''Vakya Vritti'' is a

Vedantic ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

, a small treatise, that concerns itself with the detailed and elaborate explanation of two

Mahāvākyas The Mahāvākyas (''sing.:'' mahāvākyam, महावाक्यम्; ''plural:'' mahāvākyāni, महावाक्यानि) are "The Great Sayings" of the Upanishads, as characterized by the Advaita school of Vedanta with mahā ...

–

aham brahmāsmi Aham may refer to: People * Aham Okeke (born 1969), Nigerian-born Norwegian sprinter * Aham Sharma, Indian film and television actor Places * Aham, Germany, municipality in Bavaria Other * Aham (Kashmir Shaivism) * Aham (film) * Association of H ...

and

tat tvam asi Tat or TAT may refer to: Geography *Tát, a Hungarian village *Tat Ali, an Ethiopian volcano People *Tat, a son and disciple of Hermes Trismegistus * Tiffani Amber Thiessen, initials T.A.T. * Tat Wood, a British author Arts, entertainment, and ...

which great Sruti sentences are intended to give a direct perception of

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...

. In his ''Laghu vakya vritti''

Adi Shankara Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...

deals with the former vakya only. ''Vakya Vritti'' is a text of fifty-two

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

slokas written by

and is in the form of a dialogue between an eager student and an enlightened teacher. There exists a very old commentary on this text but the name of its author is not known. Swami

Chinmayananda Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati (born Balakrishna Menon; 8 May 1916 – 3 August 1993) was a Hindu spiritual leader and a teacher. In 1951, he founded Chinmaya Mission, a worldwide nonprofit organisation, in order to spread the knowledge of Advaita ...

's commentary on this exhaustive exposition of the Mahavakya

Tat Tvam Asi Tat or TAT may refer to: Geography *Tát, a Hungarian village *Tat Ali, an Ethiopian volcano People *Tat, a son and disciple of Hermes Trismegistus * Tiffani Amber Thiessen, initials T.A.T. * Tat Wood, a British author Arts, entertainment, and ...

was published in 1981. To explain each

mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

as lucidly as a

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

(teacher) can is called Vritti. In ''Vakya Vritti'' a student approaches his Guru with a confession that the subject Mahavakya does not add up to any vivid understanding in his mind, and the teacher patiently elucidates what exactly the scripture means by the words employed in this significant sentence.

The Major Premises

The dialogue of the ''Vakya Vritti'' can be thought of as having the following major premises: 1) Tvam (You) refers to the spark of

Divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

within each sentient being, which enlivens that being
2) Tat (That) refers to the immortal

, the source of all life all around
3) Asi (are) refers to the Tvam-substance and the Tat-substance as being the same entity

References

External links

{{wiktionary, vakya vritti
''Vakya Vritti'' Understanding That Thou Art
Translated with a commentary by Hari Prasad Shastri Vedanta Advaita Vedanta texts