Mahavakya meaning

The meaning of the mahavakya tat tvam asi is to be understood by understanding the meaning of the entire sentence.

The sentence says jiva is ishvara, and ishvara is jiva.


Now vachyartha has to be understood.

Vachyartha for jiva is manifold. One is the owner of the body. People believe I am as good as the body.

But for shastra shraddhavaan, jiva is also sukshma sharira, that travels, and has body as its abode in current life only. So sukshma sharira can be said to be jiva, transmigrating body.

Now this can also be looked at as mind, and so on.

This is vachyartha or literal meaning.

Literal meaning of ishvara is manifold.

1. Cause of jagat
2. Jagat itself
3. Controller of jagat.

So abhinna nimitta upAdana karanam, karyam, and also the overlord, the one running the jagat with total shakti, bhagavan and so on. This is vachyartha. Again this is from shruti pramana. Only jagat etc. is from other pramanas. But manifestor, controller aspect is from shruti pramana.

So with respect to ishvara there is remoteness, and there is total difference in terms of shakti and pervasiveness.

Jiva has limited pervasiveness, has total dependence on ishvara and other jivas.

This is based on both experience and shruti pramana.

Now equation of oneness cannot be understood by understanding the sentence as considering the vachyartha.

So we have to apply jallajahal lakshana, and take lakshyartha.

So we take the two, and minus what is incidental , which is the attribute of savashaktiman etc. from ishvara, we also minus the remoteness. So we say I, is ishvara. So now remoteness is gone, but for I there is limitedness, dependence etc. That also we have to drop , and retain just I, which is non remote. But then ishvara will lose pervasiveness, so pervasiveness cannot be an attribute, so we have to apply all pervasiveness to I. So we retain just existence, consciousness and all pervasiveness alone as the lakshanas of self, which is non dual satyam, and then we can say that all else is mithya.

So here body mind is mithya, ishvaratvam is mithya, the individual body mind is mithya, the individual sankalpa is mithya, the mithya jagat has ishvari or shakti as the driving principle and the satyam jnanam anantam brahma is the non dual reality behind this .

So now the ahamkara totally applies to body mind complex and not to the self. Self is all pervasive asanga satyam, satchitananda rupam.

Body ahamkara etc is mithya. Ishvara who is the manifester of all that is , is also mithya, and as the self I pervade ishvara also. I pervade shakti also. I am the reality of shakti and shiva, I am the reality of all jivas, I am the reality of jagat. I look at myself as reality, and all that is here as reality. With name and form, I the reality, is available as various beings, as various things, as various responsibilities, as various orders, as the super order, the super mind, the supreme wisdom, as the srshti sthithi laya kArana, as the one reality. Entire srshti is I, srshti wisdom is I, mind is I, eyes ears are I, the I is the key, not the eyes or ears. In eye and ears, what is is I. In body , what is is I. In breath what is is I. In Smile , order that is is I. In breathing what is is I. In psychological order what is is I. In mind what is is I. Taste smell etc. what is is I. In heart organs etc. the order what is is I. In ahamkara, what is is I. In word and meaning, what is is I. In intellect what is is I. In memory hat is is I. In judegement what is is I.In desire what is is I. In confidence what is is I. In action what is is I. In result what is is I. In decider of result what is is I. In choice what is is I. In choicelessness, what is is I. In application of intellect, skill, in arts etc. what is is I. In courage resilience etc. in hard work etc. what is is I. In totality what is is I. In karma and karma phala, in any events and happenings, in unfolding o karma phala, in other people, in dependencies and interlinkages what is is I. In the overall order what is is I. In the given freedoms what is is I, In the dharma protection and protector, what is is I.

In totality what is is I. So like this nothing is left out, all that is is only purely and surely I. I is, and what is is I. 

Atma is non doer

I do an action impelled by atma, where atma is non doer. A desire arises to do an action that needs to be done. It is the to be performed action. This to be performed action  I need to perform, and in the performance there are various components.

There is atma as the self the blessing principle behind the action.

There is atma as the doer of the action, the ahamkara.

There is the desire to perform the action.

There is a motivation to perform the action.

Motivation is based on the role of the person.

There is a role play to be performed.

The role is atma, and there is ishvara who is atma, in the form of the role definer.

He defines the duties and the to be performed for the role.

I have myself as the instrument available for performing that role.

The role is me, but I am not the role.

The director is me, and ishvara is the director.

The purpose of the action should be to please ishvara.

Ishvara is pleased when we perform the to be done action.

There are the various instruments of action, that aid in performance of the action.

There are various devatas blessing those instruments of action to perform the action.

This is the same devata with whose directions we perform the action.

