• AthatoBrahma jig...

• Athato Brahma jignyasaa

Mahavakyaas !!

Each Veda has many Mahavakyaas or great sayings or aphorisms with great meanings. Four of them from the four Vedas are very thought provoking and made an imprint on the folklore of Vedas. So much so that common people touching the periphery of the Vedantic philosophy also get to hear these lines . These Mahavakyaas are in reality are great sayings used for initiation of the learned into the final stages of realization.

These four great sayings are simple , thought provoking and powerful. It is said these Mahavakyaas themselves are powerful enough, and if one continuously chants and meditates on them the non-duality of Jeevaatma and Paramaatma will be experienced.

These four Mahavakyaas from four Upanishads in the four Vedas are as follows.

The Aitareeya Upanishad in Rigveda contains the first one.

Prajnanam (hi) Brahma. - Experience alone is Brahman.

The second Mahavakya is from Brihadarnyaka Upanishad of Shukla Yajurveda.It states:

Aham Brahmasmi - I am Brahman

The Third Mahavakya is from Chandogya Upanishad of Sama Veda. It goes as follows:

Tat tvam asi ( tatvamasi) - That thou art !

The fourth Mahavakya is from Mandukya Upanishad in Adharva Veda .The line from Mandukya Upanishad says:

Ayam atma Brahma – This Soul is Brahman !

Each of these statements is a powerful statement of experience, which emanated out of experience of seers. A historically more recent realization comes through Buddha's sayings. Buddha did penance and after realizing the truth the ultimate statements made by him seems so simple and self evident yet staggering . Thus some of the greatest statements have simplicity at the core making us wonder is that all ? . The reality of the simple statements dawns only when one goes through the experience cycle.

Ultimately experience alone can convince one of Brahman . Thus the Statement Prajnanam (hi) Brahma is an unexceptional Statement. Once one experiences Brahman the realization that Brahman is no other than the soul within you and that is Aham Brahmasmi ! That Brahman in me resides in you too and hence Tatvam asi – “you are that” follows . The Brahman that is in me, that is in you and that is in every being is really the soul present in every being which is saying Ayam Atma Brahma !

 om tat Sat

• One More thing

• Sahasaa vidadhita na kriyaam..
• no not in a hurry !!

One should not do anything in a hurry, A person who does not deliberate ( avivekaha) faces great calamities . Fortunes ever attached to merits seek on their own one who acts with reflection .

This is an oft quoted famous couplet that comes in Kiratarjuniyam of Bharavi . This is what Dharmaraja says to an Impatient Bhima wanting to take revenge on Kauravas.

Bharavi'sKiratarjuniyam , along with Kalidasa'sKumarasambhavam and RaghuvaMsam , Magha's Sishupalavadha , and Sri Harsha's Naisaditya Charitam constitute the five great epics ( Panchamahakavya )

Bharaviis one of the foremost poets of Sanskrit literature . and is rated as the one only next to Kalidasa .

But there are interesting stories about the Sloka.

Bharavi showed immense capabilities of a poet even from his childhood. While very body around was delighted his father concealing his own joy ,used to say ,”he is still a boy , what poetic talent he may possess? What will he know of the secret of Poetry?”.. Bharavi , with wicked thoughts overtaking him wants to kill his father. As he secretly gets ready to kill his father , he hears his mother asking the same question to his father.His father tells his wife “ beloved , do you think I do not know our sons abilities and talents ?There is no doubt about his scholarship. But even though others praise him , we should not do so in front of him if we wish his well being”. Hearing this Bharavi felt ashamed and prostrated before his father and asked for forgiveness and a punishment. Father tells him suitable punishment is to stay in his father in laws house for six months ! While the father in law and mother in law were happy to see them, when there were no signs of returning the royal treatment turned to disrespect very quickly.One day his wife was unable to bear the insults and was crying Bharavi consoled her and read her this poem. She sold the poemto a merchant who gave her hundred gold coins which sufficed till the end of her six month stay at herfathers house.

Another story was that Bharavi was suffering from poverty and his wife was furious. He set out to make money . On the way he stopped at tank and wrote this sloka on a lotus leaf with his nail . A king passingby saw the poem and liked it very much and wanted to Honor the poet .he also had the poem etched in gold and hangsit in his bed room. One day he came back home to find a stranger lying next to his wife. He took out his sword to kill the stranger and his wife. As he looked up saw the Sloka etched in gold he restrained himself and woke up his wife. His wife was delighted to see him and told the king that the stranger is none other than their long lost son . King realized that the Sloka saved him and located Bharavi and honored him.

Both are only anecdotes with no historical basis

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