How atman got separate from Brahman?

[devaraja]

I’m not talking about reincarnation here, but to get a clear view how atman became separated from Brahman in the first place.

The atman became separated from Brahman because it fell out of favour with Brahman, or became attracted to the illusory material world.

In this state of the human being, the atman residing inside the human form, has its mode of goodness transformed to modes of passion and ignorance.

http://astrovision.ca/pages/articles...-suffering.php



I took some time reading some Hindu source but still don’t get it. It is said that due to ignorance that atman became separated from Brahman and samsara is manifest as a mean for the ignorant soul to cultivate wisdom thus re-unite with Brahman once again.


First, how can atman be ignorant since atman is distinguish from body and mind?
Second, how did atman became attracted to material world since the human body and its sense organs are form later?


There are also different interpretation of atman from different commentators, anyone please point out the most reliable source to this topic or help explain it.


Regards

[kallol]

Atman is never seperated from Brahman. It is a continuation of brahman. If brahman is the space then the same space is there in a room or a vessel. Is the space seperated ?

The sunlight is there everywhere. I put reflectors and direct the light to a dark room. The room gets lightened up. The continuity of light is still there.

So brahman or consciousness is unseparable entity whic is all pervading and all encomapssing.

Just to have a seperate identity for transactional purposes - we call the reflected light, or the space within a vessel in different name. For brahman it is atman.

Here the mind is the reflector. The mind is lightened up by consciousness and the mind in turn lightens up the enumerous minds of the lower supporting structures likes organs and cells.

[the sadhu]

I don't percieve any solid difference between the two. Brahman in an intellect could be called atma , and Brahman outside the ego bubble could be called God.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

how atman became separated from Brahman in the first place.

By definition nothing can be separate from brahman.

It seems by your question you have chosen to start at the deep end of the pool regarding the study of sanātana dharma. Please let us know where you are at in your studies and perhaps we can help you find a place where sure-footing can occur.

iti śivaṁ

[devaraja]

Thank you all for the replies.

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté


By definition nothing can be separate from brahman.

It seems by your question you have chosen to start at the deep end of the pool regarding the study of sanātana dharma. Please let us know where you are at in your studies and perhaps we can help you find a place where sure-footing can occur.

iti śivaṁ

I'm at the kindergarten level.
The way i'm studying Hinduism is rather casually unsystematic such as reading post from forums and random Hindu source from google then further research any question that pop up in mind.

And please do help me with the footing, i will appreciate that members here guiding me through the thick jungle of misconception.

[harih]

This question is another way of asking �How did God create the world?�

If we ponder on this a bit͵ we see that there is no rhyme or reason behind creation. Creation simply exists. The world is not bounded by any rules that could be reasoned out.

Another way of seeing this is mathematically:

We have learnt the evaluation of the infinite series:

1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ..... = 2

In reality the quantity on the left end never ceases; it simply goes on and on. But in practical life we see that the sum definitely and unambiguously approaches the value �2� and we are well able to satisfy ourselves by using �2� wherever the quantity on the left appears.

In a similar way͵ constructs like Brahman and Atman are the closest and most satisfactory approxomations to �The Truth� and such constructs ultimately take us to the truth - and yet they are not �The Truth� which is beyond Naama and Roopa.

[devaraja]

This question is another way of asking �How did God create the world?�

If we ponder on this a bit͵ we see that there is no rhyme or reason behind creation. Creation simply exists. The world is not bounded by any rules that could be reasoned out.

I think i understand better now, thanks.

Another way of seeing this is mathematically:

We have learnt the evaluation of the infinite series:

1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ..... = 2

In reality the quantity on the left end never ceases; it simply goes on and on. But in practical life we see that the sum definitely and unambiguously approaches the value �2� and we are well able to satisfy ourselves by using �2� wherever the quantity on the left appears.

In a similar way͵ constructs like Brahman and Atman are the closest and most satisfactory approxomations to �The Truth� and such constructs ultimately take us to the truth - and yet they are not �The Truth� which is beyond Naama and Roopa.

By this, can we say that all individual consciousness are not static because they came from one source and will continue to spread?

[rama_t]

Namasthe All
IN BG..didn't Lord say that HE started creation which is continuing and finally merges everything into HIM?

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Thank you all for the replies.
The way i'm studying Hinduism is rather casually unsystematic such as reading post from forums and random Hindu source from google then further research any question that pop up in mind.

And please do help me with the footing, i will appreciate that members here guiding me through the thick jungle of misconception.

There is an ocean of knowledge to consider , please see this post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1946&highlight=ocean

Yet if one wishes to begin, it would be good to see this ocean in just one cup. That would be the bhāgavad gītā and considered the cream of the veda-s. It gives you a full 360º view of the knowledge at hand.

Within our sanātana dharma (~Hinduism~) there is a classical view of 6 schools of thought (or saḍ darśana) or the 6 schools of vision, seeing, sight. We know them as :

• śāṁkhya
• yoga
• vedānta
• mīmāṃsā
• nyāya
• vaiśeṣika

The 6 darśana-s (seeing, looking, knowledge, traditional doctrine or precept , collection of such doctrines) are so complete in themselves, that many people took the 6 to be independent views. This is not the case, it is the 6, when taken as whole give a 360º view of Reality.
A good book on the 6 schools is 'The Systems of Indian Philosophy', by Subodh Kapoor

Last, if you are not just window shopping and wish to go deeper into the knowledge, then I would consider the top 10 upaniṣad-s. This post reviews them for you: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=4617

In my humble opinion after reading the information above one can begin to form a reasonable point of view regarding sanātana dharma. All along the way one can ask questions here on HDF and get other's insights and their take on the knowledge. You will (quickly) find the views are rarely unanimous .

iti śivaṁ

[devaraja]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté


There is an ocean of knowledge to consider , please see this post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1946&highlight=ocean

Yet if one wishes to begin, it would be good to see this ocean in just one cup. That would be the bhāgavad gītā and considered the cream of the veda-s. It gives you a full 360º view of the knowledge at hand.

Within our sanātana dharma (~Hinduism~) there is a classical view of 6 schools of thought (or saḍ darśana) or the 6 schools of vision, seeing, sight. We know them as :

• śāṁkhya
• yoga
• vedānta
• mīmāṃsā
• nyāya
• vaiśeṣika

The 6 darśana-s (seeing, looking, knowledge, traditional doctrine or precept , collection of such doctrines) are so complete in themselves, that many people took the 6 to be different views. This is not the case, it is the 6, when taken as whole give a 360º view of Reality.
A good book on the 6 schools is 'The Systems of Indian Philosophy', by Subodh Kapoor

Last, if you are not just window shopping and wish to go deeper into the knowledge, then I would consider the top 10 upaniṣad-s. This post reviews them for you: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=4617

In my humble opinion after reading the information above one can begin to form a reasonable point of view regarding sanātana dharma. All along the way one can ask questions here on HDF and get other's insights and their take on the knowledge. You will (quickly) find the views are rarely unanimous .

iti śivaṁ

Great thanks!
Before my eyes get too fatigue with too much reading, may i request about a few nice links to downloadable audio dharma talks from any insightful Hindu teachers.