You Are Divine - Tat Twam asi - That Thou Art

You Are Divine
By Sri Prabhuji

1
You Are Divine
That Thou Art
(Tatwamasi)
Based on Teaching of Chandogya
Upanishad from Samaveda

Respectful offering at the Lotus Feet of
Shri Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada

Table of Contents
Preface .............................................................. 4
Divinity of Man.................................................. 6
Discovering Divinity .......................................... 7
Path of Knowledge (Jnana Marga) ................... 9
Story of Svetaketu’s Enlightenment ............... 12
Question and Answers.................................... 21
Light of the Self Foundation............................ 39
Contact Details................................................ 42

4
Preface
Sacred Vedas present the highest spiritual
wisdom for the mankind. Concluding chapters
of Veda is called Vedanta. Vedanta summarizes
teaching of sacred Vedas. Vedanta teaches the
essential divinity of human beings. The
summary of entire Vedanta teaching is given in
the form of great saying or Mahavakya. One
line summary of entire Vedic literature is "You
are Divine". Four great sayings or Mahavakyas
from four sacred Vedas - Rigveda, Yajurveda,
Samaveda and Atharvana Veda inspire the
human kind to recognize the essential divine
nature in each of us.
The focus of this book is the great saying of
Chandogya Upanishad from Samaveda -
"Tatwamasi"- That Thou Art. As mark of

respect to innumerable sages (Rishis) and
Spiritual Masters (Sadgurus) who have strived
to uplift humanity by teaching the message of
essential divinity in all of us, we are releasing
this book on the occasion of Guru Poornima.
The book presents the teachings based on the
traditional non-dual teachings of Advaita by
Shri Adi Shankaracharya Bhagavatpada. We
hope that this book will be of help to the
seekers in understanding the message of
Vedas.
Guru Poornima
17th
July 2019

Divinity of Man
Fundamental basis of all religions is the
belief that soul is essentially divine. Soul is
beyond both mind and matter. Religions
proceed to demonstrate the divinity of man.
The existence of matter depends on something
else. The mind is mortal because it is
changeable. Death is simply a change.
The soul uses the mind to affect the body. The
soul should be made conscious of its powers.
The nature of man is pure and holy but it
becomes clouded. In our religion every soul is
trying to regain its own nature. The mass of
our people believe in individuality of soul. I am
the spirit not the matter.
Swami Vivekananda February 22nd
, 1894

Discovering Divinity
There is restlessness in all of us which is
driving our lives. This manifests as a urge to
find fulfillment in our life through various
material possessions, relations, name and
fame. However, hard we try, the genuine
sense of fulfillment eludes. Unless we
understand the root cause of our restlessness,
we cannot find the real happiness and
fulfillment in life. The search for the real
eternal happiness is called spiritual journey.
Spiritual journey takes us to our real roots –
our essence. Vedanta teaches that our essence
is called “Brahman” – supreme Reality.
Brahman is the essence of myself and the
universe. Brahman is the SELF of all that is
there. Brahman is known as existence-
consciousness-bliss (sat-chit-ananda). Vedanta
teaches us that knowing Brahman as our

essential nature is being Brahman. In other
words, knowing Brahman is discovering our
eternal blissful nature. One who knows
Brahman is freed from suffering.
Vedanta teaches us that there is only One
unchanging Reality called Brahman. Brahman
manifests as living and non living beings, God
(Ishwara) and the world without undergoing
any change. It is like saying gold manifests as
all ornaments without undergoing changes.
Ornaments are mere names and forms of gold.
Similarly everything in the universe living or
non-living are nothing but names and forms of
Brahman. Gold is essence of all gold
ornaments. Similarly, Brahman is essence of all
beings. To discover Brahman as essence of our
SELF is the real goal of human life.

