Re: what is Paramatma?
Originally Posted by
Skull
Then Purushottama is another synonym for Paramatma?
Here is mighty Jnanadeva commenting on Gita 15:17 -
Why this state is called Supreme "Person" when it sounds so very impersonal, is a puzzle to me.
Namaste Skull
As per Upanishads, as far as I comprehend, Purushottama is synonym of Paramatma. Shri Krishna identifies Himself with both these terms and also with 'unborn mahesvara'.
I think, the confusion of person has to do with the perspective. We understand 'Person' as a man of limbs etc,. In Sanskrit, the original word is Purusha, which in modern parlance means a male person, but in Upanishads, Purusha is defined as one who has burned up all that was before Him. Purusha is thus split as Purva (before) Usha (dawn-light).
In Gita, there is a distinction between Atman, which is ever untainted and Purusha, which can be of three levels: destructible, indestructible and Purushottama. Aiterya Up. says that Atman, after creating regions and elements, gives shape to/brings up Purusha from waters. Supreme Self (Paramatman) is not different from Supreme Person (Purushottama).
Om Namah Shivaya
That which is without letters (parts) is the Fourth, beyond apprehension through ordinary means, the cessation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Thus Om is certainly the Self. He who knows thus enters the Self by the Self.
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