appreciating ātmā ...
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté
I wrote in a different folder,
ātmanā = of ātman
Now this word ātmā must be considered ( sightly different in writing then ātman) as it appears in this śloka as nātmānam avasādayet ( from the bhāgavad gītā)
From a vedāntic view point it means 'pervading substance' - it is derrived from 'āt' which leads us to 'āta' and is rooted in 'tan' - defined as to stretch (a cord) , extend , spread - and from this we get the notion of all-pervading.
- But there is an easier way to this word... that is 'āt' gets us to 'a' which is a name of viṣṇu, of which means 'all pervading' i.e. āt = ād vyāpane = to pervade. And what does ātman do in the human body ? It is all pervading.
ātmā then from a vedāntic view point it means 'pervading substance' - it is derrived from 'āt' which leads us to 'āta' and is rooted in 'tan' - defined as to stretch (a cord) , extend , spread - and from this we get the notion of all-pervading. There is an easier way to this word... that is 'āt' gets us to 'a' which is a name of viṣṇu, of which means 'all pervading' i.e. āt = ād vyāpane = to pervade as forementioned. And what does ātman do in the human body ? It is all pervading.
There is a bit more we can to ~stretch~ this word... We are told the following:
an = to breath
at =to move, to walk
tman = the vital breath and is = ātmán (the masculine form of this word)
Do you see what is shaping up here? This ātmán ~in the flesh~ walks (at) and breathes (an); yet we cannot forget what was offered above about ātmā - it is a 'pervading substance' .
We can now connect a few more dots - this ātmán is the pervading substance ( ātmā ) that walks (at) and breathes (an). It is the infinite found in the finite.
But there is more ( no doubt ) - this 'at' comes from 'ati' which expresses 'beyond' , 'surpassing' , 'excessive'. Not only is this ātmán the pervading substance ( ātmā ) that walks (at) and breathes (an), it is also beyond (ati).
What does that imply ? Who walks, and breathes yet is beyond at the same time ? It is the human that houses ātmán within him/her-self. Said another way , it is the Self within the self. It is our core Being (satta)
that resides within the framework of the body or śarīra¹ .
Now this body plays its role in the term ātmā - it walks and breathes. By it is one more thing too. It is mā. This mā has many meanings, yet I am looking at the 4th derivite of this word and it means 'measure' , it also means 'binding' and 'death'.
The connection is this... it is the body that walks and breathes, it is the ~ all pervading~ substance 'āt' , that is measured out 'mā' as a body (śarīra) that perishes.
But there is more...
Many say this ātmā or ātmán is viśvottīrṇa or transcendental in nature. This ~transcendence~ is all pervading due the composition of this term viśva = all-pervading or all-containing , omnipresent + uttīrṇa = traversed.
It would serve one nicely to get a firm grip on this notion of transcendental... many describe it as 'beyond' but one must keep in mind this does not mean seperate. Let's take this up in the next post.
iti śivaṁ
words
śarīra - 'that which perishes' i.e. the body that comes and goes.
यतसà¥à¤¤à¥à¤µà¤‚ शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṠśivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
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