!! Viveka Chudamani  of Shankaracharya !!

Slokas 243-244 with meanings in English

||om tat sat ||


Viveka Chudamani Slokas 243-244

Tat Twam Asi - Mahavakya:

Upanishads have many significant statements made in simple cogent terse sentences. One of them is - Tat Twam Asi ; simply saying you are that Brahman.

Explaining this simple statement in a logical way is the goal here.  And Master in Shankaracharya , has an excellent treatise on this under the title " Vakya Vritti" - here he explians the same in eight Slokas. We go through the Slokas following Masters  guidance.

Slokas 243 - 244:

तत्त्वं पदाभ्यांअभिधीनमानयोः
ब्रह्मात्मनोः शोधितयोःयदित्थं।
श्रुत्या तयोः तत्त्वमसि इति सम्यक्
एतत्वमेव प्रतिपाद्यते मुहुः॥243||

ऐक्यं तयोः लक्षितयोः न वाच्ययो
निगद्यते अन्योन्य विरुद्ध धर्मिणोः ।
खद्योतभान्वोरिव राजभृत्ययोः
कूपांबुराश्य्ः परमाणु मेर्वोः॥244 ||

Guru starts with oneness of  Jiva and Paramatma

Sloka 243:

तत्त्वं पदाभ्यांअभिधीनमानयोः
ब्रह्मात्मनोः शोधितयोःयदित्थं।
श्रुत्या तयोः तत्त्वमसि इति सम्यक्
एकत्वमेव प्रतिपाद्यते मुहुः॥24३॥

तत्त्वं पदाभ्यां अभिधीनमानयोः

तत्त्वं पदाभ्यां  - By the words 'Tat' and 'tvam'
अभिधीनमानयोः -  denoted

Here Guru is explaining the words Tat which is that or the Supreme Being and 'tvam'  which is 'thou' or you implying Jiva. 

The Mahavakya implies that both are one.

Second line:

ब्रह्मात्मनोः शोधितयोःयदित्थं।
that well established relationship of Brahman and Atman, which is there

मूडवपादमु:

श्रुत्या तत्त्वमसि इति सम्यक्
In Srutis well stated as Tat twam Asi - 'Thou are that" - that is their

नाल्गॊवपादमु

(तयोः)  एकत्वमेव प्रतिपाद्यते मुहुः।
 their one-ness is proposed again and again


Through Srutis the Mahavakya -  तत्त्वमसि  - repeatedly esablishes the one ness of the two.

The Sloka summary and Guru's point is as follows:

By the words denoted by 'Tat' and 'tvam', that well established relationship of Brahman and Atman, which is there that has been stated  as Tat tvam asi - in Srutis , establishes their one ness again and again
 
All the understanding of words That and thou, has been stated in Shrutis as 'That thou art' 

The Maha vakya is simply establishing the one-ness of Paramatman and Jiva.


Sloka 244:

ऐक्यं तयोः लक्षितयोः न वाच्ययो
निगद्यते अन्योन्य विरुद्ध धर्मिणोः ।
खद्योतभान्वोरिव राजभृत्ययोः
कूपांबुराश्यः परमाणु मेर्वोः॥244 ||

First line:
ऐक्यं तयोः लक्षितयोः न वाच्ययो

ऐक्यं तयोः - their one-ness  ( of Paramatman and Jiva)
 लक्षितयोः न वाच्ययो - is based on their implied meaning and not that of the words themselves.

Tat is the Supreme being.  Understood more commonly as the creator maintainer and destoyer. Tvam is the reference to the Jiva, who is ever dependent on the Supreme being.  In that common understanding , both virtually poles apart. Such a literal meaning or understanding does not help in identifying the one-ness of the two.

Guru says only the implied meaning of the two can help us in understanding the unity of the two. Such an understanding comes about by understanding the 'Lakshanas of the two'.
 
Second line:
निगद्यते अन्योन्य विरुद्ध धर्मिणोः  -
the literal meaning inculcates the contradictory or opposite attributes between the two.

Guru is saying that the literal meanings leads us to attributes which are opposite of each other .  Why does he say that. By the literal meaning of Paramatman , he is every where . He is the creator and controller. The Jiva is a small ( in front of Paramatman) dependent being. They are actually oppostie poles. Jiva depends on the grace of Supreme being. How can there be one-ness.

Guru elanborates on the opposite attributes by quoting entities with opposite attributes.

Third line
खद्योतभान्वोरिव राजभृत्ययोः
खद्योतभान्वोरिव - like a glow worm and the Sun
राजभृत्ययोः - like the King and  his servants.

Glow worm and the Sun - Sun is self luminous and glow worm glows in darkness only

King and  his servants - Kings gives orders and the servants can only follow those orders.

some more examples ...

Fourth line:
कूपांबुराश्यः परमाणु मेर्वोः;

कूपांबुराश्यः - a well and an ocean
परमाणु मेर्वोः - an atom and Mount Meru

Obviously these are also not comparable. Now the question is how can there be unity among them ?

Guru already said that - if we go by the meaning of the words/names we will reach oppostite attributes. He cautions us to look at the implied meanings only , in order to get to one-ness. The implied meanings are explained in the next Sloka

Summary of the Two slokas 243 & 244 :

The Mahavakya - 'Tat tvam asi' - propses the one-ness of the two Paramatman and Jiva . That one-ness comes out of the implied meaning of the words , not from the word meanings which will lead one to opposite attributes alike - 'Sun and a glow worm', 'King and his servants', 'an Atom and the mount Meru' , ' a well and the Ocean' .

We seee the impled meanings in the next two slokas .

||ओम् तत् सत्॥
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Viveka Chudamani Slokas 243-244

with meanings in English

- Sloka Text in Devanagari

- Sloka Text in Telugu 

Om tat sat !

 

 

 

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