Tat Tvam Asi

(“You are that”) In the Hindu philosophical
tradition, one of the “great utterances”
(mahavakyas) expressing the ultimate
truth. The truth referred to here is the
identity of atman (the individual Self)
and Brahman (Supreme Reality); this
identity is the heart of the speculative
texts called the Upanishads. This particular passage is found repeatedly in the
sixth book of the Chandogya
Upanishad, in which the boy
Shvetaketu is being instructed by his
father. The boy’s father uses a series
of analogies to convey his instruction
regarding the identical natures of the
atman and Brahman, ending every
such analogy with this concluding
phrase, which contains the wisdom
of the whole.
In addition to its textual importance,
this and three other mahavakyas—as
utterances that capsulize fundamental
truth—were appropriated as identifying
symbols by the four divisions of the
Dashanami Sanyasi ascetics. Each
division had a different mahavakya, just
as each had a different Veda, a different
primary sacred center, and a different
paradigmatic ascetic quality. Tat
tvam asi is the mahavakya associated
with the Kitawara division of the
Dashanami Sanyasis.
691
Tat Tvam Asi
Bather performs the tarpana memorial rite in the
sacred Ganges River, Varanasi.