Path of Knowledge (Jnana Marga)
We are ignorant of our Divine Nature. We
suffer tremendously due to this ignorance. We
are not aware that we are Divine Souls
appearing in human body. Even though we are
of the nature of pure consciousness and bliss,
we get identified with body and mind. Due to
identification with the body, we feel limited to
the structure of body even though we are
infinite. Due to identification with the mind,
we go through emotional roller coaster of
happiness, unhappiness, sorrow and misery.
To get out of the suffering, we need to
recognize our true nature as Divine Soul. We
need to identify with Brahman essence of our
existence rather than material body-mind

complex which is perishable. We need to
approach Spiritual Master well versed in
teachings of Vedanta. Spiritual one who has
realized Truth of the teaching of Vedanta is
called Realized (Sadguru /Brahmanistha).
Realized who is well versed in Vedanta can
teach the knowledge of SELF to the seeker
using various logical reasoning (yukti). Out of
compassion, the Spiritual teaches SELF
knowledge (Atma Jnana) to the disciple and
helps him/ to realize oneness with Brahman.
Disciple recognizes “I am not body, mind or
intellect. I am pure consciousness; I am
Brahman- Naanu Nanembudu Naanalla, Ee
Deha Mana Buddhi Naanalla, and
Sachidananda Shiva Naanu Naane. Shivoham,
Shivoham, Shivoham.” Since the disciple
realizes “I am infinite, birth less, deathless
consciousness Brahman based on the teaching

of the Spiritual, the teaching is also called
knowledge of Brahman - Brahma Vidya.
Vedanta texts have a number of stories
about compassionate Spiritual Master guiding
skillfully the disciple. One such story of Spiritual
Master Uddalaka guiding his son and disciple
Svetaketu appears in Chandogya Upanishad of
Samaveda.

Story of Svetaketu’s Enlightenment
Sage Uddalaka had sent his son to study
under the guidance of a great spiritual teacher.
The boy Svetaketu learnt various subject under
the guidance of a famous teacher for twelve
years. After graduation he returns home full of
pride in his y of several subjects.
Looking at the attitude of his son, Sage
Uddakala was deeply worried. It is said that
knowledge and wisdom bestows humility. On
the contrary, Sage Uddalaka was seeing
arrogance on the face of son instead of
humility.
Sage Uddalaka said to his son: ‘Svetaketu, I
know you have learned a lot, can you tell
knowing which everything else becomes
known? Did you learn a subject knowing which

you we hear the un-hearable, perceive the un-
perceivable, and know the un-knowable?’
‘Master, I am not aware of that knowledge,’
said Svetaketu. ‘I request you to please teach
me that subject knowing which everything is
known ’
Sage Uddakala starts teaching his son
Svetaketu by giving various examples.
‘That is Brahman, the truth, the subtle
essence of all. Son you are aware of various
types of vessels made out of clay. The essence
of mud pot, cup and plate is clay only. Knowing
clay, pot, cup and plate are known.
Likewise variety of jewellery like chain,
necklace, and ring made from gold are
available in jewelers shop. Gold being the

essence of the jewellery, knowing gold is
knowing all forms of jewellery like necklace,
chain etc. Jewels are nothing but different
names and form of gold only. While a customer
may be focused on the form and shape of
necklace or ring, jeweler is interested only in
the gold content of the jewel. If jewellery is
melted gold only remains. Nothing happens to
gold which is essence of all jewellery.
‘Son, by knowing the material cause (gold
/clay) all its effects (ornaments/pots) are
known. Similarly, awareness (Brahman) is the
essence of this universe. All myriads of names
and forms which we see in the universe are in
essence awareness (Brahman) only. Awareness
(Brahman) is the SELF of all. Awareness
(Brahman) is the Supreme Being. Know that
Supreme Being Brahman (awareness) which is

the essence of all the universe. Supreme Being
is the essence of all forms and names.. You are
that That supreme Being in essence O
Svetaketu. That Thou art! (Tatwamasi)
That Brahman is the cause of the Universe. It is
the ultimate reality, but it did not create
anything, everything is projected out of its own
Being.
Brahman is within everything as its own
Reality, as its SELF, as its subtle essence, and
that, my dear Svetaketu you are!. That Thou
art! (Tatwamasi)
‘Please, Master, I want to know more about
this SELF.’
'You know dear, the bees make honey by
gathering nectar from many flowers, and as all
these nectar becomes honey can anyone