Then once the action is done, the result of the action is for ishvara to take care of.

Any enjoyment or pain both are experienced by atma and ishvara both.

Atma is the pure witness consciousness.

Ishvara is the bhokta here, it can also be considered jiva.

If this is to be internalised then jivatvam has to be given up.

Jivatvam is the attachment of self to body mind, and taking on the roles as oneself.

Instead being pure satchitananda atman, there is no need to perform action.

But when action directive comes from ishvara, who is none other than self, then there is ishvara motivated action.

That action alone is real action, which has its reality as non actor. 

Mananam on subject and object being one and the same vastu

Granted that subject the pratyagatman is the atma, brahman vastu. Is non dual.
Which means object is the very same one non dual brahman , atman vastu.

Some problems come up here in terms of doubts.

1. How can object which is material in nature, be one and the same consciousness which is opposite of material.

A: Object is indeed material in nature. However we need not take object to be a separate vastu. Object is a mithya vastu, which has its reality in the vastu that is satyam.

Therefore, we agree there is a matter, and it is material in nature, which means does not reflect any consciousness.

There is also a sukshma sharira, which is also material in nature and merely reflects consciousness.

So these materials, they are mithya is what we say. Which means they have their being in consciousness.

Some materials reflect or express consciousness, in others the consciousness nature of the vastu is inhibited.

So even though any material is not other than consciousness, the consciousness is inhibited.

So matter is nothing but consciousness, with consciousness being inhibitted or  hidden from knowing, and only the existence aspect is revealed.

Thereby matter is none other than consciousness concealing her conscious nature and assuming a name and form, and merely retaining the existence aspect.

This is the play of bhagavan consciousness, making use of his maya shakti.

So it is bhagavan making use of his maya, takes manifestation as space, air, fire, water and earth elements, as various material, food etc. and then as bodies, in which beings manifest.

So that means bhagavan alone is present.

Then where does this leave consciousness as the witness, naturally that consciousness is very much bhagavan himself or herself.

Pratyagatman is none other than bhagavan. Without the will of bhagavan, he wont be available as pratyagatman.

So very much bhagavan has lent himself for the jiva to call as me, with avidya, taking oneself always to be away or other than ishvara, and finally to discover the identity of oneself as one with ishvara.

Here the caller is the ego, who identified with body mind, This ego can now identify with bhagavan, and with respect to the limited body mind, identify with again bhagavan in the form of avarana and vikshepa, so this jivaness is merely a play of bhagavan, who within himself has various jivas who manifest, as though as jivas, but are not other than himself or herself. This bhagavan knows but jiva does not know.

Jiva regards oneself as a separate person till there is knowledge of there being only one person.

So now for a knowing jiva, there is recognition of all being one ishvara. And oneself being not other than this ishvara, but same time playing a role within this ishvaratvam. 

Bhagavan

I am writing about bhagavan, but to understand bhagavan is to understand there is only bhagavan.
Only bhagavan IS.

We say all that is here IS, and that IS bhagavan. Lets not just say atma but all that is here, known or unknown, that is indeed bhagavan. Bhagavan in manifest form. Bhagavan controlling all that is here in the form of manifest laws, everything is bound by laws, by cause and effect, and that law is manifest. The knowledge is manifest. As per laws the knowledge is manifest. That bhagavan is pratyagatman, with shakti.  

Jiva Jagat Ishvara are mithya

Just like a snake appears on a rope due to ajnanam of rope, ajnanam of chaitanyam, leads to two fold issues.

One is that body is projected like a rope upon snake. Secondly here since jadatvam is projected or matter is projected, in a peculiar condition, the refelected consciousness leads to a ahamkara, the ahamkari is called as jiva, one who considers the projected body to be the atma.

So this results in considering jadam attributes on atma, and subsequently limitation, then desire, then raga dvesa, and karma, then body is given for karma. The giver of body is the shakti aspect of ajnanam, wherein the same ajnanam becomes shakti or manifests as a power. Here with same ajnanam, chaitanyam appears as ishvara, giving the bodies, and giving the karma phala to jivas.
Ishvara knows its is a mithya body and that he himself is mithya as well, his reality he knows.

Jiva with viveka and vairagya separates himself from body adhyasa, and understands his reality is chaitanyam. So not body.

Through adhyasa bhashyam he understands that the body is a projection like a snake on a rope, and chaitanyam is the adhistanam.

So he understands the same avidya that caused him to consider body as self, is available as ishvara shakti projecting, and thereby there is a all powerful ishvara projecting a body and giving it to jiva.

So now jiva understands his reality is pure chaitanyam. Pure chaitanyam neither has ishvaratvam nor jivatvam and is totally free from ajnana.

