[Advaita-l] Tattvamasi - 01 (the hawk and the string)

Venkatraghavan S agnimile at gmail.com
Mon Sep 7 08:07:58 EDT 2020


Namaste,

Please see below the first in a series of talks made in connection with the
mahAvAkya, tattvamasi, occurring in the sixth chapter of the Chandogya
Upanishad. The mahavakya is repeated 9 times across the sixth adhyAya, in
khaNDa-s 8 - 16. Associated with each instance of the tattvamasi is an
example that conveys a particular idea.

In the nyAyAmRta, it is argued that the split of the words (padacCheda) in
the mantra - स य एषोऽणिमैतदात्म्यमिदं  सर्वं तत्सत्यं स आत्मातत्त्वमसि,
should be स आत्मा अतत्त्वमसि, not स आत्मा तत्त्वमसि as argued by the
advaitin. In support it is argued that none of the nine examples occurring
in this chapter support an advaita interpretation, and therefore the the
reading should be अतत्त्वमसि.

Each of these arguments are considered and refuted in the siddhi - I
propose to cover some of these arguments in a series of talks, the first of
which is here. The example is of the hawk tied to a string occurring in
6.8.2:

स यथा शकुनिः सूत्रेण प्रबद्धो दिशं दिशं पतित्वान्यत्रायतनमलब्ध्वा
बन्धनमेवोपश्रयत एवमेव खलु सोम्य तन्मनो दिशं दिशं पतित्वान्यत्रायतनमलब्ध्वा
प्राणमेवोपश्रयते प्राणबन्धनं हि सोम्य मन इति ॥

https://youtu.be/QoiEcJhWlV8

Regards,
Venkatraghavan


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