[Advaita-l] carAcara

[Siva Senani Nori]

Namaste Sylvainji
   
  carAcara is a common word in my mother tongue Telugu as well. Its meaning is restricted to 'the mobile and immobile', as in living and non-living, that is, the world as a whole. Atman is suddhachaitanya and with that pure consciousness a negative quality such as immobility would not be associated. Consider two mantras from the IsAvAsya Upanishad (translation by Swami Nikhilananda):
   
  -------
   
  anejad ekam manaso javIyo nainaddevA Apnuvan pUrvamarshat
  taddhAvato'nyAnatyeti tishThattasminnapo mAtariSvA dadhAti || 4 ||
   
  That non—dual Atman, though never stirring, is swifter than the mind. The senses cannot reach It, for It moves ever in front. Though standing still, It overtakes others who are running. Because of Atman, Vayu, the World Soul apportions the activities of all.
   
  tadejati tannaijati taddUre tadvantike
  tadantarasya sarvasya tadusarvasyAsya bAhyatah || 5 ||
   
  It moves and moves not; It is far and likewise near. It is inside all this and It is outside all this.
   
  ------
   
  We see that even where immobility is attributed to Atman, the intended sense is that It is superior to those with mobility. The attributed immobility seems more a figure of speech, and is definitely not the main import.
   
  In fact, Sri Sankara in his bhashya interprets the Atman's immobility thus: mobility is "falling from one's state" (svAvasthApracyutih); Atman is without such mobility (tadvarjitam); it is always in one form (sarvadA ekarUpam iti arthah).
   
  Whatever little exposure I have, I think it is not at all customary to refer to Atman as the immobile. 
   
  Senani
   
  Sylvain <elisabeth-sylvain at sympatico.ca> wrote:
  Namaste

Does the word carAcara ( cara - acara ) refer to the mobile (manifested, universe) and immobile (unmanifested, immutable, atman) ?

Sylvain
_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org



 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com