We are connected to one another

“Tat tvam asi.”

This quote from ancient Indian scriptures “Chandogya Upanishad” brought the universe to my inner world. Literally meaning, “That is you,” this resolute, brief phrase transparently mirrors the creation of the universe and the birth of all living beings. It intuitively inspires us to realize that each of us, all animals and plants, and the remaining living forms shape their own universe and are part of the greater cosmic world, thus mutually connecting to one another.

"Bees collect juice from trees here and there to make it into honey,” a father says. “Then, once that honey is gathered, it doesn't have to recite particularly, ‘I've just turned from the juice of the tree.’ No matter what you used to be like before you were changed – a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a pig, a grasshopper, a fly, a mosquito, or whatever – you are just the being that you are. All the living things in the universe are built upon that very minute stuff that is believed to be the atman of their own. The existence of it is the truth as well as the atman, and that is you.”

Left confused, his son asks the father to give him more details. The father tells the son to pick a fruit from the little leaf linden tree. Following the father's directions, the son splits it up and cracks the hidden seed. As he says that he cannot see anything in there, the father answers, "Look up this tall tree that is made of all the minute elements that you cannot see. Believe that they exist although they are invisible. Their existence is the truth, and this is just you.”

Surprisingly, this inspiration goes beyond merely explaining the truths to declaring, “Tat tvam asi,” which lets everyone and everything into the world or vice versa. Indeed, I have never seen any phrase that is a more perfect link than this one that connects us or even to the universe clearly and tightly.