[Advaita-l] Four AtmA-s from dAsabodha

[V Subrahmanian]

Namaste Srinivas ji,

How does one distinguish between these two:

50. There is space that is occupying the room (Mathakasha), and similarly
the aspect of Brahman that is occupying the universe is called the Self as
God (Shivatma).

51. There is space that is outside of the room (Mahakasha) and similarly,
there is that aspect of Brahman which is beyond the universal appearance
which is called the Self that is beyond (Paramatma).

One can understand that the jivatma is akin to the pot-space.  How is
ShivAtma, God, shown as something lower than the ParamAtman?

In the Panchadashi of Sri Vidyaranya, the Chapter 6, verses 18 onwards
presents a somewhat similar analogy.

It would be a good mananam exercise to elaborate on the Dasabodha verses in
the light of any commentary that could be there.

Regards,

subrahmanian.v


On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 1:51 PM, Shrinivas Gadkari
<sgadkari2001 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Namaste,
>
> In dAsabodha 8.7.45-52, there is an interesting description
> of four AtmA-s compared to four types of AkAsha.
> see: http://www.sadguru.us/dbb010908.html
>
> jivAtmA : brahmAMsha within body (piNDa)
> shivAtmA : brahmAMsha within this brahmANDa
> paramAtmA : brahmAMsha outside this brahmANDa
> nirmalAtmA : paresha (highest Ishvara) without any upAdhi
>
> ghaTAkAsha : space (AkAsha) within a pot (ghaTa)
> maThAkAsha : space within the room (maTha) containing the pot
> mahadAkAsha : space outside the room
> chidAkAsha : space without any upAdhi (qualification/ limitation)
>
> jivAtmA is similar to ghaTAkAsha
> shivAtmA is similar to maThAkAsha
> paramAtmA is similar to mahadAkAsha
> nirmalAtmA is similar to chidAkAsha
>
> hari om.
>
> Regards,
> Shrinivas
>
>
>