Becoming like the Lord: the real meaning of sameness (Mundaka Upaniṣad #15)

By reconnecting with the Lord, we become blissful in His association, and by sharing this with others, we become dear to Him.

We may be right in front of someone, but if we are looking the other way, we will not see him or her. Similarly, the Lord is not only present everywhere, but He personally follows every soul, present inside the heart. As long as our attention is turned to material enjoyment, however, we don't see Him. When we finally turn our attention to the Lord by our practice of Krsna Consciousness, this eternal relationship is reestablished. The soul thus becomes just like the Lord, free from material contamination, and attains the Supreme destination. By reconnecting with the Lord, we become blissful in His association, and by sharing this with others, we become dear to Him.

Sameness doesn't mean merging, but the similarity of qualities and interests, and living in the same location. This is explained in the Chandogya Upanisad, in the history of Śvetaketu and his father, Uddālaka. Mayavadis take the passage "tat tvam asi" as meaning that the soul and the Lord are one, but they are mistaken.

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Text 3.1.2

samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno

’nīśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ

juṣṭam yadā paśyaty anyam īśam

asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ

Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or other, he turns his face to his friend the Lord and knows His glories – at once the suffering bird becomes free from all anxieties.

Commentary: Srila Prabhupada gives the translation for this verse on his purport to Bg 2.22. This same verse is also found in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. He comments on it in his purport to CC Madhya 6.162:

"The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad completely distinguishes the Lord from the living entities. The living entity is subjected to the reactions of fruitive activity, whereas the Lord simply witnesses such activity and bestows the results. According to the living entity’s desires, he is wandering from one body to another and from one planet to another, under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramātmā. However, when the living entity comes to his senses by the mercy of the Lord, he is awarded devotional service. Thus he is saved from the clutches of māyā. At such a time he can see his eternal friend, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and become free from all lamentation and hankering. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.54), where the Lord says, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kānkṣati: “One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything.” Thus it is definitely proved that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master of all potencies and that the living entities are always subjected to these potencies. That is the difference between māyādhīśa and māyā-vaśa."

He gives us additional insight in his commentary on Bg 2.22:

"Transference of the atomic individual soul to another body is made possible by the grace of the Supersoul. The Supersoul fulfills the desire of the atomic soul as one friend fulfills the desire of another. The Vedas, like the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, as well as the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Kṛṣṇa) is simply watching His friend. Of these two birds – although they are the same in quality – one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. Kṛṣṇa is the witnessing bird, and Arjuna is the eating bird. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one’s changing his position from one tree to another, or from one body to another. The jīva soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master – as Arjuna agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Kṛṣṇa for instruction – the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations."

The individual soul becomes immersed in eating the fruits of the tree and thus becomes immersed in lamentation due to the influence of material energy (socati muhyamānaḥ). The soul becomes helpless in this situation (anīśayā), overwhelmed by the weight of the material energy. In this situation, we can't find our way out. However, the soul is not alone, the Lord is also present, and He remains always free from the material influence. Being so, He can help the soul also to become free. Mayavadis believe the Lord also becomes entangled when He comes to this material world, assuming a material form and acting under the three modes of material nature. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu describes this theory as the most horrible philosophy. It also doesn't make much sense in the context of the verse. If the Lord were also entangled in material energy, He would not be able to help the individual soul become free.

In the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna mentions that whoever leaves his material body remembering Him, attains His nature (mat-bhāvam). If Krsna's nature when speaking the Bhagavad-gita was material, the verse would not make sense, nor would the study of the Gita itself have any value, since if Krsna were one of us, He would not be able to help. When two persons are tied, one can't help the other. Only an untied person can help. All of this sustains the conclusion that the Lord never becomes entangled in the material nature, and thus can help the soul to become free, as soon as the jiva turns to Him and becomes aware of His glories.

The word "anyam" (another) is also significant, indicating that the Lord is separated from the individual soul. Anyam īśam indicates that the Lord and the soul are two separate individuals, and when the soul turns to Him and understands His greatness (yadā paśyaty, asya mahimānam), he becomes vīta-śokaḥ, free from sorrow. In this way, the verse contradicts Mayavada philosophy practically in every word, and the same is valid for other verses of the scriptures. The reason Mayavada philosophy is so popular, found in the core of most philosophies, both in the West and in India, is that it is very attractive to conditioned souls, offering the promise of liberation without the idea of service to God.