identify the droplets of the honey to their
respective flowers? Rivers flow into the ocean
only to lose their names and forms.
The same is with beings when they merge in
that One Being. Whether it is a lion, or a tiger,
or a boar, or a worm, all these have their self in
him alone. Beings lose their identities on
merging with the One Supreme Being which
pervades everything and is the source of all
things.
The whole universe has Brahman as its soul.
That is Reality, That is the SELF, and That is you,
Svetaketu. That Thou art! (Tatwamasi)
The son asked, ‘Please, Master, tell me more
about that subtle essence which is the
supreme reality’.

Father replied, ‘Ok. Bring a fruit of that banyan
(Nyagrodha) tree’.
‘Here, Master.'
‘Please Break it.'
‘Yes, Master.'
‘What do you see'
‘Exquisitely small seeds, Master.'
‘Can you break one of them?'
‘I have split it ‘
‘What do you see?’
‘I see nothing at all, Master.'
‘Son, can this marvel of a tree come out of
nothing. Only you are not able to see the
subtle essence in the seed from which this
banyan tree has sprung.

That which is the subtle essence is the bed
rock of all existence. Dear boy, that which is
the finest essence, the whole universe has
Brahman as its soul.
That is Reality, That is the SELF, and That is
you, Svetaketu!'. That Thou art! (Tatwamasi)
‘Please, Master, tell me if I can realize it’ said
Svetaketu.
‘Now take a few crystals of salt and put them
into a bowl of water’.
‘Yes done.'
The sage then said, ‘Take out the salt.'
‘I can’t, the Salt is dissolved in the water.'
He then asked the boy to taste it from the
edge, the middle and the far edge.
The boy said it was salty.

Just looking at the water, one cannot assume
that the water doesn’t contain salt.
'The SELF or Being, which is invisible like salt,
pervades all things and that self is you,
Svetaketu.' That Thou art! (Tatwamasi)
Everything is alive, only because the living
principle, Brahman, inhabits it. When the SELF
leaves the body, the body dies, but not the
SELF.
'Now, I understand', said the boy, ' please tell
me how could the Being that leaves the body
find its way to that One Being?'
'Son, suppose a person is blindfolded and is left
in an unknown wilderness, far away from his
place, the first thing he would do is to remove
the cover from his eyes, then he would inquire
about the logistics and would get a guide to
reach his residence.

Similarly a person should acquire knowledge
with the help of a Sadguru. The Sadguru will
help and guide him to break the bondage of
ignorance through experiential knowledge,
which is the way to merge with the One Being.
Son, the entire universe is what the Brahman
conjures up, projects and dissolves. The sense
of ’me’ and ' mine' is nothing but ignorance.
When this ignorance is destroyed, the true self
shines forth '.
Sage Uddalaka as Sadguru was able to pierce
the veil of pride that was masking the brilliance
of his son Svetaketu.
The son who was more like a disciple not only
got an insight into the knowing of ultimate
truth and the real SELF also understood that it
was only through humility that one can
inculcate knowledge and attain wisdom

Question and Answers
As can be observed from the teachings given
to Svetaketu by Sage Uddalaka, Spiritual
Masters encouraged the disciples enquire into
the nature of Reality. By various examples the
Master directs the attention of the disciple
towards the Supreme Reality which is inner
SELF. Sincere disciple, seeks the guidance of
the Master by offering his service to the
Master and asking questions to clear his
doubts. Upanishads are full of stories of
spiritual enquiry and debates. We are
wonderstruck by the spirit of free thinking and
enquiry in ancient spiritual literature. There
was also a tradition of intense debate involving
various philosophers to question the nature of
Reality. While the proponent (vedantin) gives
his understanding of Truth, the opponent

(purva pakshin) puts forward a view point to
question the conclusions of the proponent. The
debates used to be very sharp, logical and
interesting. The objective of the debate was
not victory over the opponent but to bring out
various dimensions of Truth. Following
question answers by the students/opponents
help us give a clarity in understanding the
teaching “Tatwamasi”.
Q: Why the teaching “Tatwamasi” is called
great saying (Mahavakya)?
A: A great saying (Mahavakya) is an inspiring
teaching about the oneness of individual soul
with God. This Oneness is called jiva Brahma
ekatvam. This saying motivates the sincere
seeker of Truth to discover his divine nature.
There cannot be any statement more uplifting
than Mahavakya.

