The
mahavakya “That thou art”
Thus only the implied meanings of the terms ‘tat’ and ‘tvam are to
be taken for affirming their identity. The implied meanings of words are of
three kinds—jahallakshanaa, ajahal-
lakshanaa and jahadajahallakshanaa.
jahallakshanaa-
(exclusive
secondary signification)--
The literal meaning is to be
rejected and some other meaning consistent with it is to be adopted. An example
is—gangaayaam ghoshah, the literal
meaning of which is—a hamlet on the river Ganga. Since there cannot be a
hamlet on the river itself, it is the bank of the river that is meant. Here the
literal meaning of the word ‘Ganga’ has to be given up completely and the
implied meaning ’bank’ has to be adopted.
ajahallakshanaa-
(non-exclusive
secondary signification)-- Without
giving up the literal meaning of the word, what is implied by it is also adopted
to get the meaning intended to be conveyed. An example is—“The red is
running”, which is intended to convey that the red horse is running. Here the
literal meaning of the word ‘red’ is retained and the implied word
‘horse’ is added to get the correct sense of the sentence.
jahadajahallakshanaa-
(exclusive—non-exclusive secondary signification)-- Here a part of the literal
meaning is retained and the other part discarded. The sentence “This is that
Devadatta” is interpreted by using this lakshanaa.
The meaning intended to be conveyed by this sentence is that Devadatta who is
seen at the present time in this place is the same as the person who was seen
earlier in another place. The literal meaning of the word ‘this’ is
Devadatta associated with the present time and place. The literal meaning of the
word ‘that’ is Devadatta associated with the past time and some other place.
Since this sentence purports to convey the identity of the person seen in
different places at different times, we get this meaning by discarding the
reference to the place and time conveyed by the words ‘this’ and ‘that’
and retaining the reference to Devadatta. This is also known as bhaagatyaaga-lakshanaa. The meaning of the sentence tat
tvam asi is obtained by using this method. Just as in the sentence “This
is that Devadatta” the identity is stated by rejecting the contradictory
qualities, so also in the sentence “That thou art” the contradictory
qualities (namely, the limiting adjuncts) are
rejected. Thus it follows that the jiva
and Brahman are in essence one when the limiting adjuncts, namely Maya
and the five sheaths, are rejected.
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