!! 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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