PART 1
Let us understand ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ or ‘That Thou Art’ which is the greatest Vedantic teaching. We will contemplate the deeper aspects of Tat Tvam Asi with some examples.
Tat Tvam Asi has 3 aspects – That Thou Art. First, let us understand ‘Thou’ which means ‘you’. You or I. The whole purpose of Vedanta is to discover the nature of ‘I’. It is not discovering anything objective in nature. It is not about the earth, it is not about iron or sky or fire , etc. It is to discover yourself. Everybody says, ‘I know myself’. If you ask somebody to speak about themselves, they have so much to say about themselves.
PART – 2
Vedanta teaching says that your understanding of yourself is erroneous. Discover the real you. The real you is ‘Tat’, which means God. The real you is Brahman or God. “How can that be? I am such a small finite being, Brahman or God is an infinite being. He is all-powerful, how can this finite being be the same as that infinite being?” For that, the Vedantic teaching says that our understanding of ourselves is erroneous. Let us take the example of a coconut. Is this a real coconut? If you remove this coir, what do you see? You see a hard shell which is again called as coconut. Remove the hard shell and a white kernel is seen which is the real coconut. But then, both the outer and the inner parts are called coconut. The outermost covering is called coconut, the innermost is the real coconut.
PART – 3
Similarly, when you say “I”, you are referring to the innermost aspect of you, which is the real I. The outer is a covering, superimposition. To discover the real I. But most of people don’t understand this real I. They are confused and attribute different things to I. They superimpose so many things to I. For example: when you drink a cup of tea, you say, ‘I am drinking’, which actually means, that I is your Self and ‘ I am drinking’ means, drinking is happening through the body, But what is happening is that the body’s actions are superimposed on the Self. That means outer layer actions are superimposed on the innermost layers, innermost aspect of you. Vedanta says this superimposition has to be removed, to find out the real I. That ‘I’ which you discover, will be infinite.
PART – 4
Your body is finite and this finite is covering the infinite. You are confusing infinite with the finite because of the body. It happens in your language, when you say, ‘I am walking, I am going, I am drinking’ you are superimposing the physical actions of the body on that I.
And then, when you say,’ I am unhappy’ or ‘I am happy’, you are superimposing the mental aspect of that reality. That reality is ever blissful and eternally blissful. That is the Supreme Reality which is you, the innermost core of you. But, you confuse that reality with your mental conditions like happiness, sadness, sorrow, suffering, joy, anger, etc.
Then you say, ‘Oh! I understand I know’ because knowing is the primary function in us. The knowing or knowledge also comes with ignorance. The knowing functionality is that of the intellect. The ignorance functionality is also that of the intellect. So, when you say, “Oh, I know”, you also superimpose that knowing or ignorance functionality on I.
PART – 5
So, you are superimposing the body, mind, and intellect on the I and this superimposition is leading to confusion. This is because of ignorance, Avidya. Vedanta tries to remove this ignorance.
What is the effect of superimposition? When you superimpose the body, the infinite becomes finite. When superimpose the mind, the infinite supreme reality which is eternally blissful appears to be in sorrow or joy or depression. When you superimpose on the intellect on that supreme reality, then the Self appears to be having knowledge and ignorance. The Self is beyond knowledge and ignorance. It is of the nature of ‘pure knowledge’ which is called ‘Prajnana’. The knowledge is called Jnana. Ignorance is called Ajnana. Beyond Ajnana and Jnana, there is ‘Prajnana’, which is actually pure Awareness.
So by this superimposition, you are actually making that infinite to finite. Vedanta is a process by which you understand and remove this superimposition and discover your innermost infinite nature.
That ‘Tvam’ is not the apparent Tvam, but the real Tvam, the real inner essence. This is the meaning of Tvam.