4. The doctrine of Atman and Brahman
Brahman and Atman together express one of the main ideas of the Upanishads. Atman is the individual soul, the subjective spiritual principle, the “I”. Brahman is the universal, impersonal world soul, the basis of being, the objective spiritual principle from which the whole world with its elements arises. The universality of the Brahman is achieved by him through self-knowledge. Those. Atman is something personal; Brahman is something objective. By Brahman we mean the highest objective reality, the impersonal, absolute spiritual principle from which the world arises with everything that is in it. At the same time, everything that exists in the world is destroyed, dissolving in Brahman. It is outside of space, outside of time, outside of cause-and-effect relationships, free from qualities and actions, outside of the phenomenal world and cannot be expressed in positive terms and within the framework of logic. Therefore, most often Brahman is defined negatively. The concept of Brahman is usually expressed as a neuter noun, but it can also be found in the masculine gender, denoting the idea of a creator god who serves as a manifestation of a higher principle, the absolute. There is nothing outside Brahman, but everything that exists in existence is contained in Brahman as in an embryo. Brahman is the germ of everything that exists. In most texts, Brahman is the absolute fundamental principle, the substance, the root cause of everything that exists, the beginning and end of all things, all beings, that is, what these beings are born from, what they live in after birth, and where they go after of his death. There is no change in Brahman, although every change is based on it. There is nothing outside of it, there is nothing different from it. In Brahman lies the entire multiplicity of the world.
Atman - “soul” comes from the root “as” - to breathe, which in Sanskrit gave one of the forms of the verb “to be”. Breathing is that thin thread that does not allow you to completely renounce the material conditions of existence. Breathing is something that is not visible, but it is our existence and if it stops, life will stop. The doctrine of Atman goes back to the Rig Veda, where Atman is not only breath as such, but also vital spirit, the principle of life as the metaphysical essence of breath. Atman in the Upanishads is a designation of the subjective mental principle - the soul. It can be understood both personally and universally. In this last meaning, Atman is the basis of everything, it permeates everything that exists, it is at the same time smaller than the core of a millet grain and greater than all the worlds. Atman is the eternal and unchanging, active essence of the world; in accordance with his true desires and intentions, he is constantly active in the world, especially in the human body.
Thus, the concept of Atman, the world-soul, developed from the concept of the world - Purusha, grows in the Upanishads into the impersonal cause of all things - into Brahman, and Brahman, in turn, is the force materialized in all existing things that creates, supports, preserves and brings back “all the worlds”, all of nature. “Everything is Brahman, and Brahman is Atman.” They are opposite to each other and at the same time identical. At the highest level of development of the subjective “I,” the world and the individual’s consciousness merge into one.
5. Ethics of the Upanishads
The purpose of the Upanishads is not so much to achieve philosophical truth as to bring peace and freedom to the restless human spirit. Not being a systematic philosophy or the work of a single author, or even the work of the same century, they contain much that is contradictory and unscientific. The Upanishads do not contain any philosophical syntheses as such - such as the systems of Aristotle or Kant. They have an intuitive rather than a logical sequence and represent known basic ideas. The Upanishads consider the ideal to achieve unity with God. The world does not exist for itself. He comes from God and must, therefore, seek his peace in God. God is not so clearly present in man that man can possess Him without concentration, without effort or struggle. God is present as potentiality or possibility. And it is man's duty to lay hold of it by force and action. If a person does not do this, he is not fulfilling his duty as a human being. God in man is a task, but also a fact, a problem and at the same time a possession. The ideal of ethics is self-awareness. Moral behavior is self-conscious behavior, if by self we mean not the empirical self with all its weaknesses and vulgarities, selfishness and pettiness, but the deeper nature of man, free from all bonds of egoistic individuality. Desires must be restrained. When desire controls the rudder, the soul is shipwrecked because it is not in accordance with the law of human existence. If we do not recognize the ideal prescribed by reason and do not take into account the high moral law, our life will be the same as animal existence, without end and purpose, where we are randomly busy, loving, hating, caring and killing without purpose or reason. The Upanishads insist on the spiritual side of morality and attach great importance to the motive of behavior. Inner purity is more important than outer submission. The Upanishads not only say “do not steal”, “do not kill”, they also proclaim “do not covet someone else’s” or “do not hate or give in to anger, malice and greed.” The mind must be cleared, for there is no point in cutting off the branches while leaving the roots intact. The Upanishads require us to consider the whole world as born of God, like the self of man. The Upanishads do admit that morality and love are forms of higher self-consciousness, but they only object to the word “egoism” with all that is associated with it. The love of the finite has only practical value, while the love of the eternal has inner, hidden value. The Upanishads require some physical preparation for spiritual struggle. For this purpose, purification, fasting, abstinence, solitude, etc. are used as body cleansers. This cleansing of the body, liberation from the sensory and development of the spiritual have nothing to do with self-torture. To achieve victory over passions, discipline is sometimes necessary. The Upanishads declare that all people have the ability to rise to the pinnacle of their divine state and can achieve this if they apply themselves to it.
