Atma/ Jivatma/ Soul
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Eternal, imperishable
Speaking Tree, By Ashok Vohra, Nov 2, 2023: The Times of India
All schools of Indic philosophy with the sole exception of the materialist school, Charvaka, believe that Atman, soul, is eternal and imperishable. Explaining the nature of Atman, Krishn says in the Bhagwad Gita, verse 2:25, ‘The soul is spoken of as invisible, inconceivable, and unchangeable’ and that ‘the soul is neither born, nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. The soul is without birth, eternal, immortal, and ageless. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed (Gita 2:20).’
Asimilar conception of Atman is contained in the Kathopanishad, 1:2:18, where it says, ‘The soul is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.’ It is because the Atman, unlike the body, is devoid of the six types of transformations: existence in the womb, birth, growth, procreation, diminution, and death.
The nature of Atman cannot be comprehended by indriyas, the senses, because as the Kathopanishad argues, ‘Beyond the senses are the objects of the senses; subtler than the objects of the senses is the mind. Beyond the mind is the intellect; and subtler than the intellect is the soul.’ Anything that is subtle cannot be grasped by the grotesque. So, to understand the nature of the soul, the material intellect is not sufficient. We need the help of external sources like scriptures and the guru.
In its earliest form, the doctrine of the Self is found in two major pre-Buddhist Upanishads: the Brihadaranyakaand the Chhandogya.According to the former, ‘The soul is glorious, unborn, deathless, free from old age, immortal, and fearless’ (4:4:25) and according to the latter, ‘That which is the subtle essence of this whole world is called Self. That is the truth; that is the Self.’ It is the root of the world on whom all beings depend and in which they dwell. It is the Self of all and is without a parallel. There is no distinction between the Atman, individual self, and the Brahmn, universal Self. The Chhandogya Upanishad asserts ‘Tat tvam asi’ – That thou art.
According to Adi Shankara, this aphorism dispels the false knowledge of the embodied self. In the embodied self, it is the body that is subject to change, not the Self. In his commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Adi Shankara sums up the meaning of Atman thus: ‘That great birthless Self is undecaying, immortal, deathless and fearless Brahmn. Fearless is Brahmn. He who knows thus becomes the fearless Brahmn.’ This passage means that the Atman is immortal and imperishable. It is free from three kinds of changes – birth, old age and death – and the effects of kama, desire; karma, action; and maya, delusion; krodh, anger, which are causes of death. Since the Atman is free from death and consequent cessation, it is fearless.
Fear is a product of avidya, nescience. Once the conditions of change as well as fear are negated, nescience too is nullified. The fearless self which is devoid of avidya is the vast, infinite, and great Brahmn. Whoever realises that the Self is the fearless Brahmn, indeed becomes the fearless Brahmn, that is, Sat Chit Ananda – pure existence, pure consciousness and pure bliss. This realisation, Adi Shankara upholds, is the objective of all Upanishads.
The writer is a former professor of Philosophy, University of Delhi.
Experiencing the Atman
John Hierl, March 11, 2023: The Times of India
Why do we seek happiness in a finite world of ‘mine’ and ‘yours’? How does the ego come to identify with what is only maya, keeping us bound? The Vishnu Purana in part seven, chapter six, explains the problem in clear words: “The intellect takes what is not the Atman to be the Atman. Therefore, the mind takes what is not one’s own to be ‘mine’. ” In other words, from our false identifications with the body and mind arise ignorance that the ego defends at all costs.
How are we to free ourselves from it? Verse 2 of the Kena Upanishad provides a tool on which to meditate: “That which is the hearing behind hearing, the thinking behind thinking … Having abandoned the ego and rising above all senses, the wise become immortal. ” Theverse asks us that no matter what we perceive in any given moment, we should keep an inner distance to it. Instead, we should ask: Who is the entity behind this thinking and experiencing? By inquiring thus, we may find there is a Subtle Consciousness behind all our knowledge, which can be described as: “I am Eternal. I remain unaffected by whatever is going on. There is nothing to achieve or to be done, as I am the Silent Witness. I am ever changeless and selfshining. ” It is by stepping behind any thought and sense perception that we will come to understand the Self. However, for moksha, we also have to directly experience it as the one link called Brahmn, which unifies what is always One in the first place. Verse 5 relates Brahmn to our mind: “Which one cannot grasp with one’s mind, but by which the mind itself is grasped, know That alone as Brahmn. ” We think we are the mind and try to reach Brahmn with it. But as the verse states, it is the other way round: Brahmn comes to be reflected in the mind with its maya and is the only knower. Just as you cannot see your eye, but see through it, in the same way, awaken to the thought I am Brahmn. The more we set anchor within this subtlety, the more that same Self everywhere becomes known within and evident at all times.
