So Vedic aphorism says that ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So ahaṁ brahmāsmi sometimes mistakenly is understood that "I am the Supreme God." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means "I am Brahman." Brahman means spirit. "I am spirit soul." This conception, this identification, is right. This is the right identification. As soon as I think that "I am elephant" or "I am ant," that is not my identification. That is my misidentification. My real identification is that "I am neither ant nor elephant, but I am spirit soul." But sometimes by identifying myself with the spirit soul, sometimes I falsely claim that "I am the supreme soul." Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that tṛṇād api sunīcena, "You are soul, you are spirit soul, but you are smaller than the smallest straw in the street." So actually, there is no miscalculation. The conclusion is there. So adambhitvam dharmikatva-khyāti-phalaka-dharmācaraṇa. Khyāti. We should not be very much anxious about being famous. Not, "Oh, there is a great man who knows everything about spirit and who is perfect." No. We should be very sincere to understand things as they are. We should not falsely claim which I am not.
Aham brahmasmi means
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
Bhṛgu Muni continued: Since you blaspheme the Vedas and the brāhmaṇas, who are followers of the Vedic principles, it is understood that you have already taken shelter of the doctrine of atheism.
Bhṛgu Muni, in cursing Nandīśvara, said that not only would they be degraded as atheists because of this curse, but they had already fallen to the standard of atheism because they had blasphemed the Vedas, which are the source of human civilization. Human civilization is based on the qualitative divisions of social order, namely the intelligent class, the martial class, the productive class and the laborer class. The Vedas provide the right direction for advancing in spiritual cultivation and economic development and regulating the principle of sense gratification, so that ultimately one may be liberated from material contamination to his real state of spiritual identification (ahaṁ brahmāsmi). As long as one is in the contamination of material existence, one changes bodies from the aquatics up to the position of Brahmā, but the human form of life is the highest perfectional life in the material world. The Vedas give directions by which to elevate oneself in the next life. The Vedas are the mother for such instructions, and the brāhmaṇas, or persons who are in knowledge of the Vedas, are the father. Thus if one blasphemes the Vedas and brāhmaṇas, naturally one goes down to the status of atheism. The exact word used in Sanskrit is nāstika, which refers to one who does not believe in the Vedas but manufactures some concocted system of religion. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that the followers of the Buddhist system of religion are nāstikas. In order to establish his doctrine of nonviolence, Lord Buddha flatly refused to believe in the Vedas, and thus, later on, Śaṅkarācārya stopped this system of religion in India and forced it to go outside India. Here it is stated, brahma ca brāhmaṇān. Brahma means the Vedas. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means "I am in full knowledge." The Vedic assertion is that one should think that he is Brahman, for actually he is Brahman. If brahma, or the Vedic spiritual science, is condemned, and the masters of the spiritual science, the brāhmaṇas, are condemned, then where does human civilization stand? Bhṛgu Muni said, "It is not due to my cursing that you shall become atheists; you are already situated in the principle of atheism. Therefore you are condemned."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
But if I simply try to become ahaṁ brahmāsmi without knowing the full philosophy, then I shall be fallen again, that "I am equal to God." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means "I am the Supreme God," as the Māyāvādīs, they think that liberation means "I become one with God." No. That is not your position. You cannot become... That is another māyā. That is the last dictation of māyā: "Why you shall become the servant of gopī-bhartuḥ? You become God." That is māyā. That is the last snare of māyā. Therefore they fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Anādṛta. With great austerity, penances and vairāgya, they can go up to the paraṁ padam. Paraṁ padam means Brahman. Nirviśeṣa-brahman. Not in the material existence, but in the spiritual existence. Āruhya. They can rise up to that. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: to understand that "I am not this matter, I am Brahman." But unless one takes shelter of the gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa, he'll fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Because one does not know, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches, that gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). He falls down. He has no shelter.
We have got the five elements, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). There is earth, water, air, fire, and the mind and the intelligence and the false ego. This is the eight combination of the matter. Then, the matter being agitated, there are ten senses and then sense objects. In this way this body is composition of twenty-four elements. But all these elements, Kṛṣṇa says, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā: (BG 7.4) "That is My energy." This body is made by Kṛṣṇa's property. Earth, water, air, fire—this is all Kṛṣṇa's property. You cannot create earth, or you cannot create water. You cannot create sky, nothing of the material elements. It is created by Kṛṣṇa, and this body is..., this external body is made of these eight elements. Similarly, I am also Kṛṣṇa's. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parāṁ jīva-bhūtām. Me parāṁ prakṛtiṁ jīva-bhūtām. Jīva, the living entities, they are parā-prakṛti, superior energy, but that is also me: "Mine." So I, as ahaṁ brahmāsmi, because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, in that sense, I, the energy of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa, we are one. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means that, or "I belong to Kṛṣṇa." The Māyāvādī thinks that "I have become Kṛṣṇa." No. The Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that "I am Kṛṣṇa's property, not that I become Kṛṣṇa." Just like the part and parcel of my body, this finger. The finger can claim that "I am part and parcel of the body," but the finger cannot claim that "I am the whole body." That is not possible.
