Tat Tvam Asi — Thou Art That
The Teaching
“Bring me a fruit of the Nyagrodha tree.” “Here it is, Sir.” “Break it.” “It is broken, Sir.” “What do you see in it?” “Very small seeds, Sir.” “Break one of them.” “It is broken, Sir.” “What do you see in it?” “Nothing, Sir.”
Then his father said: “My son, that subtle essence which you do not perceive there — in that very essence stands the being of this great tree. That is the True. That is the Self. That is Brahman. And thou, Shvetaketu, art That — Tat Tvam Asi.”
Commentary
Tat Tvam Asi, Thou Art That, is one of the four Mahavakyas, the Great Sayings of the Upanishads. It is the direct assertion that the individual self (Atman) is identical with the universal ground (Brahman).
When Jesus says ‘I and the Father are one’ (John 10:30) he is making the same statement. When Al-Hallaj says ‘Ana al-Haqq, I am the Truth’ he is executed for the same claim.
The tree story is brilliant teaching methodology, showing through the invisible essence of a seed that reality’s ground is beyond sensory perception and yet is the very basis of everything perceivable. This is also Meister Eckhart’s entire project: to show that the divine ground is identical with the ground of the human soul.
Themes
Connections 30
Travelled
Hinduism reached Sikhism by 1469 CE. Sikhism arose in Punjab among Hindus and Muslims. The Guru Granth includes the bhakti poets Kabir and Namdev.
Arose apart
No known transmission between Christianity and Hinduism while these teachings took shape. Christians lived in Kerala from early centuries, but exchange of ideas begins only with the Jesuits: Akbar’s court debates (from 1580), Roberto de Nobili writing on Hindu doctrine in Tamil (from 1606), then Wilkins’s English Gita (1785), the Upanishads in Latin (1801–02) and Vivekananda (1893). All long after either’s formative teachings.
Arose apart
No known transmission between Hinduism and Christianity while these teachings took shape. Christians lived in Kerala from early centuries, but exchange of ideas begins only with the Jesuits: Akbar’s court debates (from 1580), Roberto de Nobili writing on Hindu doctrine in Tamil (from 1606), then Wilkins’s English Gita (1785), the Upanishads in Latin (1801–02) and Vivekananda (1893). All long after either’s formative teachings.
Unsure
al-Hallaj travelled to India (c. 900). Indian influence on ‘I am the Truth’ is argued and disputed.
Arose apart
No known transmission between Hinduism and Christianity while these teachings took shape. Christians lived in Kerala from early centuries, but exchange of ideas begins only with the Jesuits: Akbar’s court debates (from 1580), Roberto de Nobili writing on Hindu doctrine in Tamil (from 1606), then Wilkins’s English Gita (1785), the Upanishads in Latin (1801–02) and Vivekananda (1893). All long after either’s formative teachings.
Unsure
Plotinus hoped to learn Indian philosophy (Porphyry, Life 3). Indian influence on him is argued.
Arose apart
No known transmission between Hinduism and Christianity while these teachings took shape. Christians lived in Kerala from early centuries, but exchange of ideas begins only with the Jesuits: Akbar’s court debates (from 1580), Roberto de Nobili writing on Hindu doctrine in Tamil (from 1606), then Wilkins’s English Gita (1785), the Upanishads in Latin (1801–02) and Vivekananda (1893). All long after either’s formative teachings.
Arose apart
No known transmission between Hinduism and Judaism while these teachings took shape.
Travelled
Alan Watts read and drew on Hinduism.
Travelled
The Kybalion (1908) is generally attributed to William Walker Atkinson, who also wrote on yoga as ‘Yogi Ramacharaka’.
Arose apart
No known line from Hinduism to this scientific work.
Arose apart
No known transmission between Hinduism and Christianity while these teachings took shape. Christians lived in Kerala from early centuries, but exchange of ideas begins only with the Jesuits: Akbar’s court debates (from 1580), Roberto de Nobili writing on Hindu doctrine in Tamil (from 1606), then Wilkins’s English Gita (1785), the Upanishads in Latin (1801–02) and Vivekananda (1893). All long after either’s formative teachings.
Travelled
Alan Watts read and drew on Hinduism.
Travelled
Hinduism reached Buddhism by 500 BCE. The same Indian world. The Buddha taught among Brahmanical and ascetic schools, and the two argued and borrowed for centuries.
Travelled
Carl Jung read and drew on Hinduism.
Travelled
Alan Watts read and drew on Hinduism.
Unsure
Hippolytus (c. 225) reports Brahmin doctrine alongside the Gnostic schools he attacks. Indian influence on Gnosticism is argued.
Travelled
Hinduism reached Sikhism by 1469 CE. Sikhism arose in Punjab among Hindus and Muslims. The Guru Granth includes the bhakti poets Kabir and Namdev.
Travelled
Alan Watts read and drew on Hinduism.
Arose apart
No known line from Hinduism to this scientific work.
Travelled
Alan Watts read and drew on Hinduism.
Travelled
Alan Watts read and drew on Hinduism.
Unsure
Sustained exchange between Hindu and Sufi thought is documented in South Asia (al-Biruni, the Chishti order, Dara Shikoh), not for Sufis elsewhere. Any line to this teaching is unknown.