Who achieved his fame only in the seventh decade of his life, after he revised some of his views. A. Schopenhauer in sixth. Their difficult journey was rewarded with much greater recognition after their death. Apparently, their intelligence was higher than their contemporaries. III Chapter. Eastern Philosophy Eastern philosophy is represented by Indian and Chinese philosophies. I’ll start writing, perhaps, with Indian. IN...
It is closely connected with folk beliefs, since it largely came from their depths, which confirms the validity of the qualification of Taoism as the national religion of China. In the late Middle Ages, Taoism came into contact with other teachings of China. 5. Taoism - religion or philosophy? Early and Late Taoism The problem of the unity of Taoism is one of the most complex. It has to do with attitude...
One and the other culture and a certain detachment from both12. * * * Concluding the conversation about the two great intellectual traditions of the East, we will draw the main conclusions that are essential for the design of this book. Turning its face to Chinese philosophical thought, modern philosophy can find in it a completely different model for the development of philosophical speculation, which has given rise to a discourse that has preserved the original model...
They will notice. S.: Polemon, Herodes Atticus, Aristides, Libanius. Wed. Schmid, "Der Atticismus in seinen Hauptvertretern" (1887-97). 17. The principle of determinism in philosophy. Indeterminism. Determinism (from the Latin determino - I determine), the philosophical doctrine of the objective, natural relationship and interdependence of the phenomena of material and...
In Advaita teachings Atman is called higher self. And this is not some kind of mystical fantasy, but a real and fully accessible experience of one’s own existence at a given moment in time. This is a mental reality, marked by the feeling of being in this world as unclouded and boundless freedom. The Atman is what a person is going through right now. Psychologically, this is the moment of the present, in which our life is realized, i.e. our true essence. The more clearly the connection with the higher “I” is manifested, the more we immerse ourselves in the reality around us, realizing that everything that is happening to us is happening right now. Of course, it may seem strange that special attention is paid to this fact, because the fact that reality is present in the life of each of us is a priori beyond doubt and goes without saying. However, the significance of this psychic aspect for existence in this world is so important that it should be described in more detail.
During the daytime, we are awake and go about our daily activities in what appears to be a fully conscious state. However, if you are asked to talk about all your thoughts, emotions, soul movements, mental projections that visited you during this time, remember all the sensations that you experienced through the five senses, you will find yourself at a dead end. It will not be possible to remember even a hundredth part, since a person remembers only the main points that can bear fruit in practical activities. All other memories are stored in the unconscious.
Therefore, speaking about human, it is worth remembering that it is relative. When we go to bed, the level of awareness decreases even more rapidly, and when we get up in the morning, a person remembers only the most colorful dreams, and often nothing comes to mind at all. During sleep, the sense of reality is pushed so deeply that it is not fixed at all. But the number of mental states is not exhausted by sleep and daytime wakefulness: there is also a superconscious state, in comparison with which all others seem to be a dream, little connected with real life.
Alas, the average representative of human society is very far from realizing his existence and all the above aspects are perceived by him only indirectly, through emotions. In his mind, he records the objects of the material world around him and draws conclusions that they exist, because then there would simply be no one to perceive the numerous forms present around us. But if this is perceived only as a logical conclusion, thoughts appear like: “Yes, I am. But what does this mean? This does not bring additional material benefits. What then is the meaning of my being on this earth?
For the superficial mind, such questions are extremely painful and only indicate that it is frozen at a certain point of development, therefore its attention is unable to distract itself from the surface with its bright wrapper and begin to comprehend the cause and deep essence of the processes occurring in the huge number of processes in the world - the present moments.
When asking such questions, you need to think about a strange paradox: the question exists, but the questioner himself is simply absent. What can mental “unearthing” of consequences give if the true reason for what is happening is hidden in the darkness for a person? Why is it necessary to study the secondary manifestations of one’s own ego if one’s own “I” is shrouded in the darkness of mystery?
