Vakya Vritti by Adi Sankaracharya

Adi Sankaracharya’s Vakya Vritti
Translated by Swami Chinmayananda
Published by Chinmaya Mission, Mumbai

An Exhaustive Explanation of the Statement – “That Thou Art” [Tat Twam Asi]

1. I bow down to that Pure Consciousness Divine – a shoreless ocean of happiness, which is All-pervading (Vishnu), the Beloved of Shri, the all-knowing Lord of the Universe, assuming endless forms and yet ever-free, having an inscrutable power to become (apparently) the Cause of creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the universe.

2. Again and again I Prostrate at the feet of my Guru, by whose grace I have come to realise, “I alone am the All-pervading Essence (Vishnu)”, and that “the world of multiplicity is all a super-imposition upon myself.”

3. Scorched by the blazing sun of the three miseries, a student – dejected with the world and restless for release, having cultivated all the means of liberation especially such virtues as self-control etc. – enquires of a noble teacher:

4. “Merely out of your grace and mercy, holy Teacher, please explain to me briefly the means by which I may easily get liberated from the sorrows of this bondage-to-change”.

5. The teacher said: “Your question is valid, and so very clearly expressed, I shall answer it exhaustively to make it as vivid to you as though you are seeing it near”.

6. Direct knowledge of that total identity between the individual-Self and the Universal-Self, stemming forth from the Vedic statements such as “Thou art that”, etc., is the immediate means to liberation.

7. The disciple said: “What is the individualised Self ? What, then, is the Universal Self ? How can they both be identical ? And, how can statements like “That thou art” discuss and prove this identity ?”

8. The teacher said: “I shall answer your question. Who else can be the individual Self (Jiva) other than yourself, that asks me this question, “Who am I ?”. There is no doubt about it. You alone are the Brahman.

9. The disciple said: Not even the word meaning do I fully grasp clearly; how can I then comprehend the significance of the sentence, “I am Brahman” ?

10. The teacher said: “You have said the truth when you complained that the knowledge and understanding of the meaning of the words employed in a sentence are indeed the cause of the understanding of the full significance of the sentence. And there are no two opinions about it.”

11. “Why do you not recognise your own Self, which is an embodiment of Eternal Bliss-Essence, the Witnessing Light that illumines the inner equipments and their functions ?”

12. “Give up the intellectual misconception that the Self is the body, etc., and always meditate upon and think yourself to be the eternal Knowledge-Bliss – the Witness of the intellect – a sheer mass of Pure Knowledge”.

13. “The body is not the Self, as like the pot, etc., the body also has form, etc., and again, the body is a modification of the great elements such as Akash, just like the pot”.

14. The disciple said: “If, by the strength of these arguments, the gross-body is considered as “not-Self”, then please exhaustively explain and directly indicate the Self – as clearly as a fruit in hand”.

15. The teacher said: “Just as the perceiver of a pot is ever distinctly different from the pot and can never be the pot – so too, you, the perceiver of your body, are distinct from your body and can never be the body – this you firmly ascertain in yourself.”

16. “Similarly be sure in yourself that you, the seer of the senses, are not the senses themselves, and ascertain that you are neither the mind, not the intellect, not the vital air (Prana).”

17. “Similarly be sure that you are not the complex of the gross and the subtle-bodies, and intelligently determine, by inference, that you, the ‘seer’, are entirely distinct from the ‘seen’.”

18. “’I am He’, the One because of whose presence alone the inert entities like the body and the senses, are able to function through acceptance and rejection”.

19. “’I am He’, the One changeless, Innermost Self that moves the intellect, etc., as a magnet does the iron filings.”

20. “’I am He’, the One Entity in whose vital presence the body, senses, mind, and Pranas, though inert in themselves, appear to be conscious and dynamic, as though they are the Self.”

21. “‘He am I’, the One Consciousness, which is the Self that illumines the modifications in my mind such as ‘my mind went elsewhere, however, it has been brought to rest now’, – ‘He am I’ (So’ham).”

22. “’He am I’, the One Consciousness which is the Changeless Self that is directly cognised, that illumines the three states of waking, dream, and deep-sleep, and that which illumines appearance and disappearance of the intellect and its functions – ‘He am I’ (So’ham).”

23. “Know yourself to be the One Self, a homogenous mass of Consciousness, which is the illuminator of the body and therefore quite distinct from it – just as a lamp that illumines a pot is always different from the pot illumined. ‘I am a mass of Consciousness’ (Aham bodhavigraha).”

24. “Know yourself to be the One for whose sake beings and things such as children and wealth – are dear, who is the sole seer and dearest of all. ‘He am I’ – ascertain thus and realise, So’ham.”

25. “Know yourself to be the One regarding whom there is always the anxiety, ‘May I ever be; never cease to be’, as this Seer is the dearest of all. ‘He am I’ – thus assert and realise.”