Universal
Ayam Atma Brahma — a mahavakya
अयमात्मा ब्रह्म
Ayam ātmā brahma
Simple reading: A-yam aat-maa brah-ma
About this mantra
The mahavakya of the Mandukya Upanishad — this very self is the absolute. The Advaita tradition chose four such sentences, one from each Veda, to carry the Upanishads' whole teaching; this is the Atharva Veda's.
Meaning
This self is Brahman. Ayam — this — is the whole teaching: not a self to be reached after purification, in another life, on a farther shore, but the one presently reading. The Mandukya sets the sentence beside Om itself, matching self and sound limb for limb. It is the tradition's shortest distance between seeker and sought: none.
When to recite it
The nearest contemplation — taken into silent sitting, especially in the day's first stillness; paired traditionally with Om's four quarters in Mandukya study.
Word by word
- अयम्ayam
- this very
- आत्माātmā
- self
- ब्रह्मbrahma
- is Brahman
Source: Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 2