Guest guest Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 Namaste Advaitins, A definition of Atma There is this definition of Atma in the Scriptures: YacchApnoti yadAdatte yacchAtti vishayAniha | YacchAsya santato bhAvaHs-tasmAdAmeti gIyate || (1)That which pervades all, (2) That which 'draws in' all (in pralayam), (3) That which experiences (literally 'eats') the objects (bhokta), (4)That which is Ever-Existent – therefore It is termed Atma. This looks like the etymological meaning of the word Atma. I vaguely remember that this is a definition given by Sage Aapastamba ( kindly confirm the authorship). It has been explained that while the meaning 3 above refers to the jiva in ignorant state, meaning 2 is tatastha-lakshanam of Atman/Brahman, meaning 1 is relative to the world in stithi kaalam, the meaning 4 alone is the Svarupa lakshanam of Atman/Brahman, denoting the Sat. Interestingly, the word 'AttA' referring to Atman is found in the Brahmasutra 'AttA charAchara-grahaNAt' ( I. ii. 9). In this sutrabhashya, 'attA' is given the meaning of 'devourer' (the root 'ad bhakshaNe' seems to be the basis for this). Is there any other place in the Vedic/Upanishadic and other scriptural literature where 'attA' is found in the meaning of Atma ? (An aside point: In loka-ruDhi, normal parlance, I recall my grandmother using this word while gently rebuking us: 'Don't behave like an 'attRi' (pronounded 'attru') when we as children become impatient even as she is engaged in cutting a jackfruit or mangoes to be finally distributed to all of us.) Warm regards, subbu Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. Advaitin Homepage at: Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 subrahmanian sir, hari OM, i thank you very much for having made this verse available to all of us. however, in my humble opinion, there appears to be a typo in the verse that you have keyed in: the word "tasmAdAmeti" should probably read as "tasmAdAtmeti". please tell me if i am right. svasti, JAYA BHAARATII, shrivathsa. --- subrahmanian_v <subrahmanian_v > wrote: Namaste Advaitins, A definition of Atma There is this definition of Atma in the Scriptures: YacchApnoti yadAdatte yacchAtti vishayAniha | YacchAsya santato bhAvaHs-tasmAdAmeti gIyate || (1)That which pervades all, (2) That which 'draws in' all (in pralayam), (3) That which experiences (literally 'eats') the objects (bhokta), (4)That which is Ever-Existent – therefore It is termed Atma. This looks like the etymological meaning of the word Atma. I vaguely remember that this is a definition given by Sage Aapastamba ( kindly confirm the authorship). It has been explained that while the meaning 3 above refers to the jiva in ignorant state, meaning 2 is tatastha-lakshanam of Atman/Brahman, meaning 1 is relative to the world in stithi kaalam, the meaning 4 alone is the Svarupa lakshanam of Atman/Brahman, denoting the Sat. Interestingly, the word 'AttA' referring to Atman is found in the Brahmasutra 'AttA charAchara-grahaNAt' ( I. ii. 9). In this sutrabhashya, 'attA' is given the meaning of 'devourer' (the root 'ad bhakshaNe' seems to be the basis for this). Is there any other place in the Vedic/Upanishadic and other scriptural literature where 'attA' is found in the meaning of Atma ? (An aside point: In loka-ruDhi, normal parlance, I recall my grandmother using this word while gently rebuking us: 'Don't behave like an 'attRi' (pronounded 'attru') when we as children become impatient even as she is engaged in cutting a jackfruit or mangoes to be finally distributed to all of us.) Warm regards, subbu Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. Advaitin Homepage at: Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 advaitin, therothmaDom shrivathsa brahma <shrisamvada> wrote: > > i thank you very much for having made this verse available to all of us. > > --- subrahmanian_v <subrahmanian_v> wrote: > > > A definition of Atma > > There is this definition of Atma in the Scriptures: > > YacchApnoti yadAdatte yacchAtti vishayAniha | > YacchAsya santato bhAvaHs-tasmAdAmeti gIyate || > This looks like the etymological meaning of the word Atma. > Is there any other place in the Vedic/Upanishadic and other > scriptural literature where 'attA' is found in the meaning of Atma ? Namaste, Prashna Upanishad 2:11 has : .....attA vishvasya satpatiH | Brihadaranyaka upan.: 1:2:5 & 2:2:4 -.....sarvasyAttA bhavati | Regards, Sunder Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. Advaitin Homepage at: Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh> wrote: > > advaitin, therothmaDom shrivathsa brahma > <shrisamvada@> wrote: > > > > i thank you very much for having made this verse available to > all of us. > > > --- subrahmanian_v <subrahmanian_v@> wrote: > > > > > A definition of Atma > > > > There is this definition of Atma in the Scriptures: > > > > YacchApnoti yadAdatte yacchAtti vishayAniha | > > YacchAsya santato bhAvaHs-tasmAdAmeti gIyate || > > > This looks like the etymological meaning of the word Atma. > > > Is there any other place in the Vedic/Upanishadic and other > > scriptural literature where 'attA' is found in the meaning of > Atma ? > > > Namaste, > > Prashna Upanishad 2:11 has : .....attA vishvasya satpatiH | > > Brihadaranyaka upan.: 1:2:5 & 2:2:4 -.....sarvasyAttA bhavati | > > > > Regards, > > Sunder Namaste Sunderji, Thank you very much for the references. And Thank you for pointing out the error in typing, Srivathsa ji. When the special code is being used, i tend to commit many mistakes while transliterating. There is another mistake: bhAvaHs-tasmAd should be written as: bhAvastasmAd. Regards, subbu > Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. Advaitin Homepage at: Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 advaitin, "subrahmanian_v" <subrahmanian_v> wrote: > > A definition of Atma > > There is this definition of Atma in the Scriptures: > > YacchApnoti yadAdatte yacchAtti vishayAniha | > YacchAsya santato bhAvaHs-tasmAdAmeti gIyate || > I > vaguely remember that this is a definition given by Sage Aapastamba > ( kindly confirm the authorship). Namaste, This very verse is quoted by Shankara in his commentary on Vishnusahasranama, for 'ekAtmA' (#965) [iti smRRiteshcha]. Regards, Sunder Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman and Brahman. Advaitin Homepage at: Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 advaitin, "subrahmanian_v" <subrahmanian_v> wrote: > > There is this definition of Atma in the Scriptures: > > YacchApnoti yadAdatte yacchAtti vishayAniha | > YacchAsya santato bhAvaHs-tasmAdAmeti gIyate || > This looks like the etymological meaning of the word Atma. I > vaguely remember that this is a definition given by Sage Aapastamba > ( kindly confirm the authorship). Namaste, This verse is from Linga Purana: Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh> wrote: > > Namaste, > > This verse is from Linga Purana: > > > Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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