So the great body, this universal body, as Kṛṣṇa showed universal body to Arjuna, so it is possible for Kṛṣṇa to show the universal body, virāḍ-rūpa. You cannot show. You cannot show. It was Arjuna's request to exhibit the virāḍ-rūpa because Arjuna knew it that "Because I am accepting Kṛṣṇa God, so many God will be there later on. A man will claim to become God. But as I am requesting Kṛṣṇa to show the virāḍ-rūpa, similarly, if some fool accepted the another fool as God, he should request him, 'Please show your virāḍ-rūpa.' Then accept him. Otherwise don't accept." So God has virāḍ-rūpa. So both God and we are, living entity, are of the same quality. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means so 'ham. These words, Vedic words, are there to indicate that "Qualitatively, I am as good as God. He is spirit soul; I am also spirit soul. He has got creative power; I have got creative power. He has got senses; I have got senses." Everything just similar, facsimile. In the Bible it is said, "Man is made after God." Is it not said like that? That means God has exactly the same form. And therefore man is made also, the same form. So in this way both God and the living entities, they are anādi. Anādi, there is no beginning.
So if one is expert in understanding, in analyzing this body, neti neti—"This is blood. This is skin. This is this. This is this. This is urine. This is stool"—then whole body we analyze. Then where is that "I"? We cannot see. But why you cannot see? As soon as the "I" is off, then whose stool, whose skin, whose bone? So in this way, if we analyze, then we can understand that asmin dehe, within this body, the "I" is there. And what is this "I"? Again, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is further advancement. But these rascal—"Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means 'I am God.' " No. Take, consult Bhagavad-gītā what is this aham. Aham means the part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman. Kṛṣṇa is Parabrahman. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So Kṛṣṇa says, "These Brahmans, these living entities, they are My part and parcel." That is aham understanding, "I." What I am? I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.
Spiritual life begins when one understands that he is not this body. Brahma-bhūtaḥ, brahma-bhūtḥ. So long one identifies with the body, he is jīva-bhūtaḥ. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). And when one realizes ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am Brahman..." But unfortunately Māyāvādī philosophers, they take it ahaṁ brahmāsmi means "I am the Supreme Brahman." No. Brahmāsmi means "I am spirit soul." Spirit soul is Brahman, and the Supreme Brahman is different. Supreme Brahman, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12), that is Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu-tattva. So unfortunately these Māyāvādī philosophers, they accept brahmāsmi means "I am the Supreme." We are not the Supreme. We are subordinate.
General Lectures
This Bhagavad-gītā is the science of God. Just like in your Christian Bible or any other scriptures, Muhammadan or Christian or Jews or Buddhists... So ahaṁ brahmāsmi means that "I am spirit soul," this realization. As soon as this realization is there, then the other things immediately follow. What is that? Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Immediately one becomes cheerful. So long we have got this bodily concept of life, we cannot be cheerful. Full of anxiety. And as soon as we understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," the next moment you will be cheerful. There will be no anxiety. I am full of anxiety because on account of this bodily concept of life. Just like one man has got very costly motorcar, and he is running the car on the street. He is very careful so that there may not be any accident in the car, the car may not break. So much anxiety. But a man who is walking on the street, he has no such anxiety. Why the man in the car is so anxious? Because he has identified himself with the car. If the car, if there is any accident to the car, if the car breaks, he thinks, "I am gone. Oh, my car is gone." Although he is different from car, he thinks like that due to identification, false identification. Similarly, because we are falsely identified with this body, therefore we have got so many problems of life. So if we want to make solution of the problems of life, then we have to understand what I am. And unless this question arises in your mind—not only in your mind, everyone's mind—then we should, we must consider that whatever we are doing, that is our defeat because we are doing everything in false consciousness.
As I have explained, that one has to lift himself to the platform of brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, when one is free from all anxieties. Now, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam—what is the gain? The first gain is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), cleansing of the heart. What is that cleansing? That I am thinking at the present moment in my material concept of life that "I am part and parcel of this matter." And when we come to the understanding that "I have nothing to do with this matter; I am accidentally in contact with the matter, but my real position is that I am spirit soul, brahma-bhūtaḥ..." Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Ahaṁ brahma. Lord Śaṅkarācārya, he preached this philosophy, that... Just try to understand, but don't try to misunderstand. Unfortunately, this understanding that ahaṁ brahmāsmi, people are misunderstanding that "I am God." He is not... Nobody can be God. God is supreme. God is great. We are very small. If I am God, if I am great, then how I have come to this position? How I have fallen from my brahma-bhūtaḥ stage? That is not actually understanding. Brahma-bhūtaḥ, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, means "I am part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman." This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā and every Vedic literature, that the living entities are just like sparks of the fire, just like there is big fire and there are sparks also, small particle of fire. That small particle of fire is also fire, but it is not as big as the big fire. Similarly, in quality we are as good as Brahman, but in quantity we are minute, infinitesimal, and He is infinite. That is the difference.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (2): (indistinct) that in our Hindu text, for example, that when it's expressed ahaṁ brahmāsmi, so...
Prabhupāda: Ahaṁ brahmāsmi is the Vedic version, that is all right. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means, "I am spirit. I am not this body." So 'ham means, "I am the same quality as God." But they are misinterpretation: So 'ham means, "I am God." This is nonsense. This is going on.
Guest (2): That's misleading.
Prabhupāda: Misleading. People have become nonsense. (conversation between the two Indonesian guests) You have published Bhagavad-gītā with commentary or simple translation?
Guest (2): With commentaries.
Prabhupāda: So whose commentary you have followed?
Guest (2): We try to take from various books and we try, at first we have to understand clearly their positions, then we put them in a simple way that everybody can understand it clearly. Only the part that's very difficult to (indistinct).
Hṛdayānanda:
- māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa
- bhakti-yogena sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
"One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."
Prabhupāda: Yes. To come to the level of Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, means he's above the control of these modes of material nature. Material dicta..., material nature dictates, "Now you are, your tongue is dry. Just take one cup of tea, or smoke."
| Page Title: | Aham brahmasmi means |
| Compiler: | Rishab, Kanupriya |
| Created: | 06 of Jan, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=8, Con=2, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 11 |