[Advaita-l] Atman -- soul or witness or both ?

[Sarma KV]

In the mantra from SvEtaaSvatara upanishat that I quoted in my previous note
on this topic, the word
"antarAtma" occurs. This may be taken as one of the vEdic references for:
dEva (God) = (antar)Atma = saakshi (= witness.)

Sivaaya guravE namaH
-Sarma KV

On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 2:22 AM, savithri devaraj <
savithri_devaraj at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Namaste Michael -
>
> How indeed do we live the truth of "atman is brahman" - this is the billion
> dollar question.
>
> "Atma as the eternal witness" is not something we can practice, or
> something we can repeat to gain the experience of this statement - it is at
> best an inference from examining the three states and analyzing our
> experiences based on sruti. In each experience we believe we are the
> witnessing consciousness, I think we are deluding ourselves because
> consciousness is objectified is all these experiences and it is no more the
> eternal witness then. We really can't wilfully be the eternal witness.
> In other words, it is not exactly a purusha-tantra sadhana to realize the
> pure consciousness. Many Sruti vaakyas have specified that realization
> is vastu-tantra, not purusha-tantra.
>
> When this exact question was raised, the answer from swamis living in
> austerities has been the same - perform nishkaama karma, clean the mind off
> of its dull and dross and leave the rest.
>
> In my opinion, the only practical thing to do would be to perform our nitya
> and naimittika karmas without attachment, and operate in the transactional
> world from a place of fullness fully believing we are the infinite and lack
> nothing, until this becomes our nature effortlessly.
>
> my 2 cents,
> Savithri
>
> --- On Wed, 8/26/09, Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>
> From: Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Atman -- soul or witness or both ?
> To: "advaita vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 8:33 AM
>
>
> The mahavakya all remind us of the shared identity of atman and Brahman.
>
> But how do we personally enter the truth of this ?
>
> Some teachers and gurus emphasise the practicality of atman as eternal
> witness, whom we can invite to witness every thought, every word, every
> action; as a means to unite with Brahman in the simplest possible manner.
>
> But I note that 'atman as witness' doesn't seem to figure much in classical
> texts. Or am I wrong ? Is this more implied than stated outright ?
>
> I'd appreciate comment.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
>
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नगुरोरधिकं नगुरोरधिकं नगुरोरधिकं नगुरोरधिकम्।
शिवशासनतश्शिवशासनतः शिवशासनतश्शिवशासनतः ।।

Best Regards,
Syam
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