Mahavakya

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The mahavakya "That thou art"

 

 

 

In the sentence 'tat tvam asi' the primary meaning of the word 'tat' is

Brahman as qualified by the functions of creation, sustenance and

dissolution of the universe, that is, Isvara. The primary meaning of the

word 'tvam' is the jiva as qualified by the states of waking, dream and deep

sleep. The qualities of Isvara and jiva are totally contradictory, like

those of the sun and the glow-worm, or the king and a servant, or the ocean

and a well, or the earth and an atom. Isvara is omniscient and omnipotent

while the jiva's knowledge and power are limited. The identity affirmed by

the mahavakya cannot obviously be between Isvara and jiva which are the

primary meanings of the words. Therefore the implied meanings of the two

words have to be taken. The contradiction between the primary meanings of

the two words is due to the limiting adjuncts which are not real. Maya is

the limiting adjunct (upadhi) of Isvara, while the upadhi of the jiva is the

five sheaths. When these limiting adjuncts are negated, there is neither

Isvara nor jiva. The kingdom is the symbol of the king and the shield is the

symbol of the warrior. When these are removed there is neither king nor

warrior. The sruti negates the duality imagined in Brahman. The negation of

the limiting adjuncts is to be effected by reasoning supported by sruti.

Everything in the universe is a superimposition on Brahman by ignorance and

has no reality, like the snake superimposed on a rope. The entire universe

must therefore be rejected as unreal. Then what remains is only Brahman .

Thus both Isvara and jiva are found to be only Brahman when the unreal

upadhis are rejected.

 

Thus only the implied meanings of the terms 'tat' and 'tvam are to be

taken for affirming their identity. The implied meanings of words are of

three kinds—*jahallakshanaa, ajahal- lakshanaa *and *jahadajahallakshanaa..

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* jahallakshanaa- *(exclusive secondary signification)--* *The literal

meaning is to be rejected and some other meaning consistent with it is to be

adopted. An example is—*gangaayaam ghoshah, *the literal meaning of which

is—a hamlet on the river Ganga. Since there cannot be a hamlet on the river

itself, it is the bank of the river that is meant. Here the literal meaning

of the word 'Ganga' has to be given up completely and the implied meaning

'bank' has to be adopted. * *

 

*ajahallakshanaa- *(non-exclusive secondary signification)--* *Without

giving up the literal meaning of the word, what is implied by it is also

adopted to get the meaning intended to be conveyed. An example is—"The red

is running", which is intended to convey that the red horse is running. Here

the literal meaning of the word 'red' is retained and the implied word

'horse' is added to get the correct sense of the sentence.

 

*jahadajahallakshanaa-* (exclusive—non-exclusive secondary signification)--

Here a part of the literal meaning is retained and the other part discarded..

The sentence "This is that Devadatta" is interpreted by using this *

lakshanaa.* The meaning intended to be conveyed by this sentence is that

Devadatta who is seen at the present time in this place is the same as the

person who was seen earlier in another place. The literal meaning of the

word 'this' is Devadatta associated with the present time and place. The

literal meaning of the word 'that' is Devadatta associated with the past

time and some other place. Since this sentence purports to convey the

identity of the person seen in different places at different times, we get

this meaning by discarding the reference to the place and time conveyed by

the words 'this' and 'that' and retaining the reference to Devadatta. This

is also known as *bhaagatyaaga-lakshanaa. *The meaning of the sentence *tat

tvam asi *is obtained by using this method. Just as in the sentence "This is

that Devadatta" the identity is stated by rejecting the contradictory

qualities, so also in the sentence "That thou art" the contradictory

qualities (namely, the limiting adjuncts) are rejected. Thus it follows

that the jiva and Brahman are in essence one when the limiting adjuncts,

namely Maya* *and the five sheaths, are rejected.

(Based on Vivekachudamani)

S.N.Sastri

 

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