Mahavakya analysis

Vakyavritti – 8

Verse 42 

‘Tat Tvam asi’ aadi vaakyam cha taadaatmya pratipaadane I

Lakshyau ‘Tat Tvam’ padaarthau dvaa upadaaya pravartete II

Mahavakyas  like ‘That Thou are’ thus establish the identity of what is meant by the two terms ‘Thou’ and ‘That’ by taking recourse to their implied meaning.

Sishya had asked four questions about Jiva, Brahman,  their identity and Mahavakya  ‘Tat Tvam asi’ in verse 7.   Guru having answered the questions on Jiva, Paramathma, and their identity, starts answering the question on Mahavakya from this verse, with a summary statement  on the interpretation of Mahavakyas that speak of Jiva Brahma Ikyam.  Mahavakyas are many and four main Mahavakyas are:

1)   Prajnanam Brahma – “Consciousness is Brahman” from Rig Veda (Aitareya Upanishad)

2)   Tat Tvam Asi – “Thou art That” from Sama Veda (Chandogya Upanishad)

3)   Aham Brahmasmi – “I am Brahman” from Yajur Veda (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)

4)   Ayam Athma Brahma –“This Self is Brahman” from Atharva Veda (Mandukya Upanishad)

Besides these four, there are many others that speak of Jiva Brahma Ikyam.   In Mahavakhyas like ‘That Thou are” and ‘I am Brahman’ we should not blindly take the meaning of the word but choose the appropriate meaning according to the context.

First we apply the primary meaning of the words, vachyartha and if the sentence does not convey the meaning rightly then we take recourse to the secondary or implied meaning, lakshyartha, of the words.  We had seen earlier that identity between Jiva,Tvam and Brahman, Tat can be achieved  by taking the lakshyarthas of Tat and Tvam.  Guru tells sishya that a similar approach is to be adopted in interpreting the Mahavakyas as well.

Verse 43 

Guru uvacha

Hitvaa dvau sabalau vaachyau vaakyam vaakyaartha bodhane I

Yathaa pravartate asmaabhih tathaa vyaakhyaatam aadaraat II

Guru continues:  Discarding the two qualified literal meanings, the Mahavakya reveals the implied meaning.  What these meanings are has already been carefully explained.

Guru is taking up the sentence meaning, vakyartha starting with the direct or literal meaning of the sentence, Mahavakya.  The literal meaning of the sentence is arrived at by taking the literal meaning of the constituent words.  The literal meaning for Tvam is Jeevathma with three sareeras, saguna Jeevathma  and the literal meaning for Tat is Brahman with the three prapanchas. Saguna Brahman.  Saguna Brahman, as creator, has karana-karya relationship with Saguna Jeevathma and so cannot have tadathmyam with Saguna Jeevathma. So discarding the literal meaning of the two words, Tvam and Tat, one has to take up the implied meaning, lakshyartha, of these two words and arrive at their identity, as explained earlier.  Guru who had earlier explained about direct and implied meaning of words by themselves, now explains the dropping of direct meaning and adopting the implied meaning in the context of the sentence as a whole as well, to be thorough in his analysis. 

Verse 44

Aalambanatayaa bhaati yoh asmatpratyayashabdayoh I

Antahkarana sambhinna bodhah sah tvampadabhidhah. II

Verse 45

Mayopadhirjagatyonih sarvajnatvaadilakshanah I

Parokshyasabalah satyaadi aatmakah tatpadabhidhah II

The Consciousness which is expressing itself through the internal organ and which is the object of the idea and word ‘I’ is the direct meaning of the word ‘Thou’.  The qualified Being, the cause of the universe, described as Omniscient etc., mediately known, having the nature of Existence etc., and having Maya for Its upadhi is the direct meaning of ‘That’

These two verses repeat the vachyartha of ‘Tvam’ and ‘Tat’ in the context of arriving at the vakhyartha of Mahavakya ‘Tat Tvam asi’.  The primary meaning  of ‘Tvam’ is Jiva and is the Consciousness along with reflected Consciousness in anthakarana and the body-mind complex.  In view of this association all bodily limitations are also mistakenly considered as its limitations.  The primary meaning of ‘Tat’ is Iswara, i.e. Brahman with Maya who is both the efficient and material cause of the world.  Being the efficient cause of the world It has knowledge of everything in creation and so It is omniscient.  As material cause It is karanam for the  world which is the karyam.  As Brahman is formless and Maya also is without form, It cannot be known directly and has to be inferred indirectly.  Upanishads describe the nature of Brahman as ‘Existence, Consciousness, Bliss’. 