Many of us do not have access to awareness of our personal presence in life as it happens. We are guided by vague sensations of bitter, sweet, hard, soft, sad, joyful, all this is accompanied by thousands of pictures in the brain, superficial thoughts and emotions. But where is it hidden among all this? And what does it represent? If we put the concept “I am the generalization of all this” at the forefront, then the question arises: where is our personal ego missing? Where is the red line dividing the world into a part in which our Self is present, and a part that has nothing to do with it? Is our body, mind, hairstyle our Self? If we feel our Self, it turns out that there are two Selves, one of which notes everything that happens to the other? Then it turns out that there must also be a third Self, which remains an impartial observer for the other two. These theories and mental games as components make up our heterogeneity. If you want to know how to get to know your true self, read on.
Any object that we feel in any way, not excluding our false selves, is perceived by us as something alien, extraneous, and we can observe it from the outside, like other manifestations of the world of material forms. At a deep level, all forms are one and unite into the higher Self - Atman.
The existence of all forms is due to the existence of man himself, and life is given to them only by the radiance of our consciousness. The reality of life itself is the radiation of human consciousness.
Man realizes the Atman as God and the supreme boundless reality. Even a fleeting glimpse of understanding this gives amazing happiness and a feeling of amazing freedom, unfettered by any restrictions. After all, not a single creature in the world will ever be able to take this feeling away from you. Atman is existence itself in its absolute aspect, life, the invisible background for everything that happens to us - this is the true essence of man. This is the simple, purest and limitless source of life, giving it unimaginable freshness. It contains the meaning and true essence of our reality.
In esotericism, awareness of the essence of one’s higher “I” is considered. Advaita calls the Supreme Self Atman, that which is really present. Yoga considers the highest “I” to be Purush, in which the following aspects are present: absence of beginning, subtlety, consciousness, transcendence, presence in everything, eternity, contemplation, knowledge, ability to taste, purity, inaction, non-generation of anything. The practice of mindfulness and self-contemplation helps these properties to manifest themselves, promotes self-knowledge, makes truth and complete relaxation in the present more accessible to us, and therefore allows us to penetrate into the depths of the higher “I” - Atman.
To join the awareness of the Atman, you should not make unnecessary movements, strenuously strive for something and be in a state of tension. First, we are introduced to this experience through natural relaxation, which consists in the fact that it seems to us that everything around is immersed in sleepy dreams, all experiences are released, but at the same time the feeling of wakefulness as the main core remains. Then the reality of our individual soul opens wide to accept what was, is and always will be. And at this moment the understanding comes that nothing else really existed and could not have the right to exist. This is life itself, natural in its manifestations, which nothing can interfere with. It simply exists, including all moments, and nothing can affect it.
At the level of consciousness, a certain part of us understands that energy has no beginning and end, it is not limited, and reality cannot become either more or less. We cannot experience attachment or aversion to something, since everything that happens is a spontaneous flow of life, contemplating the streams of which, we accept everything in its givenness, without any interference, deviations from the Truth or its interpretations. We only receive deep pleasure from the splash and shine of the streams of this river and completely surrender to its will. Her measured movements pick up and permeate our every action and moment of our being, giving us the opportunity to relax. All we have to do is trust life and everything will work out for the best.
In this case, there is no room for any doubts, because everything around is being. Supreme, God, Absolute- these terms are meaningless because these symbols cannot fully describe the life that resides within us, like a chick in a shell.
Doubt, like any other concept, is illusory. They bind us hand and foot with mental activity, scattered limited knowledge. Doubts lead to unnecessary worries, fears, emotional instability, and dissatisfaction. If you trust life, your consciousness becomes especially insightful, meditative, anticipatory, and your thinking becomes more intuitive due to sudden insights. In this way our relative world realizes its connection with the infinite, timeless and embodying all paradoxes, and it is in this way that man and true reality, personality and the higher self are united.
Individuality - what we believe to be our essence - occurs in us, but it is not us. Advanced adepts perceive their personality and name as a hero of a film or game who says something, performs some actions, reads, listens, and engages in spiritual practices. Reality- this is only what is associated with the higher “I”, pure being. The people around a person are perceived only as projections of various parts of consciousness. Reality never disappears; it is always present. This is our cradle, our home, our essence. This is an amazing, all-pervading peace.
As an example, we can cite a man who for many years was looking for the key to happiness that hung around his neck. A person is overwhelmed by many strong desires, and in search of a way to satisfy them, happiness, merging with a single whole, he turns the whole world upside down and even strives into space. And the innermost secret, which contains harmony, peace, happiness, the most complete realization of one’s potential all this time, like a treasure, lies in the depths of his soul.
