#vedanta

Though Vedanta is generally considered very tough to grasp, it is in fact a simple concept. Its central idea can be accomplished through logical answers to four easy questions. Question one: Isn’t it logical to assume that there is a unified force forever basic behind our vast, complex and ever changing universe? The obvious answer is yes. Question two: Where does that force reside – in some nook or corner of the universe or everywhere at the same time? The latter would be the logical answer. Question three: As we are in the universe, aren’t we too part of that force? Again, the answer is yes. And the last question: Whatever else we are—body, mind and intellect—being perishable, isn’t this factor the only permanent thing in us? Again, simple logic demands a positive response. The moment this question is answered in the affirmative we arrive at the first of the four ‘great statements’ (mahavakyas) of Vedanta, namely ‘Tat twam asi’ (‘That is you’).

C. Radhakrishnan, Bhagavad Gita: Modern Reading and Scientific Study(2016)

वेदमनूच्याचार्योन्तेवामिनमनुशास्ति ॥
सत्यं वद । धर्मं चर ॥
स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रमदः ।
आचार्याय प्रियं धनमाहृत्य प्रजातन्तुं मा व्यवच्छेत्सीः ।
सत्यान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । धर्मान्न प्रमदितव्यम् ।
कुशलान्न प्रमदितव्यम् । भूत्यै न प्रमदितव्यम् ।
स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् । देवपितृकार्याभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् ॥
मातृदेवो भव । पितृदेवो भव । आचार्यदेवो भव । अतिथिदेवो भव ॥

Having taught the Vedas, the Ācārya thus enjoins the āśramaresidents:

Speak truth; walk in dharma (do your duty; do righteous acts) |
Be not heedless of self-study |
Having given agreeable wealth to the ācārya, do not sever the line of descendants |
Never fall from truth; never fall from dharma (duty, righteousness) |
Never overlook your own welfare (self-care), never neglect your prosperity;
Never neglect self-study and propagation (of the Vedas, of knowledge) |
Never neglect works (your duty) for the Gods and for the Fathers (ancestors) |
Treat your mother, father, teachers and guests like deities |

Taittirīya Upaniṣad, Śikṣā-valli, Ekādaśa Anuvākaḥ

Based on a translation by Swami Chinmayananda