The mahavakyas are four short sentences drawn from the Upanishads, one from each of the four Vedas. Prajnanam brahma, consciousness is Brahman, from the Rig. Aham brahmasmi, I am Brahman, from the Yajur. Tat tvam asi, thou art That, from the Sama. Ayam atma brahma, this Self is Brahman, from the Atharva. There are many memorable lines in the Upanishads and only these four carry the designation, which invites the question of what the criterion is.
The criterion is grammatical. Each is an identity statement joining two terms that ordinary experience holds apart: the individual and the absolute. They are not descriptions of Brahman, not instructions, not praise. They are equations, and their form is what makes them usable. Vedanta developed a technique for reading them called bhaga tyaga lakshana, in which the incompatible parts of each term are set aside and the common referent is allowed to remain, in the way that saying this is that man refers to one person across two very different occasions.
They are also arranged as a sequence, and traditional teaching moves through them in a set order. Prajnanam brahma is the general statement, made in the third person. Tat tvam asi is instruction, delivered by a teacher to a student. Ayam atma brahma is recognition, stated of the Self as present. Aham brahmasmi is the first-person realisation, said by the one who has understood. The progression runs from description to address to recognition to identity, which is also the shape of the enquiry described in the Upanishads as a whole.
Four sentences, chosen for their structure, arranged as a path. To see the texts they were drawn from, explore more of The Living Sanatan Timeline.
Part 22 of 100 — Series II: To the Eternal
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