Q: Can you please explain the meaning of the
great saying “Tatwamasi”?
A: Let us try to understand the literal meaning
of great saying “Tatwamasi
Tat means: THAT
Universal Consciousness (God) – Brahman
Twam means: you
Individual Consciousness – jiva
Asi means: assertion
In other words, Tatwamasi means Thou art
That You are God!
Q: How can I be God? There must be
something wrong in the statement.

A: There cannot be anything wrong in the
teaching of Upanishads. From time immemorial
people believe that Vedas and Upanishads are
of non-human Divine origin. Hence the
statement can never be wrong. We need to
interpret the meaning of statement properly to
understand the Truth.
Q: Any statement can have many words. Each
word has a different meaning. Two words
having different meaning like God (Tat) and
individual (jiva) cannot be equated. For
example book and flower are two different
words having different meanings. How two
words with different meanings like book and
flower can lead to one meaning? On the
similar lines, how can we understand God (Tat)
and individual you (Twam) mean same thing?

A: It is true that words have different
meanings. However, they can point to the
same entity. For example the words father,
son, husband, man, officer all point to one
person Mr. Ram. Similarly, thousand names of
Vishnu Sahasranama point to Shri Vishnu only.
Hence, “Tatwamasi – Thou Art That” can point
to One Reality.
Both the word God (Tat) and individual (Twam)
point to One underlying Reality called Para
Brahman Supreme Reality. Para Brahman is
the absolute consciousness forming the
essence and substratum of both God (Tat) and
individual (Twam)
Q: Is it possible that God (Tat) and individual
(Twam) are related by word “Asi”. For example

the sentence “Book on Table” shows the
relationship between book and the table. Since
all powerful God (Tat) and limited individual
(twam) are related as Master and servant. God
is the Master and individual is the servant.
A: Not so. If we accept this position, we end up
in dualism. The scripture are speaking of non-
duality and not duality. The word “Asi is not
indicating any relationship. It is ascertaining
the Oneness of God and individual. Indeed the
sentence is indicating jiva Brahma ekatvam.
Q: On the other hand the sentence
“Tatwamasi” can be interpreted in another
way. For example when I say “red rose”, red
color is adjective for rose. Similarly we can say
individual consciousness (jiva) is an adjective
for God (Twam). In other words, individual
consciousness is one of the qualities of God. I

can give an example of a tree. God is like a
huge tree and individual is like a small branch
of tree.
A: Not so. If accept this position, we end up in
qualified non-duality. Scriptures state
unequivocally non-duality
Q: Then how should we interpret the sentence
“Tatwamasi”.
Should I add any qualification for individual
consciousness to make sense for Oneness of
God and individual soul? For example, God is
all powerful. Hence, if an individual acquires
supernatural powers we can be comfortable
with Oneness.
A: Not so. Scriptures are not speaking of
acquiring any supernatural powers. You are

God (Brahman) already. Nothing needs to be
done!
Q: Does Tatwamasi mean I am similar to God?
For example someone says “My house is on
Ganges river”. It does not make sense. We can
make sense for the “Tatwamasi” statement by
saying “You are similar to God”
A: Not so. The word “Asi” stresses Oneness not
similarity.
Q: Then how should I make meaning out of the
sentence “Tatwamasi”? I am unable to
understand the equation of individual soul
being God.
A: Any sentence or word has two levels of
meanings. First level of meaning is
transactional meaning (rudartha) and second
level of meaning is implied meaning

