The Supreme Teaching
आत्मा ब्रह्म (Ātmā Brahma)
The Self is Brahman - Mandukya Upanishad
The most radical teaching in all of Vedanta: there is no difference whatsoever between your innermost Self (Ātman) and the absolute reality (Brahman). Not similarity, not relationship, not unity—but absolute identity.
The Four Great Statements (Mahāvākyas)
1. प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म (Prajñānaṁ Brahma)
“Consciousness is Brahman” - Aitareya Upanishad
The pure consciousness that illuminates all experience is not a product of matter, not an emergent property, but the absolute reality itself.
2. अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म (Ayam Ātmā Brahma)
“This Self is Brahman” - Mandukya Upanishad
The “I” that you truly are—not the ego-personality, but the witness consciousness—is identical with the ground of all existence.
3. तत् त्वम् असि (Tat Tvam Asi)
“That Thou Art” - Chandogya Upanishad
The transcendent reality (That) and your essential nature (Thou) are one. What you seek outside is what you already are inside.
4. अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि (Aham Brahmāsmi)
“I am Brahman” - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
The most direct declaration: the sense of being, the consciousness “I am,” is not different from the absolute reality.
Understanding the Identity
Not Two Things Becoming One
Wrong understanding: “My soul merges with God”
- This assumes two separate entities that unite
- The Self and Brahman were never separate
- There is no soul apart from Brahman
Right understanding: Recognition of what always was
- Like discovering the rope was never a snake
- Like waking from a dream and realizing you were never the dream character
- Recognition, not transformation
The Ocean and Wave Analogy
सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म (Sarvaṁ khalvidaṁ Brahma)
All this is indeed Brahman - Chandogya Upanishad 3.14.1
Consider waves in the ocean:
- Wave’s perspective: “I am separate from other waves, I am born, I will die”
- Ocean’s perspective: “There are no separate waves, only ocean in motion”
- Truth: The wave IS ocean—never was anything but ocean
Similarly:
- Ego’s perspective: “I am Sitaram, separate from world and God”
- Brahman’s perspective: “There is no Sitaram separate from Me, only Myself appearing as all forms”
- Truth: Ātman IS Brahman—never was anything else
The Mystery of Apparent Separation
Why Don’t We Know This?
अविद्या (Avidyā)—Ignorance
Not ignorance of facts, but ignorance of your true nature:
- Like a king who, in amnesia, thinks himself a beggar
- Like gold that, fashioned as a ring, forgets it’s gold
- Like an actor so immersed in role, he forgets he’s acting
This ignorance is:
- Beginningless (anādi)—no point where it started
- Removable (nirvartya)—can be dispelled by knowledge
- Apparent only (mithyā)—never really conceals Brahman
The Power of Maya
माया शक्ति (Māyā Śakti)
Brahman appears as many through its mysterious power called Maya:
- Like one sun reflecting in many puddles
- Like one space appearing divided by walls
- Like one actor playing all roles
Key point: The divisions are apparent only. Behind all forms, one reality alone exists.
The Three States Analysis
Waking State (Jāgrat)
You identify with body-mind: “I am a person in the world”
Dream State (Svapna)
You identify with dream-body: “I am this dream character”
- When you wake, you realize: dream-you was yourself appearing in forms
- The entire dream-world was your own consciousness
Deep Sleep (Suṣupti)
No identification, pure being: “I existed, knowing nothing”
- Here Ātman rests in Brahman
- No division, no world, no other—yet you exist
The Turīya Realization
तुरीय (Turīya)—The Fourth
The constant witness of all three states:
- Not waking, not dream, not sleep
- Present in all three, identical with none
- This is Ātman-Brahman, your true nature
Realization: What witnesses all three states is beyond all three—that is what you truly are, and that is Brahman.
Practical Recognition
The Direct Path (Aparokṣānubhūti)
Not a practice to achieve, but recognition of what IS:
-
Witness awareness
- Notice: you are aware
- That awareness is not produced—it simply is
- That awareness is Brahman
-
The “I” investigation
- The sense “I exist” is undeniable
- That existence-consciousness is not personal
- That “I am” is Brahman
-
Negation (Neti Neti)
- You are not body—body is witnessed
- You are not mind—mind is witnessed
- You are not experience—experience is witnessed
- What remains is Ātman-Brahman
The Shift in Understanding
Before realization:
- “I am in the world”
- “I am a limited being seeking unlimited reality”
- “I must practice to become enlightened”
After realization:
- “The world is in me (consciousness)”
- “I am the unlimited reality appearing as limited forms”
- “There is nothing to become—I am That which I sought”
Common Objections Answered
”If I am Brahman, why don’t I feel unlimited?”
The rope doesn’t become a snake when you misperceive it. Your misperception doesn’t change reality. You ARE unlimited—you simply believe you’re limited.
”If everyone is Brahman, why don’t they know it?”
Does your forgetting who you are make you someone else? Ignorance conceals knowledge, but doesn’t destroy it. The sun isn’t absent when clouds cover it.
”Is this just philosophy or actual experience?”
This is not philosophy but direct recognition. Like suddenly understanding a puzzle you were staring at—nothing new is added, you simply SEE what was always there.
The Living Reality
Ātman-Brahman in Daily Life
Once recognized:
- You relate to others knowing they too are Brahman
- Pain and pleasure touch the body-mind, not your essence
- Actions continue, but without the sense of doership
- The world continues, but known as Brahman’s manifestation
Jīvanmukta (Living-liberated one):
- Appears to live, act, relate—but knows “I am Brahman alone”
- The wave continues, but knows “I am ocean”
- The dream continues, but the dreamer is awake in the dream
The Ultimate Truth
एकमेवाद्वितीयम् (Ekam eva advitīyam)
One alone, without a second - Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.1
There is one reality only:
- Not “God and souls” (duality)
- Not “God and His emanations” (qualified non-duality)
- But one without a second (pure non-duality)
That one reality:
- Appears as universe (as waves are ocean)
- Appears as individual beings (as space appears divided)
- Yet remains one, unchanged, infinite
You are THAT:
- Not a part of Brahman—you ARE Brahman
- Not seeking Brahman—Brahman seeking itself through the illusion of you
- Not becoming Brahman—recognizing you never were anything else
For Contemplation
स यथा सैन्धवघनोऽनन्तरोऽबाह्यः कृत्स्नो रसघन एवैवं वा अरेऽयमात्माऽनन्तरोऽबाह्यः कृत्स्नः प्रज्ञानघन एव
As a lump of salt dropped in water dissolves and cannot be picked up again, yet wherever you taste the water it is salty—so this infinite Ātman is pure consciousness, infinite consciousness. Arising from these elements, with them it dissolves—after death there is no separate consciousness.
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.13
You are not in Brahman. Brahman is not in you. You ARE Brahman—now, always, eternally.
The teaching is complete. Only recognition remains.