Impersonalism is the default setting for all conditioned souls. We are attracted to this material world due to our forgetfulness of the Lord, and when we become frustrated with it we look for a way to become free without having to accept the idea of service to the Lord. Impersonalism can permeate all spheres of our devotional practice, leading us to keep a barrier between ourselves and the Lord and His devotees. Due to the influence of impersonalism, we may eventually give up the idea of attaining pure devotional service, settling instead on the idea of just finding peace, and being alone. Impersonalism has multiple forms, and all the traps it represents are considered, collectively, as the last snare of Maya. This is the final test that, if failed, prevents one from accepting again His original position as a servant of the Lord.

Normally, the word "puruṣa" is used in relationship to the Lord, but in this verse, it indicates the individual soul because once in contact with the material energy, the soul sees himself as an enjoyer of the material world, a competitor in a position that is originally reserved to the Lord. True ego means the original position of the soul as an eternal servant of the Lord. Any other position one may try to assume is illusory, under the influence of the false ego. Apart from one's original position, any other position one may assume will be by definition temporary. Anything that has a beginning has also an end. When I become something, the "becoming" automatically implies that I will stop being it at some point. This can be observed in all embodied beings, from plants and insects to Indra and Brahma. They assume these positions at some point, and eventually have to give it up. Even if one goes to the brahmajyoti, he eventually falls back because that's still not the original position of the soul.

Text 3.1.3

yadā paśyaḥ paśyate rukma-varṇam

kartāram īśam puruṣam brahma-yonim

tadā vidvān puṇya-pāpe vidhūya

nirañjanaḥ paramam sāmyam upaiti

When the enlightened soul finally sees the golden-hued Lord, the creator, the Supreme Person, who is the source of the impersonal Brahman, he finally becomes free from material duality and attains the Supreme destination, becoming pure like the Lord.

Commentary: The words puṇya-pāpe vidhūya mean that the soul becomes free from both virtue and vice. In the material world, there is duality: good and bad, honor and dishonor, etc. but in the spiritual world, there is no bad, there are just different varieties of good. Becoming free from both virtue and vice means becoming free from material duality, or in other words, attaining the transcendental platform. It also means that one becomes free from both the good and bad results of previous actions, completely closing his karmic accounts. In both cases, the practical meaning is that one becomes liberated.

What happens after one becomes transcendental? Nirañjanaḥ paramam sāmyam upaiti: one attains sameness (sāmyam) with the Lord.

Of course, Mayavadis interpret this passage as meaning that one becomes one with the Lord, but the knowledge of the Upanisads is a little more nuanced than that. Even Sankaracarya is careful in his commentary, stating that the sameness described here means "that supreme equality which is identity with Brahman." In other words, in his commentary, he speaks about identifying with Brahman, and not merging into Brahman. The conclusion that one becomes homogeneously dissolved into Brahman is actually a later interpretation by his followers, an oversimplification of a more delicate concept.

This can be understood in the context of the verses in the 6th section of the Chandogya Upanisad.

After studying for twelve years in the gurukula, Śvetaketu returns to his father, Uddālaka, who, noticing the boy had become proud due to his education, asks him to describe the principle by which everything unheard becomes heard, by which everything unthought becomes understood and by which everything unknown becomes known. Puzzled by the question, Śvetaketu asks his father to explain this knowledge to Him.

We can notice that this is similar to the question posed by Śaunaka to Angirasa in the first chapter (knowing what does all become known?) Śvetaketu had studied many topics in the gurukula, but he didn't study the nature of the absolute truth, which his father will explain to him.

Uddālaka starts by explaining the process of creation, mentioning that at the beginning only the Supreme Lord existed and from Him, the material creation was born. From this, comes the famous passage: tad aikṣata, bahu syām prajāyeyeti, "The Lord then contemplated and spoke: Let me become many! Let me propagate myself!" He then explains the creation of the material elements and how from them are formed the bodies of different living beings, and other topics, explaining how the Lord (sat) is the origin of everything that exists.

The part relevant to the discussion starts in chapter 6.8 and goes all the way to chapter 6.16. In these chapters, Uddālaka describes to Śvetaketu the transcendental nature of the Lord and how everything is intimately connected with Him.

During sleep, the consciousness retreats to inside the heart, where the soul meets the Lord and rests. It is said then that one has entered unto himself. All living beings live on food, food comes from water, water from fire, and so on, culminating in the Supreme Lord who is the ultimate origin. Similarly, when a person dies, the faculty of speech merges into the mind, the mind into prana, prana into fire, and all subtle elements merge into the Lord. The Lord is thus the most subtle.

