Mahavakya

“Great sentence” — each of four Upanishadic statements compressing the identity of atman and brahman into a single line. The paradigmatic form of shabda-pramana for Advaita.

Overview

Four mahavakyas, each from a different Upanishad, traditionally organized so one comes from each of the four Vedas:

1. Tat tvam asi — “That thou art.” Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 (Sama Veda). The upadeshavākya — the teaching-sentence. That (brahman, the absolute) thou (the student’s very self) art.
2. Aham brahmasmi — “I am Brahman.” Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 (Yajur Veda). The anubhavavākya — the first-person realization-sentence.
3. Prajnanam brahma — “Consciousness is Brahman.” Aitareya Upanishad 3.1.3 (Rig Veda). The lakṣaṇavākya — the definition-sentence: the nature of brahman is consciousness.
4. Ayam atma brahma — “This self is Brahman.” Mandukya Upanishad 1.2 (Atharva Veda). The abhidhānavākya — the direct-pointing sentence.

The four are not interchangeable pieces of the same claim; they operate on different grammatical registers (second-person instruction, first-person realization, third-person definition, direct pointing) and the traditional sequence has pedagogic structure. The Advaitic student’s path moves through them: hearing the upadeshavākya as instruction (shravana), testing the lakṣaṇavākya and abhidhānavākya through reflection (manana), arriving at the anubhavavākya — “I am” — as realization (nididhyasana).

All four, read together, state the single thesis of Advaita: identity of individual self with absolute reality.

Related concepts

• tat-tvam-asi — the instruction-mahavakya (has its own page)
• shabda-pramana — mahavakyas are the canonical shabda
• atman, brahman — the identity the mahavakyas state
• shravana-manana-nididhyasana — the practice applied to mahavakyas
• upanishads — source of all four
• mandukya-karika — the karika on ayam atma brahma
• taittiriya-upanishad, mundaka-upanishad — other Upanishadic sources

In the Gita

• 02-20 and 02-21 — Krishna’s teaching is a prose restatement of tat tvam asi and aham brahmasmi

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 8 [24:58]: All four mahavakyas listed and distinguished.
• Ep. 8 [25:43]: Ayam atma brahma — this self is brahman — the most direct formulation.