Paramatman

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Paramatman (Sanskrit: परमात्मन्,

Hindu theology, as well as other Indian religions like Sikhism. Paramatman is the "Primordial Self" or the "Self Beyond" who is spiritually identical with the absolute and ultimate reality. Selflessness is the attribute of Paramatman, where all personality/individuality vanishes.[1]

Etymology

The word stem paramātman ([pɐɾɐmaːtmɐn], its nominative singular being paramātmā — परमात्मा, pronounced [pɐɾɐmaːtmaː]) is formed from two words, parama, meaning "supreme" or "highest", and ātman, which means individual self.

The word Ātman generally denotes the Individual Self, but by the word Paramatman which word also expresses Boundless Life, Boundless Consciousness, Boundless Substance in Boundless Space, is meant the Atman of all atmans or the Supreme Self or the Universal Self. The word Atman, which literally means non-darkness or light [citation needed], is Brahman the subtlest indestructible Divine existence. The word Paramatman refers to the Creator of all.[citation needed]

Jainism

Main article: Jīva (Jainism)

In Jainism, each atman or individual self is a potential Paramatman or God, both are essentially the same. It remains as atman only because of its binding karmic limitations, until such time as those limitations are removed. As Paramatman, the atman represents the ultimate point of spiritual evolution.[2]

Even though Jain

Vedic authority nor Monism, all enlightened souls are referred to as Paramatman and regarded as gods. Jainism honours the soul of each man as its own eternally distinct savior.[3] Since the Paramatman of Jainism is unable to create and govern the world, there is no place of God as a creator and bestower of fortune.[4]

Buddhism

Further information:
Anatta

Hinduism

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Hindus believe in one God, who is known variously as Paramatman, Parameshwar, Parabrahman, Purushottam and so on.[5][6] Even though God is one, God manifests in infinite forms, but this is not to be confused with the belief that there are multiple Gods.[6]

Hindus conceptualize the

Saguna Brahman
(Brahman with qualities) is Parabrahman. In Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti respectively are Parabrahman. Mahaganapati is considered as Parabrahman by the Ganapatya sect. Kartikeya is considered as Parabrahman by the Kartikeya sect.

Description in the Upanishads

The sage of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.2, although not using the word Paramatman, explains that at the time of release the portion (aspect) of the Paramatman and the portion (aspect) of the Jiva presiding in the right eye become unified with the Paramatman and the Jiva presiding in the heart, then the Jiva does not see, smell, taste, speak, hear, feel, touch and know; when Paramatman goes out, the Chief Prana goes out after him, followed by the Lower Prana. Paramatman goes out riding on the Jiva following consciousness and work, knowledge of former life or natural capacity. In the Prashna Upanishad IV.11 the word Atman cannot refer to Jiva because the Jiva cannot of its own accord throw off its body or understand avidya, therefore, it refers to Paramatman.[7] The Jiva attains Moksha when he actually knows the Paramatman, the Asarira Prajnatman, to be thousand-headed, to be the governor of all and to be superior to all.[8] Thus, Paramatman is one of the many aspects of Brahman and has all attributes of Brahman.[9] Atman (Spirit) and Paramatman (God) are one, some say they are distinct as well as one, they are one with reference to Shakti but distinct with reference to that power.[10]

Parable of the two birds

Further information: Tree of Jiva and Atman

The word Paramatman is not to be found in the

Atharva Veda
, to weave the parable of the Two Birds:-Two birds.

Two birds, beautiful of wings, close companions, cling to one common tree: of the two one eats the sweet fruit of that tree; the other eats not but watches his companion. The self is the bird that sits immersed on the common tree; but because he is not lord he is bewildered and has sorrow. But when he sees that other who is the Lord and the beloved, he knows that all is His greatness and his sorrow passes away from him. When, a seer, he sees the Golden-hued, the maker, the Lord, the Spirit who is the source of Brahman, then he becomes the knower and shakes from his wings sin and virtue; pure of all stains he reaches the supreme identity.

— Translation of Verses 1-3 of Third Mundaka Upanishad by Sri Aurobindo.

Aurobindo makes the Spirit or Purusha the Source of everything, including Brahman. He makes Purusha more fundamental. Thus, he does not have to say Brahman to be the source of inferior Brahman, and he also dismisses the sense of Reality revealed in imaginative and emotional build-up.[11]

Case of Two souls

The Dualistic school of philosophy initiated by

Upanishads do compare Atman and Paramatman to two birds sitting like friends on the branch of a tree (body) where the Atman eats its fruits (karma
), and the Paramatman only observes the Atman as a witness (sākṣin) of His friend's actions.