Just as bees prepare honey by extracting nectar from many different flowers (and when combined, the nectar of a flower is not able to differentiate itself from the nectar of the other flowers), or as different rivers when merged into the ocean don't conserve a separate identity, similarly, when the soul merges into the Lord inside the heart during deep sleep, he completely loses consciousness and doesn't remember his separate material identity. However, after waking up, the soul returns to his material activities, as a human being, a tiger, a mosquito, etc.

Uddālaka then asks his son to take the fruit of a banyan tree, cut it up, take a single seed, and cut it in half. Śvetaketu is somehow able to cut the minute seed, but can't see anything inside of it. Uddālaka however explains that the essence of a whole banyan rests, unseen, inside that seed. Similarly, the Lord is the essence of this whole world.

He then tells him to dissolve a chunk of salt into water. He tells the boy to take sips from every corner and from the center. From any part, it tastes the same: salty. He then tells him to throw the salty water on top of a rock and let it dry. The next day, he shows how salt has been deposited on top of the rock. The salt had not disappeared into the water: it was always there, unseen. Similarly, as he explains, the Lord is everywhere and permeates everything, although we can't see Him.

He then explains how a blindfolded person brought to a distant, unknown place can't find his way home by himself, but if he is freed from the blindfold and instructed on the right direction to take, he can reach his home by going from village to village on the way. Similarly, one who has a spiritual master may still have to stay for some more time in this material world as he matures spiritually and the results of his past karma are destroyed, but his success is guaranteed. When a person dies, the connection with the body is severed and one's material identity is forgotten. One does not remember his relatives and friends anymore. Therefore, there is no need to care much about the superficial connection with the body. He concludes by telling Śvetaketu that when one knows the Lord within himself, he is not touched by samsāra.

In this way, all these passages of the Chandogya Upanisad describe the nature of ātmā, the Supreme Lord, the creator, maintainer, and essence of everything. The point that brings us back to the discussion about the destination of the soul after liberation are the words "sa ātmā, tat tvam asi śvetaketo iti" included at the end of each chapter.

Saḥ means "that" and ātmā means "Self". In the ordinary sense, ātmā is used to describe the individual soul, but that's the secondary meaning of the world. In the primary meaning, ātmā means the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Self. "Svetaketo iti" simply concludes the sentence, meaning "O Śvetaketo".

We then come to the important part: "tat tvam asi".

Tat means "that", tvam means "you". The word "asi" is often translated as "are", but in reality, asi indicates the verb to be in the second person of the singular. It indicates identity or similarity, but the usage is complex. One may identify with an actor or politician, but this does not mean he becomes him. Similarly, one can be like someone else in the sense of having similar inclinations or qualities, without merging with the other person. I can be like my father, but this does not mean we are the same person, and the fact we are all human beings doesn't imply we are all one. Just like the word "are" in English, the word "asi" in Sanskrit more often than not indicates similarity or identification, and not physically merging or dissolving into something or someone.

Therefore, translating "sa ātmā, tat tvam asi śvetaketo iti" as "You are that Brahman, O Svetaketo", as commonly done by Mayavadis, is incorrect. It not only reveals a crude understanding of the language and syntax but also a poor awareness of the conclusions of the scriptures. Nowhere it's mentioned that the individual soul dissolves into the Supreme Brahman. On the opposite, both the Supreme Brahman and the soul are described as eternal and immutable. The Supreme Brahman is not a piece of clay that can be cut and merged back, nor is it an impotent mass of energy that falls prey to a superior force called Maya.

This is directly indicated by Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita:

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī, mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante, māyām etām taranti te

"This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it."

The fact that Krsna refers to the material energy as "daivī" indicates the fact that He has multiple potencies and that these potencies are spiritual, which is also directly supported by the sutra "janmādy asya yataḥ" of the Vedanta Sutra. The words "mama māyā" (my energy) and "mām eva ye prapadyante, māyām etām taranti te" (those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it) indicate that Maya is completely under Krsna's control. Not only is there no possibility of Him falling into illusion, but He has also the power to give release to any soul who so desires.

The fact that the Lord and the soul are different individuals now, proves that they were different individuals in the past, and will continue being separate individuals in the future. This is a very elementary topic in the philosophy, described by the Lord right at the beginning of the Bhagavad-gita:

na tv evāham jātu nāsam, na tvam neme janādhipāḥ

na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ, sarve vayam ataḥ param

"Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be."