(mukhyartha). Transactional meaning is useful
for our day to day living. Transactional meaning
is also called vyavaharika artha or laukika
artha. All scriptures have to be understood
from the implied meaning point (mukhyartha)
of view.
We have to consider the implied meaning of
the words and sentences. For example let us
take the sentence of Mr. Rama. He says “He
brought mangoes from the market and he ate
mangoes”. See the implied meaning of eating
mango. When he ate mango, he did not eat the
skin of mango and seed of mango. When we
say he ate mango, we have to remove non-
essential part of mango namely seed and skin
to make a sense to understand.
Now let us take the word God (Tat). In
vedantic teaching, supreme Reality Para
Brahman assumes the role of God using power

of consciousness called maya. Maya is the
creative power of Para Brahman. Using power
of maya, God (Tat) manifests the world. Para
Brahman is absolute Reality of the nature of
existence-consciousness-bliss(sat-chit-ananda).
Hence we can write following equation.
God (Tat) = Para Brahman+ Maya.
In other words,
Para Brahman = God –Maya …… (Equation 1)
On the other hand, individual (jiva) is
represented by the following equation.
You (Twam) = Para Brahman +
Ignorance (Avidya)
Soul identifying with body, mind or intellect
forgetting its SELF nature as Brahman is called
ignorance.

Rewriting above equation
Para Brahman = You (Twam) –
Ignorance (Avidya) …. (Equation 2)
From above discussion we can conclude that
when you (twam) loses the ignorance (avidya),
Para Brahman alone remains. Similarly when
maya is ignored for God (Tat), Para Brahman
alone remains. Hence “Tatwamasi” means you
and God are One as Para Brahman.
Para Brahman is of the nature of existence-
consciousness-bliss (sat-chit-ananda). Thus jiva
Brahma ekatvam or Oneness of soul and God is
indicated by the Mahavakya.

Q: What is the transactional meaning
(rudartha) and implied meaning (mukhyartha)
for words thou (twam) and God (Tat).
Any word has a transactional meaning and
implied meaning. For example take coconut.
Coconut has same name “coconut” but
different meaning depending on context. With
husk it is called coconut. Coconut with hard
shell is also called “coconut” after removing
husk. The white edible kernel is also called
“coconut”. Which is real coconut then? The
white edible part is the implied meaning for
the word “coconut” while the husk, hard shell
represent the transactional meaning for
coconut.

Similarly, the word thou (twam) has
transactional meaning and implied meaning.
Person with body, mind and intellect is the
transactional meaning. The implied meaning is
existence-consciousness-bliss (Para Brahman).
A person says “I am”. The “I” represents
consciousness and “am” represents existence.
The essence of a person is existence-
consciousness.
Body-mind-intellect superimposes limitation
on the existence-consciousness. Body, mind
and intellect under go constant changes.
Ignoring the changes in body-mind-intellect as
non-essential part of you (twam), the
underlying consciousness is infinite. Thus the
implied meaning of you (twam) is existence-
consciousness-bliss (sat-chit-ananda or Para
Brahman).

God (tat) manifests in the form of world as
living beings and non-living matter. It is said
that God sleeps in rocks, dreams in plants and
wakes up in animals. Existence aspect of God
manifests in all living and non-living beings as
“isness (astitva)”. For example, the rock “is”
the tree “is”. In living beings, consciousness
aspect also manifests. For example when I say
“I am”, “I” represents consciousness and “am”
represents existence. The name and form of all
living and non-living in the world keeps
changing. Ignoring the changing name and
form, we arrive at the implied meaning of God
(Tat) as existence-consciousness-bliss (sat-chit-
ananda).
In other words, all names and forms in the
world have only implied meaning – Para
Brahman. All names are “His” names. All forms
are “His” forms.

