mahAvAkyaratnAvaliH- Translation No. 21

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*Translation of mahAvAkyas- No.21- Sentences conveying instructions.*

 

 

 

67. sa ya esho'Nimaitadaatmyamidam sarvam tatsatyam sa AtmA tattvamasi

Svetaketo—ch. up. 6.8.7—This is one of the famous mahAvAkyas.

 

That which is this subtle essence, all this has That as the Self. That is

the Truth. That is the Self. That thou art, O Svetaketu.

 

The instruction " That thou art " is repeated nine times in this upanishad by

taking different examples. The meaning of this mahAvAkya has to be

understood by taking the implied meaning of the words 'That' and 'thou'. For

a detailed note on this, please see

 

www.geocities.com/snsastri/vedamahavakya.html

 

 

 

68. abhayam vai janaka prApto'si- bRhad. up. 4.2.4—(Like several other

statements in this collection, this single sentence has been picked out and

presented out of context. This sentence does not by itself convey any

instruction, though it has been put under the heading 'upadeSavAkyAni'.) The

meaning of this sentence is: " O Janaka, You have attained That which is free

from fear " . The whole section has to be studied to understand the import of

this sentence.

 

69. brahmacaryam ahimsAm ca aparigraham ca satyam ca yatnena he rakshato he

rakshata- O, protect with effort celibacy, non-injury, non-acceptance of

gifts and truth.

 

70. tat tvam asi tvam tad asi- That thou art, thou art that.

 

71. yanmnasA na manute yenAhurmano matam, tadeva brahma viddhi nedam yadidam

upAsate—kenopanishad, 1.6—That which cannot be comprehended by the mind, but

that because of which the mind comprehends, know that to be brahman, and not

that which is meditated on.

 

brahman, which is pure Consciousness enables the sense-organs and the mind

to perform their respective functions of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting,

touching, and thinking by its mere presence. But neither the sense-organs

nor the mind can know brahman. This brahman is to be realized as one's own

indwelling self. This is the pure unconditioned brahman which is nirguNa,

attributeless. What is meditated on is saguNa brahman or brahman associated

with mAyA which is made up of the three guNas. Sri Sankara says that nirguNa

brahman is 'jneyam', to be known, while saguNa brahman is 'dhyeyam', to be

meditated on.

 

S.N.Sastri

 

(To be contd)