[Advaita-l] Advaita-l Digest, Vol 2, Issue 29

[Nagarjuna Siddhartha]

>>Based on this we have this mahAvAkya prabhuji *aham brahmAsmi*  
>>Hope it is clear atleast from the advaitic perspective.

>Please don't use part of that sentence ever again,  use the full sentence 
>if  you ever want to quote it.
>"brahma vA idamagra Aseet tadAtmAnamEva avEt 'aham brahmAsmi' iti"
>The ever-present Brahman, before creation, thought to Itself as "aham
>brahmAsmi".
 
Please permit me to add some points here. I am sorry that I am not expert enough to quote portions of the hindu scriptures off-hand. So please bear with me if I am not able to quote any in original sanskrit.
 
In the same passage of the text that you are referring to, the phrase aham brahasmi appears twice. In its first appearance no doubt it is exactly as what you have said. But in its second appearance it provides a proper justification for the view point of advaita. This is further known from the statements made to the effect that for an individial who realizes knowledge as "aham brahmasmi", even the gods cannot do anything to him/her, because he/she becomes the self of the gods.
 
I therefore feel that one would not be doing justice to the view point of advaita if one quotes only the first aham brahmasmi and forgets the second.



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