The statement "Prajñānam Brahma", located in the Aitareya Upanishad of the Ṛg Veda, forms one of the cornerstone affirmations of Vedantic metaphysics. As a Mahāvākya, it functions as a concise distillation of the non-dual insight that characterizes the Upanishadic vision: consciousness itself is the ultimate reality. In the context of the Aitareya, this assertion arises from a meditation on the source of creation, affirming that what pervades and animates the universe is not material substance but luminous intelligence.
In the Advaita Vedānta tradition, prajñāna is recognized as self-revealing consciousness, the very ground of all experience. Brahman is not conceived as a distant cause but as the immediate presence within and around all things. Knowledge here is transformative, dissolving the mistaken sense of separation. To know Brahman is to recognize the luminous essence of one's own awareness, and to live from that recognition is to dwell in freedom.
