Brahma-Knowledge · 29 of 45

II: Who am I?

II. Who am I?

The heart, the mind, consciousness, comprehension, understanding, intelligence, wisdom, insight, resolution, thought, prudence, eagerness, memory, conception, power, life, desire, will—all these are names of the Intelligence. This is Brahma, this is Indra, this is Prajā-pati, this is all the gods, the five great elements Earth, Wind, Ether, Water, and Light, the tiny creatures and they that are midway, the seeds of either kind, the creatures born from eggs, membranes, sweat, and sprouts, the horses, oxen, men, elephants, whatsoever is breathing, walking or flying, and whatso is motionless; all this is guided by intelligence, founded on intelligence. The universe is guided by intelligence, founded on intelligence. Intelligence is Brahma.

Insight · 2

This list — heart, mind, consciousness, comprehension, understanding, intelligence, wisdom, insight, resolution, thought, prudence, eagerness, memory, conception, power, life, desire, will — is a Sanskrit grammarian's pile of mental categories. The point is collapsing them: every one of these names, however differentiated in ordinary language, is a pointer to the single Intelligence (prajñāna). What Western philosophy splits into faculty psychology, the Aitareya treats as facets of one underlying knowing. The same move makes the leap to 'this is Brahma' a small step rather than a vast inference.Aitareya III.1-3; Olivelle notes.

'Prajñānaṃ Brahma' — Consciousness is Brahman — is the mahavakya of the Aitareya Upanishad, one of the four great sayings each of which encodes the central Vedantic claim from a different angle. The other three are 'aham brahmāsmi' (I am Brahman, Brihadaranyaka), 'tat tvam asi' (that thou art, Chhāndogya), and 'ayam ātmā brahma' (this Self is Brahman, Mandukya). Each Veda has its mahavakya. They are functionally interchangeable — four ways of pointing at the same recognition.Standard mahavakya doctrine; Comans Method of Early Advaita Vedanta.

Footnotes

60:1 See above, §§ 12, 15. Brahma dwells in the eye during the waking state, in the mind during dreams, and in the heart during dreamless sleep.

60:2 Indra is a Vedic god of the first rank; hence by a wordplay our writer identifies him with Brahma.

60:3 Aitareya Upanishad, iii.