

of the truth.

 

(i) prajnAnam brahma is the definition of truth

(ii) tat tvam asi is the instructional mahA vAkya

(iii) ayam AtmA brahma is an experiential mahA vAkya

(iv) aham brahmAsmi is the assertive, final peaceful statement.

 

In a gurukula, I suspect that ((i) to (iv)) may be the sequence in

which the guru lets the disciple absorb the truth.

 

We now have gurukula AcAryAs on our List (shri swami Tadatmanandaji

and swamini Sarada priyanandiniji), and we have students who have

gone through gurukula tradition (shri kalyan, jaishankar, madhava

and may be many more). I wonder if any can throw light on this.

 

post script: I prepared this two days ago but didn't post it.

But seeing shri madhava's recent post saying shri swamini

Sarada priyanandiniji will be leaving the list in a few days,

I hasten to post this with the hope that she would find time

to respond to this.

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

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