To single out certain objects and completely focus your attention on them means choosing for yourself a certain point in infinity and not taking your eyes off it, while it does not play any role against the background of absolute existence. Reality will lead us away from it and, in fear of losing support in life, we will strive with all our might to return to it. This is exactly what a person does when he completely identifies himself with finite, transitory forms, missing something more important, all-pervasive, powerful than billions of events of worldly vanity - he misses life itself.
Being itself and the existence of even the simplest form is amazing miracle. For what reason does reality exist at all? Not the reality of a person or society, but a real, comprehensive one, including the infinity of the spatial and temporal continuum, stretched into eternity. Why is there life and could it not exist at all? You need to think about this, delve into it with your whole being, because this question already contains the germs of an answer. At first, the answer will seem elusive and it will seem impossible to fix it, and only after spiritual awakening everything will fall into place and the very essence will be comprehended.
– reflexive pronoun “himself”, “oneself”; "body"; "essence"; “soul”, “spirit”, “world spirit”), in Indian philosophy, the beginningless and enduring, “substantial” spiritual principle of the individual, in many texts identified with the beginning of being.
Pre-Buddhist period.
We meet the first evidence of the Atman as the spiritual-essential beginning of man in Atharva Veda and in another hymn of the same assembly, where he who has achieved perfection in abstinence knows that Atman who is wise, immortal, “eternally young.” Indian thought is beginning to master the idea of the unity of the essence of the micro- and macrocosm: in Shatapatha-brahmana it is directly stated that Atman is the ruler and king of all beings. The same text contains the inspired instruction of the sage Shandilya, which anticipates the teaching of the Upanishads: Brahman, which is this whole world, is at the same time the Atman in the “inner heart”, smaller than a grain of rice, mustard or millet or even the core of a grain of rice and at the same time greater than the earth, atmosphere, sky and all worlds; and this all-acting, all-desiring, all-smelling, all-sensing, all-encompassing, “silent” and unconditioned principle is “my Atman,” the hidden one, and it is also Brahman, into which the knower will “enter” after death. Another noteworthy appeal to the Atman before the Upanishads is its characterization in Taittiriya-aranyake: he lives in people and “rules” them and at the same time appears in many forms, in which one hundred heavenly lights, the Vedas and priests are united; it is also called the “thinking Atman” (manasina atman) in man.
The Upanishads can be called, without exaggeration, esoteric instructions about the Atman.
IN Brihadaranyake the idea of the unity of Atman and Brahman finds expression in several contexts. In the triad “name – image – deeds” Brahman corresponds to the essence of each of these components, but the entire triad as such is Atman. The winner of the competition of experts in sacred wisdom, Yajnavalkya, calls “Atman inside everything” that which is present in all human life, but cannot itself be known. The unknowability of the Atman as the source of all knowledge and the possibility of giving it only negative characteristics (convincing that we are talking about the absolute beginning of being) is expressed by Yajnavalkya in his famous recommendation to cognize the Atman as “Not this, and not that, and not that...” : it is incomprehensible, because it is not comprehended, indestructible, because it is not destroyed, “unattached”, because it is not “attached”, is not bound, does not waver and does not suffer evil. In a conversation with his intelligent wife, Yajnavalkya asserts that all worldly goods are dear not for their own sake, but only for the sake of the Atman, which is the source of everything; therefore, after death, a person loses consciousness, because he “merges” into his source, and in this merger any semblance of duality disappears. Any duality in knowledge can only exist when there is “one” and “the other”, but when everything has become Atman, no one can smell, see, hear, talk to anyone, think about anyone, for it is impossible to “know” knower." IN Brihadaranyake two famous “great sayings” (mahavakya) have been preserved: “I am Brahman” and “That Atman is, verily, Brahman,” expressing the “great identity.”
IN Chandogya Upanishad the above teaching of Shandilya is reproduced. King Ashwapati instructs the six Brahmins about the Atman Vaisvanara (“all-human”), which cannot be identified with any natural phenomenon, but is a whole, manifested in parts and identical with itself. In the dialogue between Narada and Sanatkumara, the Atman is declared “infinite” (bhuman), the source of natural as well as psychic phenomena, the knowledge of which frees one from the bonds of death. In the legend about how the god Indra and the demon Virochana come for instruction about the Atman to the ruler of the world Prajapati, the demon is satisfied with the false interpretation of the Atman as a reflection of the body in water, while Indra achieves the correct interpretation of the Atman - as an immortal, incorporeal and cognizing principle. IN Chandogye the “great saying” is repeatedly reproduced, which has always been considered as a normative expression of the identity of Atman and Brahman: “That is you” or “Thou art that”. In addition to Brahman, Atman is identified with another spiritual principle - Purusha.
