TAT TVAM ASI

Tat tvam asi in Sanskrit means "that art thou."  You are Brahman.  You are Brahman in that you carry with you the personal or subjective aspect of the Brahman called the Atman.

In the West, if a person declared himself to be Brahman, or God, he would be tossed in an asylum,or at the very least be shunned, avoided.  In the East, by contrast, and in India especially, an individual announcing that he is God would be met with, "Well, good for you.  At last you realized it."  He'd be celebrated.

But who is realizing at last that he is God?  It is the Atman who has discovered it and now declares it.  For the individual it is a "mystical experience," for lack of a better description, but when finally all has settled, he understands in his bones what has happened to him, that this is the so-called awakening.

It is interesting that the Atman for many years does not know it is the Brahman, encumbered as he is by the "maya" or illusion that comes with living in the physical world.  This maya has been likened to dust covering a compass. The compass cannot find what it is naturally drawn to, which in this case is the Brahman, hence the problem.

It is only when the dust is cleared away, when a person begins sadhana, or spiritual practice, that the Atman sees who he truly is and awakens into it.