Etymology Discussion (cont)

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

Namaste Kenji,

I am posting this message from the adavitin list, as it
is related to the etymology discussion.

Shrinivas
--------------------------------------------------------

Namaste Kenji,

The following part of Sunderji's post combined
with your remark on the meaning of A, seems to bring
out the meaning of Atma.

--- In advaitin at y..., "sunderh" <sunderh at y...> wrote:
> that 'tman' [originally denoting 'that'(t) 'me'(ma)]may have come
to
> signify one's own proper self or essence...............
>

Continuing the exercise initiated on the advaita-l list:

t denotes that, seems very reasonable to assume this.
(or may be this needs more explanation)

m denotes (limited) Purusha, (when m becomes more and more
subtle, it becomes a deep humming sound and finally
silence - then it denotes the Shiva tattva).

hence tma is that (limited) me.

>From your earlier posting
> The 'long' 'A' at the beginning, by itself would mean
> near or near to as a prefix.

Atma thus is "near that me". Atma that means "that limited
me". Probably that is why we need teachings like:
Atma = brahma, to remove the assumed limitation.

Regarding praNa, do you think the following may be related:
pra (original) aNu (jIva), praNa thus will refer to that
which is the very essence of a Jiva.

Best regards
Shrinivas