There is no projection at all, only pure chaitanyam is.

There was never any projection.

This much jiva understands. And also understands that his understanding itself is mithya alone, and all that we are discussing is mithya alone. At the same time, what is mithya is totally pervaded by satyam chaitanyam alone, from which standpoint, such a thing as mithya is as good as non existent. 

What is bhagavan or who is bhagavan

Bhagavan is a belief, and a logical belief in that sense. That there is a maker and a material is a very logical thing to conclude given order that one sees.

But to intimately know ishvara, is the goal of every bhakta.

This intimate knowledge is a possibility that vedanta shastra unfolds.

Its not presented as a possibility, its rather presented as the very goal of human birth.

That a human being has both a capacity to know, as well as a capacity to judge oneself, he judges and concludes oneself as a limited being. And there is a natural desire to be free, from ones own limitations.

Hence as a human being there is a capacity to know, and a capacity to judge, hence an opportunity , perhaps the only opportunity as we know, to free oneself, from repeated birth and janmas.

So it is in a human birth and so our parampara also says, that one has the possibility as a jiva to cross over the cycle of repeated births.

Now it is the mahavakya , that great sentence, that not only propounds the oneness of ishvara and jiva, but at the same time reveals who or what this ishvara is, and reveals at the same time the reality of oneself the jiva.

Oneself the jiva is always available as "I", I is self evident.

Jiva is atma, the self, and self is self evident.

Shastra or guru is not required to reveal oneself to oneself, as oneself is self evident.

However, to reveal ishvara, the maker and the material of the universe, definitely while one can accept the revelations of our shastras, that there is only one god, and that god is the cause, and the maker and material both, one has to come to the svarupa of ishvara, to gain the initimate knowledge of who this bhagavan is.

Kena upanisad in fact unfolds this reality in a direct manner, asking the very same question, as to who is bhagavan, by asking, who is the one who lights this mind, by whom or due to whom this prana functions,
" By whom commanded and directed does the mind go towards its objects? Commanded by whom does the life-force, the first (cause), move? At whose will do men utter speech? What power directs the eye and the ear?"

It is a question relating to bhagavan, the cause.

The answer is given in the subsequent verses,
" It is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of the speech, the life of the life, the eye of the eye."

Here the jiva, the atma, the consciosuness I is equated with bhagavan the cause of the world.

Within bhagavan, who is none but the self, there is no jagat, and there is no causation or product.

Jagat being mithya, the bhagavatvam of the self is also mithya.

So from the standpoint of all that is here, self is bhagavan.

So here by revealing self as bhagavan, both self ignorance is removed , at the same time, bhagavan ignorance is also removed.

Since self itself it the non dual bhagavan.

Desire

Extreme disapointment is a result of deep desires.
Deep desires are harboured as a goal, and a want.

When these are fulfilled there is elation and when not fulfilled there is dejection.

Jiva is caught in a cycle of elation and dejection.

Elation and dejection cycle does not cause fulfilment.

Fulfilment is only available when the desire is correctly understood.

In every desire the actual desire is for oneself to be acceptable to oneself.
For oneself to be whole.

That is the desire inherent in every desire.

Dejection, is when analysed , it is not rational entirely.

If a guru is available, shastra is available and self is available, there can be no cause for dejection at all.

Dejection in this case actually becomes a sign off jivas total subjucation to desires.

Instead of enjoying a sense of freedom from desires.

A sense of freedom from a self image, or a desired self image.

When such a freedom from ambition is available, then the problem of self non acceptance becomes evident.

Then a solution can be applied.

Till then the problem itself is not evident, hence any medicine has no effect, since other things do not allow the real problem to manifest, and prevent the medicine from tackling the real problem.

The real problem of self non acceptance is not an individual problem, it is a universal problem.

Hence the solution is also a universal solution.

When I come face to face with the universal solution, I see the solution is myself.

This is because the solution is like a mirror. In a mirror I see myself as the self shining atma, which is the self existent, self evident being, which is by itself whole.

In the word whole, we see a pramana, we see ishvara is there.

Ishvara is the host of the universe the material of the universe.

A tremendous shakti is ishvara.

There is tremendous knowledge involved. It is already taking care of the universe which is itself, that is the tremendous.

So the mirror I should see, I am that ishvara.

I see only self evident self existent being.

I see all that is here "is" ishvara. Since the jagat is mithya jagat, the reality 'is' belongs to this ishvara.

There should be no dissociation.

The self evident self existent being that "is" , is all that is here. That being alone is here, and that being is me, is the knowledge of self.

Where is the question of dejection. and for whom.

OM.