[Advaita-l] The Origin of 'Ekoham Bahusyaam' and Its Relation to the Upanishads

Cameron D. McIntosh yateendraji at zoho.com
Fri Mar 19 11:24:13 EDT 2021


Dear Friends:
For some time, I’ve been intrigued by the statement एकोहं 
बहुस्याम्(ekoham bahusyām) and had a question.
My question was actually asked by someone onthe web page: 
“http://harishtrivedi.blogspot.com/2009/06/ekoham-bahusyam.html 
<http://harishtrivedi.blogspot.com/2009/06/ekoham-bahusyam.html>”, but 
no one replied. Here is the question:

Unknown <https://www.blogger.com/profile/18063031909905560826> June 26, 
2019 at 6:49 AM 
<http://harishtrivedi.blogspot.com/2009/06/ekoham-bahusyam.html?showComment=1561556983153#c566196509156430822>

[M]any report "...the Veda[s] say 'Ekoham bahusyaṁ'...", but no one 
states a text and a number for such a śloka. Is Mr. Trivedi able to 
point it out? Please, in that case, notify me.

I’ve been researching the above question online, and here aremy results 
so far:

  *

    I’ve not been able to find aśhloka with the exact wording “ एकोहं
    बहुस्याम्” However, there are plenty of references to “ekoham
    bahusyām” online, with several fromSwāmī Śivānanda of Ṛṣikeś and his
    students (Śivānanda, founder of the Divine Life Society, was a
    friend of my second guru).

  *

    I’ve provisionally concluded that the statement is a mahāvākya, and
    that the wording of a mahāvākya is not necessarily the same asthe
    scriptures from which it is derived.

  *

    So far, I’ve found four Upaniṣad ślokas which treat the subject
    matterof “ekoham bahusyām”:

/Chāndogy//a U//paniṣad/6.2.1and 6.2.3

/Taittirīy//a U//paniṣa//d/2.6

/Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad/1.4.2 and 1.4.3

/Aitareya Upaniṣad/1.1

Any thoughts?

Best Regards, Cam



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