Tat tvam asi: you are that
Tat tvam asi ("you are that") is from the Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7. The sage Uddalaka Aruni says it to his son Shvetaketu, and repeats it nine times through 6.16.3, each time after a plain example: honey, rivers, a seed, salt in water. "That" is the one Being behind everything; "you" is the listener.
Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7
स आत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो
sa ātmā tat tvam asi śvetaketo
That is the Self. You are that, Shvetaketu.
The whole passage
Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7
स य एषोऽणिमैतदात्म्यमिदं सर्वं तत्सत्यं सआत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो इति भूय एव माभगवान्विज्ञापयत्विति तथा सोम्येति होवाच ॥
sa ya eṣo'ṇimaitadātmyamidaṃ sarvaṃ tatsatyaṃ saātmā tattvamasi śvetaketo iti bhūya eva mābhagavānvijñāpayatviti tathā somyeti hovāca ||
That finest essence: all of this has it as its Self. That is the real. That is the Self. You are that, Shvetaketu. "Teach me more, sir," the son said. "Very well, my dear," said his father.
Who said it, and to whom
Uddalaka Aruni to his son Shvetaketu
Shvetaketu comes home at twenty-four after twelve years of study, sure of himself. His father asks whether he learned the teaching by which the unheard becomes heard and the unknown becomes known (6.1.3). He has not. So Uddalaka teaches him with things from the kitchen and the garden: a banyan seed split open until nothing is left to see, salt left overnight in water that tastes of salt from every side. Each lesson ends with the same sentence.
How the acharyas read it
Shankara
Shankara reads it as a statement of identity. "That" is Being, the fine essence the chapter has been describing; "you" is the self of the one listening. Set aside what belongs only to the body and mind on both sides, and what remains is one.
Where others read it differently
Ramanuja reads both words as naming Brahman: Brahman as the cause of the world, and Brahman as the inner Self of Shvetaketu, who is its body. Madhva’s school divides the words as sa ātmā atat tvam asi, "you are not that", and reads the refrain as the self depending on the Lord.
Writing it out
- तत्त्वमसिtattvamasiAs the text prints it, joined
- तत् त्वम् असिtat tvam asiWord by word
Both forms are correct. Check the doubled त्त in तत्त्वम्; dropping one त is a common slip in tattoos. Download the card at full size and give the file to your artist so the strokes stay exact.
A print-ready card in Devanagari, 1080 by 1350 pixels. Open it full size for a tattoo stencil, calligraphy reference or framing.
Copy or share the line
स आत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो
sa ātmā tat tvam asi śvetaketo
That is the Self. You are that, Shvetaketu.
Uddalaka to Shvetaketu · Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7
The same thought in the Gita
Read next to Bhagavad Gita 13.2: Krishna: know me as the knower of the field in every field. Shankara reads it the way he reads tat tvam asi.
One line each morning
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Send my weekKeep reading
- Aham brahmasmi: I am BrahmanBrihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10
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Questions people ask
- What does tat tvam asi mean?
- "You are that." Tat means that, tvam means you, asi means are. In the Chandogya Upanishad "that" is the one Being everything comes from, and "you" is Shvetaketu, the person listening.
- Where does tat tvam asi come from?
- Chandogya Upanishad, chapter 6, first at 6.8.7. The Chandogya belongs to the Sama Veda. The sentence closes each of nine teachings, from 6.8.7 to 6.16.3.
- Is tat tvam asi a mahavakya?
- Yes. Tradition names four great sentences, one from each Veda, and tat tvam asi is the one from the Sama Veda.
- How do I write tat tvam asi in Sanskrit for a tattoo?
- In Devanagari it is तत्त्वमसि, as the text prints it, or तत् त्वम् असि word by word. Use the full-size card on this page as the reference file.
Sources and method
Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7, Sama Veda. Sanskrit from the Wisdom corpus, read against the sanskritdocuments.org edition (KB up_chhandogya.498).
The English is Wisdom's own, drafted from the Sanskrit with Shankara's commentary (S. Sitarama Sastri's public-domain English) and checked against Swami Paramananda (1919) for tone. Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, under human review.