section_path: Philosophy and practice/The Mahāvākyas - the identity of Ātman and Brahman/Mahāvākyas
section_name: Mahāvākyas
paragraph_text: Mahāvākyas
  
  According to Shankara, a large number of Upanishadic statements reveal the identity of Ātman and Brahman. In the Advaita Vedānta tradition, four of those statements, the Mahāvākyas, which are taken literal, in contrast to other statements, have a special importance in revealing this identity. They are: