The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c7.s6.t2: 2. Tat tvam asi—That art thou

The System of the Vedânta according to Bâdarâyana's Brahma-Sûtras and Çankara's Commentary c7.s6.t2

Language: English

2. Tat tvam asi—That art thou

1. “Çvetaketu was the son of [Uddâlaka] Âruṇi. His father said to him: ‘Çvetaketu, go forth to study Brahman, for one of our family, dear one, is not wont to remain unlearned, and [merely] an appendage of Brahmanhood.’—So he went when he was twelve years old, to study, and at twenty-four he had studied all the Vedas, and returned uplifted in mind, fancying himself wise, and very proud. Then his father said to him: ‘Çvetaketu! since, dear one, thou art so uplifted in mind, fancying thyself so wise, and since thou art so proud, hast thou enquired concerning the teaching through which [even] the unheard is [already] heard, what is not understood is understood, and what is unknown becomes known?’—‘What then, venerable Sir, is this teaching?’—‘Just as, dear one, by one lump of clay everything which consists of clay is known, and the change is dependent only on words, a mere name, it is only clay in reality;—just as, beloved, by one copper button everything made of copper is known, the change is dependent only on words, a mere name, and it is only copper in reality;—just as, dear one, by one pair of nail-scissors everything made of iron is known, the change is dependent only on words, a mere name, and it is only iron in reality;—so, dear one, is it with this teaching.’—‘Of a truth my venerable teachers did not know this themselves, for if they had known it, why did they not tell it to me? But do thou, venerable one, now make it clear to me!’—‘So be it, dear one!’—”

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2—3. “Existent alone, dear one, was this in the beginning, one only, and without a second. Some, it is true, say that this was non-Existent in the beginning, one only, without a second; that from this non-Existent was born the Existent. But how could this be, dear one? how could the Existent be born from non-Existent?”—Here follows the passage given above (p. 230ff.) in which Âruṇi explains to his son how the one Existent put forth from itself the three primordial elements: heat, water, and food, and entered into these with the living self (*jīva ātman*, that is, the individual soul).

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4-7. This is followed by the teaching of the triplication of the elements. As the three primordial elements came forth from the one Existent, so all things in the world proceed anew from the three primordial elements: the red in things is radiance (*tejas*, the primal fire), the white is water, the black is food. This is exemplified in the natural phenomena of fire (*agni*), the sun, moon, and lightning, and it is said each time: "Vanished is the fire-being of the fire (the sun-being of the sun, etc.), the change is dependent only on words, a mere name, only the three forms are there in reality." Knowing this, the wise men of old said: "Henceforth can no one bring forth anything which has not been heard, known, and understood by us!" For they knew that what was unknown to them also could only be a combination of these three primordial elements; from them, like all else, the human body is built up, whereby, like the cream in milk, the finest part rises and forms the psychical organs, so that Manas is formed from food, breath from water, speech from heat. (For more on this subject, see Chap. XVII, 6, above p. 240ff.) For this reason the mind of mankind is weakened by continual fasting, and strengthened again by taking food, just as the glimmering ember which remains, can be rekindled by adding fresh fuel to it. [According to our system, Manas, *Prâna*, and *Vâc* did not come into being, but are the eternal companions of the soul. For solution of this contradiction see later on.]

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8. On the conditions of a) Sleep, b) Hunger, c) Thirst, and d) Death.—

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a) When a man sleeps, he enters into the Existent, for he then goes to himself (*svam apîta*), therefore it is said: he sleeps (*svapiti*). "As a bird bound by a cord flies hither and thither, and after it has nowhere found a place of rest, settles on the place where it is bound (*bandhanam* as in *nau-bandhanam*) so, dear one, Manas flies hither and thither, and after it has nowhere found a place of rest, it returns into Life, for Life is the place where Manas is bound." (Cf. Chap. XII, 4, c, above p. 190ff.)

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b) If a man is hungry and satiates himself, this is an effect (çuṅgam) which as such must have a cause (mūlam). The satisfaction as effect has food as cause, food as effect, has water as cause, water as effect has heat as cause, heat as effect has the Existent as cause; all these creatures have the Existent as cause, the Existent as support, the Existent as basis.

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c) If a man is thirsty and drinks, this effect is caused by water; water as effect has heat as cause, heat as effect has the Existent as cause; all these creatures have the Existent as cause, the Existent as support, the Existent as basis.

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d) "When, dear one, a man departs hence, speech enters to Manas, Manas to Life, Life to heat, heat to the highest godhead: that which is that subtle (unknowable) essence, of its being is the universe, that is the Real, that is the Soul, that art thou, O Çvetaketu!"

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9. "When, dear one, the bees prepare honey, they gather the juices from many sorts of trees and unite the nectar in one. As in these nectars, no difference is maintained between the trees whose juice they are, so, of a truth, beloved, all these creatures also, when (in deep sleep, and death) they return into the Existent, have no consciousness that they return into the Existent. Whether tiger, or lion, or wolf, or boar, or worm, or bird, or fly, or gnat: whatever they may be, to that form they return (yad-yad bhavanti, tad [or with Çañkara p. 433, 12. 797, 16 tad-tad] ābhavanti). — That which is that subtle essence, of its being is this universe, that is the Real, that is the Soul, that art thou, O Çvetaketu!"

