Skip to main content

Four Mahavakyas in Upnishads


In 11 principle Upnishads, Sri Shankaracharya explain the deepest reality of this universe which are guaranteed to alleviate the delusive dual and divided consciousness of any sincere seeker to undivided and universal consciousness. There are four Mahavakyas (great statements) which contain the complete description of unstained reality of seekers consciousness in meditative state as well as after liberation or being one with the infinite consciousness. Just contemplating on these four great statement could be mean to open to new level of consciousness which can exponentially raise our awareness to cut the bondage of misery and to experience the ultimate bliss of samadhi. Here are four great statement and there occurrence as well as there nature of influence on the consciousness.

1. प्रज्ञानं ब्रम्हा (Pragyanam Brahma) means "the self, the consciousness is Brahmans*" or "knowledge (Pragya) is Brahman" (since self itself is all knowing intelligence therefore both the meanings indicate same thing in principle which is all knowing self is Brahman). It has been explained in Aitreya Upnishad and its called लक्षण वाक्य (Lakshana vakya) means which explain the characteristic of Brahman.

2. तत् त्वं असि (Tat tram asi) means "that thou art". It has been explained in Chandogya Upnishad and its called उपदेश वाक्य (Updesha vakya) means which tell the detailed instruction for a seeker about the nature of Brahman.

3. अयं आत्मा ब्रम्हा (Ayam Atma Brahma) means "the self is Brahman". It has been explained in Munduka Upnishad and it's called अनुभव वाक्य (anubhav vakya) means it comes from the direct experience when seeker consciousness unite with Brahman.

4. अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि (Aham brahmasmi) mean "I am Brahman". It has been explained in Brhadaranyaka Upnishad and it's called प्रस्ताव वाक्य (prasthav vakya) means it comes as suggestive statement after merging with the Brahman.

*Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe.

Comments

AoLF-SJ said…
Thau art self=brahman=awareness !

Isn't this vakya cover everything Shakaracharya had to convey with words?



"To be or not to be, that is the question!" -Bill SPeare.

Be. try not to be... is the answer. - be(i) :-)
neelam sharma said…
hmm deep knowledge !
Dinesh Nath said…
its keep being even deeper as we go deep :)
komal said…
thanks for bring out the deep meaning of shankracharya's teachings thru this post. amazing i have never much understood the subtlties of some some of his techinmgs but now i have got a deeper meaning. thank you..
Anonymous said…
Nice enlightening blog. Thanks.

Priya ram

Popular posts from this blog

Bhartiya Sciptures

I am posting this as I think it is necessary. I feel most of today's India don't even know what are our great scriptures are. Even a week ago, I also didn't know all about it. So I felt, it will be good for general awareness and I encourage my blog readers to make a link to this post or copy this post to their own blogs, so that people at least know about the wealth our country has given to the world :) 1. Vedas: There are four Vedas. According to to the Muktikopnishad they had 21, 109, 1,000 and 50 branche s (Total of 1180 branches) . a. Rigved b. Yajurved c. Samved d. Atharvaved 2. Vedangas: There are six Vedangas (parts of the body of the Vedas): a. Vyakaran: Science of Grammer. b. Jyotish: Science of Astrology. c. Nikrukt: Detailed dictionary of vedic words. d. Shikcha: Science of pronunciation. e. Chand: Poetry of Vedas. f. Kalp Sutras: Vedic Dharma 3. Upveds: There are four upveds: a. Arthved (science of sociolo...

Sri Sri University

Sri Sri University Formal education trains people to take up different roles in the society in pursuit of economic growth and social order. With the Indian industry poised to take off as a global economic power, the demand for skilled youth to guide and carry on this pursuit can not be underestimated. Paradoxically, it is confronted with an ever increasing number of educated youth, with mismatched skill-sets: youth with an abundance of technical knowledge but clearly lacking in focus on inner joy, initiative and creativity. Sri Sri University is an international initiative to address this anomaly by developing tomorrow's leaders, managers of change, trained to the industry requirements, with an attitude and skill-set transcending specific disciplines. Inspired by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, students will look beyond their own limitations and share bigger responsibilities as worthy citizens and brim with confidence. In them we may see not just the smartest, but the leaders,...

Achieving Quality Living

If we look around in history also in life around us, there are people who have created history or who are creating history. These are handful of people which you count on fingers while other part of population seems mere existing on the this planet rather than living the life. Just look closely any inspiring figure whether a social workers, reformers, spiritual leaders or Business Tycoons you can take any name say it Martin Luther king or Mother Teresa, or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Swami Vivekananda, Bill Gates, Henry Ford All these people have same number of minutes in a day as we have. Then why these people able to deliver much more than we do? What make them different from other people. Now this is a wider issue. I am catching one thread of discussion in this post. If you realize in life we do kind of actions one which are life supporting and other are life degrading. Life supporting actions help us to move forward life life degrading actions bind our legs and put us back. And not do...