Mayavadis argue that the separate identity of the Lord and the soul referred to in the verse is related to the body only, and in the absolute sense, the Lord and the soul are one. However, they forget to consider that in the verse immediately before that, Krsna had already condemned bodily identification:

aśocyān anvaśocas tvam, prajñā-vādāmś ca bhāṣase

gatāsūn agatāsūmś ca, nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

"While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead."

Therefore, the argument that Krsna would embrace bodily identification immediately after calling Arjuna a fool for indulging in it is ludicrous. This is further reinforced in verse 15.7, where Krsna declares:

mamaivāmśo jīva-loke, jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ

manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi, prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

"The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind."

The words "amśaḥ" and "sanātanaḥ" directly indicate that the souls are eternally fragmentary, both in the conditioned and liberated state. The only difference is that in the conditioned state, the soul struggles in the material world with the mind and senses, while in the liberated state, the soul recovers his original sat-tit-ananda nature. The fact that Krsna and the souls are eternally separated individuals is reinforced by the word mamaivāmśaḥ, which emphasizes that the souls are parts and parcels of Krsna, and not an illusion or a temporary manifestation as proposed by the Mayavadis. This becomes even more evident when the sentence "mamaivāmśo jīva-loke, jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ" is taken as a whole

This shows how Mayavada philosophy is based on a crude understanding of the scriptures. It has an agenda that is supported by examining each verse separately, taking them out of the context of the general conclusions of the scriptures. This creates a philosophy that is contradictory and can be sustained only by hiding the truth behind creative interpretations of the meaning of the sastras. Their philosophy, claimed to be profound, is ultimately hollow and contradictory. In contrast, the proper understanding of the scriptures, as described by Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita, leads to the highest realization: our eternal, blissful, and personal relationship with the Supreme Lord. As Prabhupada humorously mentions:

"Māyāvādī philosophers cannot understand these simple facts explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, and yet they are very proud of being Vedāntīs. Sometimes, therefore, we refer to the Vedāntī philosophers as Vidantīs, those who have no teeth (vi means “without,” and dantī means “possessing teeth”). The statements of the Śankara philosophy, which are the teeth of the Māyāvādī philosopher, are always broken by the strong arguments of Vaiṣṇava philosophers such as the great ācāryas, especially Rāmānujācārya. Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya and Madhvācārya break the teeth of the Māyāvādī philosophers, who can therefore be called Vidantīs, “toothless." (CC Adi 7.128, Purport)

The correct translation for the words "tat tvam asi śvetaketo iti" is thus: "You are like that Brahman, O Svetaketo" meaning that as a soul he shares the same spiritual nature with the Lord, and should thus identify with this spiritual nature, instead of identifying with the physical body. Śvetaketu is advised to recognize his constitutional position as an eternal fragmental part of the Lord, meant for service. He is one with the Lord in nature, not in identity.

Apart from being explained and defended by great acaryas and scholars in India throughout the centuries, this understanding is also supported by a number of Western scholars. Patrick Olivielle, who did great research in the syntax and historical context of the verses of the Upanisads, for example, translates this sentence as "that is the truth; that is the self (atman). And that's how you are, Svetaketu."

Both the Supreme Lord and the soul are transcendental, both are eternal, but the Lord is Supreme. Nitya nityanān cetanān cetanānām: amongst many eternals who are particles of consciousness, the Lord is Supreme. Just like many passages, this verse from the Katha Upanishad describes the distinction between the Supreme and the individual souls. I may be similar to my father in nature, but we are separate individuals, there is no question of merging with him.

When the soul attains perfection, he returns to his original spiritual nature, like the Lord, and in this spiritual nature associates with the Lord, just as we associate with Him every night in deep sleep. However, after attaining the spiritual sky, the soul becomes fully conscious, and ready to cultivate a loving relationship with Him, as Lord Caitanya encapsulates in the maxim jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa: "It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa."

This is also directly confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (18.54):

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā, na śocati na kānkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, mad-bhaktim labhate parām

"One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state, he attains pure devotional service unto Me."

The platform of bhakti is achieved after the platform of liberation, which indicates this is the final nature of the soul. This verse directly contradicts the proposition of Mayavadis that devotional service is simply a provisional tool in becoming free from Maya and merging into Brahman. Rather, bhakti is pointed to as the final perfection and the original nature of the soul.

Tat tvam asi thus indicates the transcendental nature of the soul, as good as the Lord. It is a fantasy to use it to support the idea that they are one.