We may practise the verses by using our memories. So, the next time you find yourself reminiscing, take a step back and ask yourself: Who isremembering this now and who was there in that memory? You will come to know that it is the Atman which was there as the Only Presence at the time and is still the same presence now in this moment. From the viewpoint of Supreme Reality, nothing has changed – only your ego with its fleeting likes and dislikes. Eventually, one should conclude: The Atman as the Brahmn is all which exists – there is nothing else to realise.
Our True Self is simply the Only Constant. If we practise thus, we will know what the Eternal Absolute is and realise that whatever takes place within the mind is only the rise and fall of ego-awareness, which pertains to an illusive and limited ‘I’. Any thought we come to know is only there because Consciousness within the Atman makes it known to us.
Soul Is Beyond Gender Identities
Shri Shri Anandamurti, Atman Or Soul Is Beyond Gender Identities, Jan 17, 2017: The Times of India
Jivatma, the unit Self, is neither male nor female; it is beyond such identifications. For the proper expression of one's latent samskaras or reactive momenta, one gets reborn into the body of a woman, man or hermaphrodite. There is no question of high or low, superior or inferior, noble or ignoble because whatever might be the sex of the body , the jivatma is just the witnessing faculty of the mind that it is attached to.
The unexpressed psychic reactions (samskaras) of the disembodied soul are guided by the Cosmic Mind and adjusted with a proper structure, at a proper time and a proper place, providing a congenial environment for the expression of the unrequited samskaras.
Depending upon the nature of the samskaras there is either samyojani shakti, the predominance of the tendency to attract or vibhajani shakti, the predominance of the tendency to be attracted. The nature of the force of attraction is to draw the object of enjoyment towards itself, and the nature of the force which is attracted is to move towards the object of enjoyment. When there is dominance of samyojani shakti in one's latent samskaras, the disembodied soul attains a female body for its outward expression.Conversely , where there is a dominance of vibhajani shakti, it attains a male body . Where there is an approximate balance between the two, the disembodied soul attains the body of a hermaphrodite. Even here the balance between is not perfect; there is a slight tilt in favour of one or the other. That's why some hermaphrodites are more inclined towards masculinity, and some, femininity .
In undeveloped creatures, there is a balance between the samyojani and vibhajani shaktis and thus they are asexual. Being subjected to less internal struggle and more external struggle they can divide their bodies into a number of parts, but developed creatures do not have this capacity. In order to increase their numbers they are compelled to take the help of one another with the samyojani and vibhajani forces. Thus, sexual differences exist to permit the proper expression of samskaras.
However, these sexual differences have no absolute value. So the characteristic of the human mind to attract or be attracted depends on mental tendency . If there is a glandular change in the physical structure there will be a corresponding change in the samyojani or vibhajani forces of the mind. If there is a major change in either of the forces there will be a onding change in the physical corresponding change in the physical body . As a result, males can be converted into females and females into males.
Scriptures say that the disembodied soul first accepts the sperm with the help of the Cosmic Mind and then, getting united with the ovum, produces an embryo for the proper expression of its latent samskaras. On the one hand the embryo acquires psychic nourishment; on the other hand its samskaras are expressed internally .Wise people say that the living being gets nourishment first in the father's body , then in the mother's womb.
Thus the characteristics that determine sex, whether male, female or hermaphroditic, are not fixed or final.Hence on this basis there should be no discrimination between people there is no sex difference in the jivatman. In spiritual practice, too, no artificial distinction between men and women should be encouraged. Only in those aspects of spiritual practice which depend upon the harmonious functioning of body and mind such as asanas and mudras should glandular and psychological differences be taken into consideration.
See also
Adi Shankara/ Sankar(a) (ancient philosopher)
Atma/ Jivatma/ Soul
Bio-diversity in Jammu,Kashmir,Ladakh: An Introductions
Indian Philosophy: General Observations On The Systems Of Indian Philosophy
Indian: Philosophy: The Kapila And The Pâtañjala Samkhya (Yoga)
