Ishwa helper Reged: 03/03/02 Posts: 553

Re: Faith in One�s Self [Re: VJR] #13899 - 03/25/02 04:06 AM Edit Reply Quote

Dear VJR, First, the question is not primarily how we are looking at the concepts of Purusha and Prakrti and Atman and Brahman, but how our tradition descibed them. It is very evident from the the Vedic literature, that the most ancient philosophical Mah�v�kyas of the Br�hmana period with Rishis like Udd�laka Aaruni and Shvetaketu, Y�jnavalkya, etc. euqate Atman with Brahman. And Brahman is defined as Sarvam khalu=everything. So out tradition from the Vedic times made the identity of Atman with Sarva-Brahman (K�rana=cause and K�rya=effect) Secondly, your definition of Atman is more what is described by the word Pr�na or life force. This is more the biological description. And of course life force never dies, it's the most basic of basics of Prakrti, but it changes constantly, that's why it is called Vyakta. But Atman as is defined by the ancients is Self-Consciousness or the ability to be aware of itself, which Pr�na is not!. You see, there's a difference in definition. Pr�na as the Prakrtic side of Brahman is just the life force, and Atman is the self-conscious side. And Atman is mostly translated by the word Soul. Of course Atman-Purusha, Prakrti-Jiiva and Mahat-Jiiv�tman never die really (except for their Vyakta changes). They're everchanging till they are resolved in the formless eternal potential Brahman. These three start immediately at the same time when created. Everything in the world is connected with everything, that is the meaning of Sarvam Khalu Brahman. The diversity in Saguna-Brahman depends on the Triguna.