What is the meaning of Aham Brahmasmi?

Answer 1

The Mahavakya 'Aham Brahmasmi' is mentioned in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10. of Yajur Veda.

This Mahavakya enables us to understand Brahman.

Literally it means, 'I am Brahman'. Since Brahman is the supreme Hindu god, it also means, 'I am the supreme god'.

While in any other religions it would be considered as the height of arrogance, in Hinduism it is perfectly acceptable.

THE SEVEN HINDU GODS:

To understand the meaning of 'Aham Brahmasmi', we must know about the seven basic Hindu gods.

They are,

1. Dreaming force - Indra

2. Illusory force - Shakti

3. Creative force - Brahma

4. Stabilizing force - Vishnu

5. Determination force - Shiva

6. Status increasing force - Shani

7. Compulsive force - Yama.

The seven forces together are known as Brahman. (Purusha 1.10.90-15 and Manu Smriti 1.19, 1.20)

The central part of it is what we call 'I' or Aham.'I' is also the central part of Vishnu.

THE MOVING AND STOPPING FORCES:

All the seven gods are made of two forces

1. Moving / Kinetic force/ the god force

2. Braking / stopping/ Inertial force/ the goddess force

In all the seven Hindu gods the two forces are intermingled.

In Brahman the two elements are completely separated.

If we could some how get the ability to move the static force of all the seven gods towards Indra and all the Kinetic force towards Yama, in a controlled way, without external assistance, then we can do anything manually that Brahman can do automatically.

However, we can't sweep the static element to one end and kinetic end to the opposite end, if our god is mighty.

Thus, 'Aham Brahmasmi' also implies that 'Brahman shouldn't be more powerful than I am, when I am trying to understand Brahman'.

Since Brahman is more powerful when outside us (Purusha 1.10.90-7), it implies that 'Brahman should be within me'.

By imitating manually what Brahman does automatically, we can understand how the seven Hindu gods function. This knowledge is what we call Brahmajnana.

Finally, when there is absolutely no difference between what we do manually and what Brahman does automatically, we can let Brahman do all of our tasks perfectly. This is what 'surrendering to Brahman' means. At this stage there is no 'I'.

Thus, 'Aham Brahmasmi' actually means 'I can do manually what Brahman does automatically.