Advaita

In

Saguna Brahman. However, there is still a tendency in Shankara to use interchangeably the terms Paramatman and Ishvara, even when he is referring to personal names of Ishvara like Narayana and Vishnu.[14]

Svetasvatara Upanishad developed the conception of a personal God. The Katha Upanishad states that never has any man been able to visualise Paramatman by means of sight, heart, imagination or mind. The Anandamaya-kosha is the Isvara of the Upanishads. Gaudapada called duality maya, and non-duality, the only reality. Maya is the Cosmic Nescience that has in it the plurality of subject and object and therefore, Isvara is organically bound with the world. Beyond the Prana or Isvara is the state of the Infinite limitless Brahman[15] which is why in the Bhagavad Gita
VII.24, Krishna tells Arjuna—"not knowing My unsurpassable and undecaying supreme nature the ignorant believe Me to have assumed a finite form through birth."

With regard to the cause of

anatman or non-atman, makes it to identify itself with gross, subtle and causal bodies and from that arises samsāra, which is of the form of superimposition of qualities of sukha, dukkha etc., on itself, the atman.[16]

Vaishnavism

Paramatman is beyond knowledge and ignorance, devoid of all material attributes (upadhi). In Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita, Paramatman is described as Krishna residing in the hearts of all beings and in every atom of matter. Paramatman is also described in the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 9) as worthy of the bhakti (devotion) of the individual selves:

For I am actually both the one who receives and the Lord over all acts of worship. ...Whoever offers even a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water to Me in devotion, That is a meaningful offering I accept from those whose souls are truly devoted.[17]

He is the overseer and the permitter of their actions.[18][19] Paramatman is different from five elements (pancha mahabhutas), the senses, mind, pradhana and jiva.[20]

Bhakti Yoga can lead to the next step of Paramatman realization as the indwelling God, ultimately leading up to liberation (Mukti
) by God-realization.

The Viṣṇu or the deity of the quality of goodness in the material world is the puruṣa-avatāra known as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu or Paramātmā.[1]

In Bengal, Vaishnava Krishna is viewed as one endowed with his essential svarupa-shakti; he is Bhagawat in full manifestation endowed with Jivasakti and Mayasakti, he the Paramatman and Brahman. Brahman, Paramatman and Bhagavan are 3 gradations of the ultimate reality.[21]

Jiva Goswami, a scholar of the Gaudiya Vaishnava, makes a distinction between Brahman, Paramatman, and Bhagavan, citing a passage from the Bhagavata Purana (1.2.11): "The knowers of the Absolute Reality call that Reality advaya-jnana, 'nondual consciousness,' which is designated as Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan." He asserts that the one absolute reality is conceived differently in terms of the three concepts of Brahman, Paramatman, and Bhagavan, depending on who is doing the conceiving: the advaitins conceive of it as an "all-pervasive Brahman"; the yogis conceive of it as Paramatman; and the Vaishnavas conceive of it as Bhagavan who possesses a transcendent and immaterial form. His contention is that Bhagavan is the most complete conception or manifestation of the Absolute Reality, and the other two are dependent and based on it, Brahman (who is undifferentiated) and Paramatman (as the Supreme soul) are thus understood to be included in Bhagavan.[22]

Time

Time is described in the Bhagavata Purana:

My Lord, I consider Your Lordship to be eternal time, the supreme controller, without beginning and end, the all-pervasive one. ... Eternal time is the witness of all our actions, good and bad, and thus resultant reactions are destined by Him. It is no use saying that we do not know why and for what we are suffering. We may forget the misdeed for which we may suffer at this present moment, but we must remember that Paramātmā is our constant companion, and therefore He knows everything, past, present and future. And because the Paramātmā feature of Lord Kṛṣṇa destines all actions and reactions, He is the supreme controller also. Without His sanction not a blade of grass can move.[2]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9780766129757
    .
  2. ISBN 9788182201132
  3. ISBN 9780486427157
  4. ISBN 9788120817609
  5. ISBN 978-1-107-15867-2
    .
  6. ^
    OCLC 70775665
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  7. ISBN 9788130705293
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  8. ISBN 9788130705569
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  9. ISBN 9788175971257.[permanent dead link
    ]
  10. ISBN 9780766152595
    .
  11. ^ Ry Deshpande. "The Parable of Two Birds". Archived from the original on 15 April 2013.
  12. ^ Ramachandra Dattatrya Ranade (1926). A constructive survey of Upanishadic philosophy. Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 151.
  13. ^ "Two birds in a tree - Soul and Supersoul".
  14. OCLC 181731713
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  15. ^ Ramachandra Dattatrya Ranade (1926). A constructive survey of Upanishadic philosophy. Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. pp. 189–197.
  16. ^ Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati of Sringeri (1973). Sri Samkara's Vivekacudamani. Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 65.
  17. OCLC 181731713
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  18. ^ Bhagavad Gita 13.23 Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Bhagavata Purana 7.14.38 Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Bhagavata Purana 3.28.41 Archived 17 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ISBN 9788177550009
    .
  22. OCLC 181731713
    .

External links
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