tat tvam asi
तत्त्वमसि tat tvam asi"That thou art," one of the four great sayings (mahavakyas) of Vedanta. It comes from the Chandogya Upanishad (6.8.7), where the sage Uddalaka repeats it to his son Shvetaketu, teaching that the self within (atman) is one with the ultimate reality (Brahman).
Where this term appears
- Tat tvam asi: three readings Philosophy
Max Müller's 1879 rendering closes it this way: स आत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो sa ātmā tat tvam asi śvetaketo "That which is the subtile essence, in it all that exists has its self.
- What is Advaita Vedanta? Philosophy
It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it." That last phrase is tat tvam asi , "that thou art." It is one of the mahavakyas , the "great sayings," that the later tradition gathered as the load-bearing state…
- Atman and Brahman Essentials
स य एषोऽणिमैतदात्म्यमिदꣳ सर्वं तत्सत्यꣳ स आत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो ॥ sa ya eṣo ’ṇimaitadātmyam idaṃ sarvam tat satyam sa ātmā tat tvam asi śvetaketo "It is the True.
- Hinduism and Buddhism: the difference Essentials
The Upanishadic teaching tat tvam asi , "that thou art," points to this Self as one with the ground of all being.
- Sat-Chit-Ananda: Being, Consciousness, Bliss Essentials
The great sayings press this again and again: tat tvam asi , "that thou art"; ayam atma brahma , "this self is Brahman".
- The Char Dham Temples
…ahmasmi , "I am the absolute"; Dwaraka in the west, the Sama Veda and tat tvam asi , "that thou art"; and Jyotirmath in the north, the Atharva Veda and ayam atma brahma , "this self is the absolute." Shankara i…
- The History of Sanatana Dharma: A Timeline History
Here the great words first appear: brahman , the ground of all being, and ātman , the innermost self, and the teaching that the two are one. The Chāndogya gives the formula tat tvam asi , that thou art.
- What are the Upanishads? Scriptures
Uddalaka shows him that he has missed the one thing that matters, and then, again and again, drives home a single phrase: tat tvam asi .