Advaita Vedanta

=====''That you are''=====
The longest chapter of Shankara's ''[[Upadesasahasri]]'', chapter 18, "That Art Thou," is devoted to considerations on the insight "I am ever-free, the existent" (''[[Sat (Sanskrit)|sat]]''), and the identity expressed in [[Chandogya Upanishad#Sixth Prapāṭhaka|Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7]] in the ''[[Mahāvākyas|mahavakya]]'' (great sentence) "''tat tvam asi''", "that thou art."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=50, 172}}{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=57}} In this statement, according to Shankara, ''tat'' refers to '''[[Satya|Sat]]'',{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=57}} "the Existent"{{sfn|Lipner|2000|pp=55 note 9; 57}}{{sfn|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2008|p=151-152}}{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=172, Up.18.3, 18.6, 18.7}} Existence, Being,<ref group=web name="ShankaraBasya">{{cite web |url=http://shankarabhashya.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=343e9e12ffd6b71c499e1722e8813e90&topic=87.0 |title=Topic: CHAPTER 6 - SECTION 8 |date=April 7, 2019 |website=Shankarabhashya.com |access-date=4 January 2022 |archive-date=9 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209212211/http://shankarabhashya.com/index.php?topic=87.0 |url-status=live }}</ref> or Brahman,{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=172, Up.18.6}} the Real, the "Root of the world,"{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=57}}{{refn|group=note|While the Vedanta tradition equates ''sat'' ("the Existent") with Brahman, the Chandogya Upanishad itself does not refer to Brahman.{{sfn|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}{{sfn|Black|2012|p=36}} {{harvtxt|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}: "Although the text does not use the term ''brahman'', the Vedanta tradition is that the Existent (''sat'') referred to is no other than Brahman."}} the true essence or root or origin of everything that exists.{{sfn|Deutsch|Dalvi|2004|p=8}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2008|p=151-152}}<ref group=web name="ShankaraBasya"/> "Tvam" refers to one's real I, ''pratyagatman'' or inner Self,{{sfn|Lipner|2000|pp=60, 62}} the "direct Witness within everything,"{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=60}} "free from caste, family, and purifying ceremonies,"{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=218 (up.II.1.24)}} the essence, ''Atman'', which the individual at the core is.{{sfnp|Muller|1879|pp=92-109 with footnotes}}{{sfn|Goodall|1996|pp=136–137}} As Shankara states in the ''[[Upadesasahasri]]'': 
{{blockquote|Up.I.174: "Through such sentences as "Thou art That" one knows one's own ''Atman'', the Witness of all the internal organs." Up.I.18.190: "Through such sentences as "[Thou art] the Existent" [...] right knowledge concerning the inner ''Atman'' will become clearer." Up.I.18.193-194: "In the sentence "Thou art That" [...] [t]he word "That" means inner ''Atman''."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=190-192}}}}

The statement "tat tvam asi" sheds the false notion that ''Atman'' is different from ''Brahman''.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=91; 219 (Up.II.1.28)}} According toNakamura, the non-duality of ''atman'' and ''Brahman'' "is a famous characteristic of Sankara's thought, but it was already taught by Sundarapandya"{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=675}} (c.600 CE or earlier).{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=176}} Shankara cites Sundarapandya in his comments to ''Brahma Sutra'' verse I.1.4:
{{blockquote|When the metaphorical or false ''atman'' is non-existent, [the ideas of my] child, [my] body are sublated. Therefore, when it is realized that 'I am the existent ''Brahman, atman''', how can anyduty exist?{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=178}}}}

From this, and a large number of other accordances, Nakamura concludes that Shankar was not an original thinker, but "a synthesizer of existing Advaita and the rejuvenator, as well as a defender, of ancient learning."{{sfn|Nakamura|1999|p=679}}