IN Aitareya Upanishad Atman is the personified divine principle that creates the worlds, Purusha, vital organs, etc. IN Kaushitaki Atman is the cognizing principle and vital breath associated with the vital organs and their objects, “bliss, devoid of old age” and immortal. IN Taittiriye The Atman acts as the source of the world (space arises from it, wind from that, fire from that, etc.), and at the same time its stratification is proposed: Atmans of food (body), breath (prana), mind, recognition and bliss.
Age of Buddha.
Texts of the Pali Canon, primarily a collection Digha Nikaya, indicate the emergence of many groups of "shramans and brahmans", most of whom discussed the properties of the Atman. Among these thinkers, who were among the first real philosophers of India, Buddhists distinguish between those who based their doctrines on personal spiritual experience, the practice of asceticism and contemplation, but justified them by discursive means, and “pure discursists” who relied only on reason. Some of them defended the thesis of eternity, or more precisely, the beginninglessness of the Atman and the world. At the same time, ascetics relied on their allegedly inherent ability to cognize their innumerable previous births, while other philosophers, expressing judgments “polished by [their] discourse, based on research and [seemingly having signs of] self-evidence,” came to the conclusion that the Atman , like the world, is beginningless, “barren”, like the top of a mountain (it does not give birth to anything), and strong (unchangeable) like a column. Others distinguished two Atmans, the transitory and the eternal, identifying the first with the five senses and the body, the second with the beginning of thought, mind and “discrimination.” The question that the sage Yajnavalkya posed - about the existence and consciousness of the individual after death - was received, judging by Brahmajala Sutte, at least 30 answers, and even if their presentation contains elements of later schematization, the evidence of disagreement itself seems realistic. Here the "sramanas and brahmanas" are divided into four groups. The first defended the posthumous "painless" existence of the Atman and its consciousness, but they differ on the particulars: whether it is then endowed with form or not, and also whether it is then "finite" or "infinite", whether it is conscious of the unity of things or their multiplicity and what is the emotional side of it "painlessness". The latter, on the contrary, like Yajnavalkya, believed that the Atman exists unconsciously after the death of the body - again with discrepancies regarding its “form” and “finitude”. Still others sought a compromise solution: the Atman after death is neither conscious nor unconscious - again with the indicated discrepancies in particulars. Finally, the fourth generally denied the existence of the Atman after death, defending the doctrine of the death of a living being after the disintegration of the body.
Some philosophers have addressed the problem identified in Taittiriya Upanishad, developed a stratification of Atman levels. One of the pilgrims (parivrajakas) of the Brahmanical orientation, Potthapada, asked the Buddha a question: is consciousness identical to the Atman? When the Buddha asked him what he, in turn, understood by Atman, he explained to him the doctrine of the three levels of Atman. The first is a subtle material formation (olarika), composed of four elements (earth, water, wind, fire) and feeding on food, i.e. body. The second is mental formation (manomaya), also endowed with certain “organs” and abilities. The third is formless and “consisting of consciousness alone” (sannamaya).
Buddha's criticism of the doctrine of the Atman took into account the degree of preparedness of the interlocutor to deny the Atman. Thus, he showed Potthapada that at none of the levels he outlined, Atman cannot coincide with consciousness (since the fact of consciousness is self-evident to everyone, it follows that the idea of Atman can be abandoned). In a dialogue with another wanderer, Sachchaka, the Buddha forces him to admit that not one of the five logically possible levels of the Atman, corresponding to the sections of physicality, sensations, ideas, volitional attitudes and consciousness (what the individual is already divided into in early Buddhism without a remainder according to the simplest classification of dharmas - instantaneous, point elements of existence), cannot correspond to the concept of Atman, since, firstly, the individual does not have the opportunity to influence them (hence, they do not belong to his Self , for which, therefore, there is no place left) and, secondly, each of them can be characterized as that which is impermanent and unhappy, and all such is not the Atman. According to legend, the first teacher of the Buddha was the Samkhyaik and yogi Arada Kalama, who taught about the meditative “separation” of the Atman from all elements of the physical-mental composition of the individual and the dispositions of his consciousness, to which he is “external.” According to Ashvaghosha (1st–2nd centuries), the Buddha left him, justifying his decision by the fact that the Atman, “purified” of sensations, will and consciousness, is a fiction, and also because faith in the Atman determines a person’s attachment to everything “ “to one’s own,” does not allow one to get rid of egocentrism and is, therefore, the main obstacle to “liberation.”
