[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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