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10. "These streams, dear one, flow eastward towards the morning, and westward towards the evening; from the ocean [they come] and to the ocean they return; in the ocean they are born. As these [in the ocean whence they take their rise] know not that they are this stream or that—so, of a truth, beloved, all these creatures, when they again go forth from the Existent, know not that they again go forth from the Existent. Whether they are here tiger, or lion, or wolf, or boar, or worm, or bird, or fly, or gnat: whatever they “may be, to that form they return.¹⁰⁴—That which is this “subtle essence, of its being is the universe, that is the Real, “that is the Soul, that art thou, O Çvetaketu!”

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¹⁰⁴ According to the Commentary to Chând. (p. 447, 19: samânam anyat) the reading is here exactly the same as in the preceding paragraph; not as with Windischmann in the first passage (Sancara p. 180) na ha instead of the certainly strange ta' iha (we expect tâ' iha), nor in the second with Roer sampadya instead of yad-yad; and the latter's separation of tadâ bhavanti is to be rejected, not only because the Commentator (p. 445, 14: punar âbhavanti) is against it (for he often errs), but also because then it rather ought to be tato bhavanti in the first passage.

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11. “If, dear one, a man cuts this great tree at the root, “it drips because it lives, if he cuts it in the middle, it drips “because it lives, if he cuts it at the top, it drips because it “lives; it stands penetrated through and through by the living “Self, exuberant and joyful. But if life leaves one bough, it “withers, if it leaves a second, it withers, if it leaves a third, “it withers, if it leaves the whole tree, the whole tree withers. “Thus also shalt thou know, dear one, said he: this [body] “certainly dies when the living one leaves it, but the living “one does not die. That which is this subtle essence, of its “being is the universe, that is the Real, that is the Soul, that “art thou, O Çvetaketu!”

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12. “ ‘Bring hither a fruit from yonder Nyagrodha tree.’ “ ‘Here it is, venerable one.’—‘Divide it.’—‘It is divided, “venerable one.’—‘What seest thou therein?’—‘I see here, “ ‘venerable one, very small seeds.’—‘Divide one of them.’— “ ‘It is divided, venerable one.’—‘What seest thou therein?’— “ ‘Nothing at all, venerable one.’—Then said he: ‘the subtle “essence which thou canst not perceive, beloved, from that “truly has this great Nyagrodha tree arisen. Believe me, “dear one, that which is this subtle essence, of its being is “the universe, that is the Real, that is the Soul, that art “thou, O Çvetaketu!’”

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13. “ ‘Here, put this piece of salt into water, and come “back to me to-morrow.’ He did so. Then said he: ‘Bring “me the salt which you put in water yesterday.’—He looked “for it, but did not find it, for it had melted.—‘Try on this ‘side!—How does it taste?’—‘Salt!’—‘Try in the middle!— ‘How does it taste?’—‘Salt!’—‘Try on that side!—How does ‘it taste?’—‘Salt!’—‘Leave it alone, and sit down near me.’ ‘He did so (and he said): ‘It exists still.’—Then said he: ‘Truly so also thou canst not perceive the Existent here (in ‘the body) but it is nevertheless in it. That which is this ‘subtle essence, of its being is this universe, that is the Real, ‘that is the Soul, that art thou, O Çvetaketu!’”

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14. “Like as, dear one, a man whom they have led with ‘eyes bound from the land of the Gandhâras and then let ‘loose in the desert, wanders towards east, or north, or south, ‘because he was led there with eyes bound, and was set loose ‘with eyes bound; but after some one has taken off his ban- ‘dage, and said to him: ‘That way dwell the Gandhâras, go ‘that way,’ he goes on asking his way from village to village, ‘with knowledge and intelligence, and returns home to the ‘Gandhâras,—thus a man who has found a teacher here, con- ‘sciously says: ‘I will only endure this [worldly action] until ‘I have attained deliverance, then will I go home.’—That ‘which is this subtle essence, of its being is this universe, ‘that is the Real, that is the Soul, that art thou, O Çveta- ‘ketu!”

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15. “Round a man who is sick unto death, sit his relations, ‘and ask him: ‘Dost thou know me? Dost thou know me?’— ‘So long as his speech has not entered into Manas, his Manas ‘into Life, Life into heat, and heat into the highest godhead, ‘so long he recognises them; but after his speech has entered ‘into Manas, his Manas into Life, Life into heat, and heat ‘into the highest godhead, he knows them no more.—That ‘which is this subtle essence, of its being is this universe, ‘that is the Real, that is the Soul, that art thou, O Çveta- ‘ketu!”

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16. “They bring a man with his hands bound, and cry: ‘He is a robber, he has committed theft; heat the axe for ‘him!’—If he is the doer, he makes himself untrue, speaking ‘untruth, he wraps himself in untruth, seizes the glowing axe, ‘is burned, and therefore executed; but if he is not the doer, ‘he makes himself true; telling the truth, he wraps himself in “truth, seizes the glowing axe, is not burned, and therefore “is set free. [That is, as p. 103, 9. 447, 6 explains this simile: “from untruth come bonds, from truth comes freedom.] That “by which he did not burn himself [the truth], of its being “is the universe, that is the Real, that is the Soul, that art “thou, O Çvetaketu!”

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“Thus was he taught by him.”

Cites (1)

Chāndogyopaniṣad — Sanskrit