Verse 46

Pratyak parokshata ekasya sadviteeyatva poornataa I

Virudhyete yatastasmaallakshanaa sampravartate II

The qualities of being known directly and also indirectly; and of duality as well as Oneness are incompatible on the part of one and the same substance and so the implied meanings alone have to be selected

In this verse Guru points out that there cannot be identity between ‘Tvam’ and ‘Tat’ when we take the literal word meaning i,e, Jiva and Iswara with their upadhis, by pointing out the contradictions in their nature.   The contradictions pointed out are as follows.  Jiva can be known directly while Iswara can be known only indirectly. Jiva being connected with body-mind complex is many while Iswara is one only. We can list a few more as well like:  Iswara is infinite, while Jiva is finite;  Iswara is karanam, while Jiva is Karyam;  Iswara is all-knowing while Jiva has limited knowledge; and so on.  As identity cannot be established with these contradictions present we have to take recourse to the secondary meaning i.e. lakshyartha only.

Verse 47

Maanaantara virodhe tu mukhya-arthasya aparigrahe I

Mukhya-arthena avinaabhoote prateetih lakshanah uchyate II

As it conflicts with other evidences, the direct word meanings are not acceptable.  The sense that is consistent with other proofs, i.e. the implied meaning, has to be accepted.

When an inconsistency such as seen in the previous verse is encountered in establishing an identity, then the next step is to take recourse to the lakshyartha or secondary or implied meaning.  The secondary meaning should be connected to the primary meaning in one way or the other and related to primary meaning.  In the matter of using secondary meaning, there are three methods available under Lakshana Vriiti, the categories of analyzing a sentence using implied or secondary meaning.  The three methods are:

i) Jahal-Lakshana: “Total Rejection Method”. The entire direct word meaning is rejected and the secondary meaning connected to primary meaning is taken.

ii) Ajahal-Lakshana: “Total Acceptance Method”. The entire direct word meaning is accepted and, in addition, something more connected to the primary meaning is added to make it meaningful.

iii) Jahal-Ajahal-Lakshana: “Part-Rejection and Part-Acceptance Method”. This is also termed Bhaga Tyaga Lakshana (Partial Rejection) or simply Bhaga Lakshana where part of the primary meaning is kept and another part of the primary meaning is given up i.e. the contradictory part is rejected and the common part is retained. 

Verse 48

‘Tat Tvam asi’ aadivaakyeshu lakshanaa bhaaga lakshanaa I

So*yam ityadi vaakyasthapadayoriva, naaparaa. II

In the statement like ‘Thou art That’ etc, Bhaga Lakshana method has to be employed as in the sentence ‘He is this man’, etc.  No other method can be applied.

In the case of Mahavakya ‘Tat Tvam asi’, Bhaga lakshana method, where the contradictory part is rejected and the common part is retained to arrive at the meaning, is adopted to arrive at the secondary meaning of the sentence.   The contrary parts due to the upadhis of both Jiva and Ishwara are rejected and the common parts in both of them are retained, namely Consciousness giving the message that the Consciousness in Jiva and the Consciousness that is Brahman constitute one undivided whole like the space in the pot and space outside which is only the indivisible space.  The contrary parts that are rejected, the three bodies of Jiva and Maya of Brahman are only mithya.  This verse quotes an example to illustrate the use of this method which runs like this.  One person is introduced to an elderly person with words ‘This is that Devadutta’, Devadutta being a young man he had met in his native village twenty years back. That individual discards the contrary features of the young man and old man and retains only the common feature of name only as Devadutta, to recognize him. This is a practical example of the use of Bhaga lakshana method.

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