Concept

Mahāvākyas

Overview

The Mahāvākyas (sing.: mahāvākyam, महावाक्यम्; plural: mahāvākyāni, महावाक्यानि) are the 'Great Sayings' of the Upanishads, with mahā meaning 'great' and vākya ''sentence'. The Mahāvākyas are traditionally considered to be four in number, though actually five are prominent in the post-Vedic literature:

Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि) – literally translated as 'That Thou Art' ('That is you' or 'You are that'), appears in Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 of the Sama Veda, with tat in Ch.U. 6.8.7 referring to *sat, 'the Existent', and contextually understood as 'That's how [thus] you are', with tat in Ch.U. 6.12.3 referring to 'the very nature of all existence as permeated by [the finest essence]'.

Ahaṁ Brahmāsmi (अहं ब्रह्मास्मि) – 'I am Brahman', or 'I am absolute' (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 of the Yajur Veda)

Prajñānaṁ Brahma (प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म) – 'Prajñāna is Brahman', or 'Brahman is Prajñāna' (Aitareya Upanishad 3.3 of the Rig Veda)

Ayam Ātmā Brahma (अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म) – 'This Self (Atman) is Brahman' (Mandukya Upanishad 1.2 of the Atharva Veda)

Sarvaṃ Khalvidaṃ Brahma – 'All this indeed is Brahman'(Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1)

Mahāvākyas are instrumental in Advaita Vedanta, as they are regarded as valid scriptural statements that reveal the self (ātmán), which appears as a separate individual existence (jīva), is, in essence, non-different (not two-ness) from Brahman, which, according to Advaita, is nirguna. In contrast, these statements are less prominent in most other Hindu traditions, which emphasize a qualified or dualistic relationship between the self and Brahman, whom they regard as saguna, often identified with Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, etc.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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The difference, which we have represented as two paths, consists in whether that knowledge is called up by suffering which is merely and purely _known_, and is freely appropriated by means of the penetration of the _principium individuationis_, or by suffering which is directly _felt_ by a man himself. True salvation, deliverance from life and suffering, cannot even be imagined without complete denial of the will…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea
States what Mahāvākyas is; the author is tied to Mahāvākyas in the knowledge graph.
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When a little bit of it gets into this network of time, space and causation, it apparently takes forms; remove the network and it is all One. This whole universe is all one, and is called in the Advaitist philosophy _Brahman_. _Brahman_ appearing behind the universe is called God; appearing behind the little universe--the microcosm, is the soul. This very “Self” or Âtman therefore is God in man. There is only one…
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
States what Mahāvākyas is.
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Now beings which, like plants, have no faculty for representation, are called unconscious, and we conceive this condition as only slightly differing from non-existence; since the only existence such beings have, is in the consciousness of others, as the representation of those others. They are nevertheless not wanting in what is primary in existence, the will, but only in what is secondary; still, what is…
Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, and On the Will in Nature
States what Mahāvākyas is; the author is tied to Mahāvākyas in the knowledge graph.
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Philosophers who discussed Mahāvākyas

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality

Place in the tradition

Part of Meaning of life.

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