[Advaita-l] ‘Aham Brahma Asmi’ and ‘jagat mithyaa’ in the Srimad-Bhaagavatam

[V Subrahmanian]

Aham Brahma Asmi’ and ‘jagat mithyaa’ in the Srimad-Bhaagavatam

In the above two verses of the Srimadbhagavatam 4.22.37 and 38, we have the
teaching of ‘Aham Brahma asmi’ and ‘prapancha mithyatvam.’ The purport is
brought out by Sridhara Swamin, the eminent commentator:

The Pure Consciousness that is shining beyond the five kosha-s is to be
realized as ‘so’smi’ (I am That) ‘Aham Brahma asmi.’ In an alternative
reading ‘so’sti’, the meaning is: apart from That there is none. [The
Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita schools have taken the term as ‘so’smi only.]

In the second cited verse: the world of objects of cause-effect or of
high-low status, is appearing in Brahman just as a garland is wrongly seen
to be a snake. The shloka says: by right knowledge, the superimposed object
disappears, negated. This is the Vedantic ‘jnaana-baadhyatvam or jnaana-
nivartyatvam’.

This is just a couple of instances, out of countless ones, in the
Srimadbhagavatam for its inherent, core, Advaitic doctrinal nature. The
commentary of Sridhara Swamin alone is crisp and brief in comparison to
those of the various non-Advaitic schools.

Om Tat Sat

The post, along with Sridhara Swamin's commentary and the verses, as
images, can be viewed here:

https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/2019/11/17/aham-brahma-asmi-and-jagat-mithyaa-in-bhagavatam/