[Advaita-l] Sarvamkalvidam Brahma

[H S Chandramouli]

On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 1:13 AM, umesh ramaswamy via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> According to upanishadic mahavaakya 'sarvam kalvidam brahma' this whole
> universe is pervaded by Brahman and it is the material as well as
efficient
> cause. In that case the body with all the koshas all the way to individual
> atma is also Brahman. My question is Why does Vedanta start with
> differentiating atma as different from deha and it's attendant Koshas?



Namste.



Brahman is presented in two aspects by Shruti. Both the aspects are
addressed variously as Brahman/Atman/Sat (सत्)/Tat ( तत्) and should be
understood contextually. One aspect is as Shudha Brahman which refers to
its svarUpa and addressed as satyam jnAnam anantham Brahma / nEha nAnAsti
kinchana etc. The other is अज्ञात आत्मा (aj~nAta AtmA) and refers to its
aspect (tatastha lakshaNa) as the cause for Creation etc and is addressed
by Shruti vAkyAs such as yatOvA imAni bhUtAni jAyantE/tdhEdam tarhi
avyAkRtamAsIt etc.

 If the mahAvAkya ‘sarvam khalvidam Brahma’ is understood as referring to
its being the material as well as efficient cause for Creation, it is the
second aspect which is addressed. It is NOT Shudha Brahman, but अज्ञात
आत्मा(aj~nAta AtmA). The Shruti vAkya << mRttikEtyEva satyam >> can be
extended right upto this << अज्ञात आत्मा इत्येव सत्यम् (aj~nAta AtmA ityEva
satyam) >>. It is this which is also termed upAdhi for Creation, prAkArI,
etc.



However in the conclusion drawn in the above post << In that case the body
with all the koshas all the way to individual
 atma is also Brahman >>, it should be noted that AtmA in this conclusion
should refer to  aj~nAta AtmA only. In this context, all these are mithyA
only including aj~nAta AtmA.  The Shudha Brahman is different from all
these and is satya. That is the one to be Realized.



This aj~nAta AtmA is the principal component of मूलाविद्या (mUlAvidyA).



Regards