[Advaita-l] Re: gauDapAda kArikA-s

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Sat, 24 May 2003, Ravishankar Venkatraman wrote:

> Some more questions to better understand this.
>
> Is that the reason Brahman = Atman?

Yes.

> Does that mean Atman is just a reflection of Brahman in our individual
> bodies?

Not just.  In fact the boundary between Atman and Brahman is arbitrary.
Placing it at the limit of the body is just convenient.  Like the boundary
between USA and Mexico is the Rio Grande river.  It could have been to the
north or it could have been to the south but it was convenient to have it
marked by a natural phenomenon like a river.

> Does that also mean that Brahman has an identity which is separate from
> the our individual identities? or you are using an analogy to explain,
> but truly Brahman has no identity.

Yes and no.  In the saguna aspect Brahman has a seperate identity but in
the nirguna aspect It doesn't.  Again "identity" is an arbitrary mapping
onto the infinite.


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/