upAdhi

Srikrishna Ghadiyaram srikrishna_ghadiyaram at YAHOO.COM
Thu Aug 8 15:06:03 CDT 2002


Hari Om !!

--- Jagannath Chatterjee <jagchat01 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> --- Srikrishna Ghadiyaram >
> > In the context of Atman: the lakshana or body,
> mind,
> > intellect get superimposed on the otherwise
> > guna-rahita Atman; and the Atman becomes a limited
> > Jiva.
>
> There is a distinction between the jivatman and the
> antaratman, is it not? The antaratman remains
> separate
> from the jivatman inspite of the superimposition.


These words have been a great source of confusion for
me. I guess you are using jIvatman as a substitute for
EGO. To me there is only one 'Atman', call it jivAtman
or paramAtman or antarAtman. Your wording probably is
in sync with the visishtAdvaita, or dvaita systems.
jIva is a notion superimposed on the 'one and one
only' Atman, because of the upAdhi of mind and
intellect (put together as mAya). In this context
superimposing (apparently) the qualities of the Mind,
the Atman appears to be limited, and suffering. I am
that Atman. I need to come out of that delusion of
limitation by freeing myself from this upAdhis.

In that sense every thing (jIva and jagat) is
'superimposed' on the 'one and one only' Atman.

Nothing other than Atman is sentient. Atman is
'unattached' to any thing else. So, superimposition is
only 'apparent'. But, as long as that
'unattached-ness' is not 'Realised' we perceive
'mutual superimposition' i.e body, mind, intellect
seem to be sentient and Atman seems to be limited
having the attachment and consequent suffering (of
objects called thoughts)

> Can
> you kindly explain the finer details of how this
> distinction is maintained? How is this similiar to
> the
> superimposition of the prakriti on the purusha?
>

Though I do not understand strict and accurate usage
of the words 'prakriti' and 'purusha' from the Sankhya
point of view, I believe purusha is nothing but Atman,
and prakriti is nothing but mAya (MIND)

There are other postings on the list, including
today's article from HH Swami Chandrasekhara
Saraswati's book Hindu Dharma. When you read and
understand those, you can correct me, as necessary.

I am an elementary school student on these subjects.
My explanation is simply my understanding on some of
these topics, but in no way a comprehensive Advaitic
understanding. So, use my words with discretion.

Om Namo Narayanaya !!

Srikrishna



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