thath thvam asi chandhogya6.1- conclusion

[Guest guest]

purusham soumya utha hasthagrheetham aanayanthi

 

when perhaps my dear they(officers of the king)

bring a man, holding his hand,

 

apahaarsheeth stheyam akaarsheeth paraSum asmai

thapatha ithi.

 

"he has stolen

something , he has committed a theft, heat the axe for him," so saying.

 

Sa yadhi thasya karthaa bhavathi thathaH eva anrtham

aathmaanam kuruthe

 

If he has done

that deed, by that he has made himself false,

 

saH anrtha abhisanDhaH anrthena aathmaanam

antharDhaaya paraSum thaptham parigrhNaathi sa dhahyathe aTha hanyathe

 

 

 

 

He is a liar and cheat and immersed in falsehood, and

holding the heated axe he is burnt and

killed by the king's men.

 

aTha yadhi thasya akarthaa bhavathi thathaH eva sathyam aathmaanam kuruthe

 

If he has not done the theft, then he is truthful,

 

saH sathya abhisanDhaH sathyena aathmaanam

antharDhaaya

 

he is telling the truth and immersed in truth,

 

paraSum dhagDham prathgrhNaathi sa na dhahyathe

aTha muchyathe.

 

He holds the heated axe and not burnat and then he

is released.

 

Sa yaThaa thathra na adhaahyetha

 

Just as he is not burnt on that occasion,

 

ethath

aathmyam idham sarvam

 

all this world is

ensouled by Brahman,

 

thath sathyam sa aathmaa

 

That is the truth. That is the Self.

 

thath thvam asi

svethaketho

 

That thou art Svethakethu

 

ithi

 

(Thus said the father.)

 

asya thath

vijajnou ithi vijajnou ithi

 

To him (the son) it was

understood, it was understood.

 

The repetition denotes

the end of the chapter.

 

This last example of the

chapter regarding the mahavakya is a little difficult to understand.

 

The comparison is between

the man of the world and a man of real knowledge.The burnt axe is the world by

holding to which one who follows the falsehood thinking that the world is real

and he is addicted to falsehood like thief who is addicted to false values. The

difference is that the thief knows that he is telling untruth and is doing

something wrong but the ignorant man who identifies himself with the body does

not know that he has mistaken untruth for the truth.Hence the world like the

heated axe, burns him and he is destroyed. On the other hand a wise man knows

what is the truth and he is not affected by the world as the heated axe does not

burn the truthful man, meaning that he is not born again.

 

The truth asserted by the

father is that `You are that by which all beings are ensouled."

 

The analogy refers to the

ancient custom of asking the one who is suspected of havin committed acrime to

hold a heated axe with the belief that if he was innocent, the axe would not

burn his hand.

 

With this example the son

seems to have understood the truth.