jIvA and the soul (was: Bhakti and jnana)

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Namaste,

 

Clarification: This 'Sundarji' is V.M.Sundaram of Advaita-L list!

and not myself, who signs " s. " on this advaitin list!! {I am a

ddetached viewer of this thread!]

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

advaitin , Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy@m...> wrote:

>

> namaste.

>

> I have posted this in the advaita-l list a few moments ago.

> I think that our list advaitin will also be interested in

> this. Any comments, clarifications are very much appreciated.

>

>

> On Wed, 15 Nov 2000, Ram Chandran wrote:

>

> > Harih Om Sundarji:

> >

> > Thanks for your points. Here is my understanding. Jiva is the

living person

> > (manifested Atman with the body, mind and intellect). I do not see any

> > problem in saying that Atman is always detached from body, mind and

> > intellect. We should recognize that Atman or Brahman can never be

equated to

> > the english word, 'soul.' But there is no english word other than

'soul' is

> > available to designate Atman. The bottom line is that Jiva is not

the 'soul'

> > but jiva is much more than the 'soul.' I hope that this additional

> > clarification can clear the confusion.

> >

> > regards,

> >

> > Ram Chandran

> >

>

> namaste.

>

> If I can intrude into this discussion briefly,

>

> This is one of the points where the english language and the sanskrit

> language and also the eastern and western thinking need to find a union

> point in understanding. I notice many books do not clarify this point

> and quite often blur the distinction.

>

> As I understand:

>

> jIvA is the individual entity with a physical body, mind and intellect

> and also with the thinking that he/she is an individual, apart from

> the others.

>

> soul is the essence of the jIvA; soul will not (need not) have a

> physical body and mind, but the essence of the jIvA, the thinking that

> he/she is an individual apart from others is still there. We may take

> the soul to be the subtle body carrying forward the essence of the

> jIvA.

>

> Atman is the Consciousness that I am. The Atman powers the jIvA (and

> the soul). Apart from Atman, neither the jIvA nor the soul (or anything)

> exist.

>

>

> Regards

> Gummuluru Murthy

> ------