Q: What is the importance of teachings by
Spiritual Master?
A: Most of the people understand the meaning
of words only from transactional (rudartha/
laukikartha/vyavaharikartha) point of view. For
day to day transaction in the world,
transactional meaning is useful. But for a
spiritual journey, the meaning of words at a
very deeper level has to be discovered. ONE
Absolute Reality (Para Brahman) manifests at
various levels. The meaning of the word
changes depending on the level of Reality.
Hence words take different meaning.
Most of the people are stuck to
transactional meaning only. They live in the
transactional world as the only reality. The

meaning of the same word at higher level of
reality remains secret (gudartha) for them.
Realized Spiritual Master teaches the meaning
of the words at different levels of reality.
Any word can be understood at 4 levels –
transactional level (rudartha/laukikartha/
vyavaharika).
World available to sense perception is called
adibhautika. The play of Divine Beings
controlling the physical plane is called
adidaivika. The mental world experience
involving divine visions of spiritual seeker is
called adhyatimka. The realization of Absolute
Reality is called paramarthika. Spiritual Master
guides seeker through various levels of reality
by teaching the indicative meaning
(mukhyartha) appropriate to that level. This
way he guides the aspirant to higher levels of
reality.

Q: How to drop ignorance (avidya) to realize I
am one with God?
Ignorance of any subject can be corrected
with knowledge of the subject. For ignorance
of SELF knowledge, approach a competent
Spiritual Master and learn SELF Knowledge.
Using various processes of teaching (prakriyas),
Master helps you to drop ignorance. Listening
(shravana) to the teaching of Master,
internalizing (manana) the teaching and
meditation (nidhidhyasa) has to be practiced
for realizing your SELF nature as Brahman.
Q: What is the use of realization that “I am
existence-consciousness-bliss”? I do not have
powers of God – Maya! Am I powerless God?
A: Knowing Brahman is being Brahman. This
realization leads to recognition of Supreme

Bliss which is your nature. I realize my SELF as
God (tat) in the form of sat-chit-ananda Para
Brahman. I recognize my SELF as birth less and
deathless supreme reality. I recognize the One
in all of the creation and all of the creation is
recognized in the One supreme reality Para
Brahman. This is called absolute freedom. One
who realizes this is called liberated person
(jivan mukta) or enlightened one (sthita
prajna)

Light of the Self Foundation
(Atmajyothi Satsang)
Light of the Self foundation is a fellowship of
spiritual seekers called Atmajyothis. Light of
the Self foundation focuses on the Direct Path
teaching of Advaita Vedanta for the discovery
of inner Light - Atmajyothi.
The inspiration for the word light of the Self
comes from the teaching of Sri Shankaracharya
given below.

|| antarjyOti bahirjyOti pratyagjyOti parAtparah
jyOtirjyOti swayamjyOti AtmajyOti shivOsmyaham ||
The Light1
is inside, the Light is outside,
The Light is in myself, beyond the beyond.
The Light of lights, I myself am the Light,
The Self is Light, I am Shiva.
Another inspiration for Atmajyothi comes from
Buddha’s final teaching as he lay on his death
bed. Thousands of disciples gathered around
him eager to listen to his last words of advice.
Buddha told his followers, “Appo deepo
bhava.” This teaching is in the Pali language.
The Sanskrit version of this is “Atma deepo
bhava” which means, “Be a light unto
yourself.”
The capacity to awaken to our higher nature
lies within all of us. The light is within us.
Regardless of the circumstances which we are
1
Light of Consciousness which means Awareness

in, we can wake up to our true nature. This is
the belief and inspiration for all the seekers of
Light – Atmajyothi members of Light of the Self
foundation.

Narasimha Prabhu M is fondly called
as Sri Prabhuji by his students. He is
the founder of the Light of the Self
Foundation (Atmajyothi Satsang), a
not for proﬁt organization dedicated
to teaching of Self Discovery (Atma
Darshana) based on Direct Path
teaching of Advaita vedanta.
He completed his Masters from IIT Mumbai and worked in various
companies in the ﬁeld of Telecom and I.T. He had fortune of exposure to
spiritual teachings of yoga and vedanta from various Masters since
childhood. He has talked on wide range of spiritual topics and imparted
his wisdom to many students.
About Sri Prabhuji
Rs 100 /-
Published by
Light of the Self Foundation, Bengaluru

You Are Divine - Tat Twam asi - That Thou Art

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

Similaire à You Are Divine - Tat Twam asi - That Thou Art

Similaire à You Are Divine - Tat Twam asi - That Thou Art (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

You Are Divine - Tat Twam asi - That Thou Art