After Buddha.
Attempts to defend the idea of Atman were reflected in the epic Mokshadharma. In response to Buddhist arguments that it is unnecessary to introduce it to explain reincarnation in the presence of established empirical factors such as ignorance, action and the "lust" of objects and becoming (trishna), the Sankhyaik Panchasikha objects that without the assumption of the Atman the labors of one being will have to be used another, who will be forced to pay for the misdeeds of others. But there was another answer to the denial of the Atman: according to Katha Upanishad, The Atman is not comprehended by rational means or even by study, and is revealed to the one whom it chooses.
In the same Katha Upanishad, where Atman is compared with the owner of the chariot (body), the concept of “great atman” (atma mahan) is introduced, meaning a mysterious, but in its “status” very high principle, located between the intellect-buddhi and the “unmanifested”. IN Maitri Upanishad the “atman of a living being” (bhutatman) appears, which, on the one hand, is practically identified with the body, on the other, is subject to the results of good and evil deeds, acquires a good or bad womb in reincarnation and, being dependent on the primary matter Prakriti, falls into “conceit " Obviously, we are talking about understanding that intermediate, “spiritual” Atman, which Parivrajak Potthapada talked about. IN Mokshadharma a distinction is made between the embodied Atman (dehin) and the “subtle” Atman: the second wanders where it pleases while the first is in deep sleep. “Atman of life” (jivatman) is another derivative of Atman, not possessing its dignity, but closest to the animating principle. The status of the “inner Atman” (antaratman) is significantly higher, which is almost indistinguishable from the “ordinary” Atman, but is sometimes contrasted with it as universal - individual. Sometimes he is directly identified with the highest principle. Finally, the epic texts testify to the “Highest Atman” (paramatman): followers of the path of knowledge, liberated from the bonds of samsara and ascending to the heavenly worlds, reach the abode of Narayana (Vishnu), who “determines” them to this Atman, with which they merge, gaining immortality and never returning to this world. The Other Supreme Atman receives a special place in some lists of Samkhya principles, where it is designated as the 26th and opposed to the “ordinary” Atman as the 25th (opposed to the primordial matter Prakriti and its 23 emanations). The contexts of the corresponding passages allow us to see in it simultaneously both the Atman that has achieved the “awakening” of true self-knowledge (buddha) - the “ordinary” Atman is the same, but still only “awakening” (budhyamana), - and the Universal Atman, or Brahman, which is alone knows both spiritual principles and primal matter.
One of the later esoteric texts dedicated to the Atman, identifying Atman and Purusha, distinguishes three Atmans - external, internal and higher. The third should be revered as the most sacred syllable “Om”, which is realized through special meditation and yoga; its distinctive features are immutability, perfect “simplicity” and indescribability, as well as the absence of connection with past existences. Of course, these new derivations of the Atman must be distinguished from its identifications with the highest Hindu deities, which are also attested in many places in the middle and late Upanishads and in the epic texts. An example is the statement that the Supreme Atman has the nature of Narayana - autocratic, rising above primary matter and free from good and evil.
Philosophical systems.
Although all Indian philosophical systems-darshans, except materialists and Buddhists, recognized an ontologically independent spiritual principle (among the Samkhyaiks, Atman is replaced by the “pure subject” of Purusha, among the Jains, to a large extent, jiva), the decisive contribution to the theoretical analysis of the concept of Atman was made by Nyaya and Advaita Vedanta .
In a comment to Nyaya-sutra(“Desire, aversion, effort, pleasure, suffering and knowledge are the signs [from which] the [existence of] the Atman is inferred.”) Vatsyayana (4th–5th centuries) substantiates the thesis that all these indisputable phenomena of consciousness would be inexplicable if we accept then the replacement of the permanent spiritual principle with point “fractions” of consciousness, which Buddhists insist on, because they are all based on various aspects of memory, the correlation of present experience with the past and planning on its basis for the future, which cannot be provided by these, by definition, instantaneous phenomena. Atman as the subject of cognition (jnatri) is both the subject and the “substrate” of feeling, volition and action because it is he who knows joy and suffering, the means of achieving the first and avoiding the second, and it is he who makes appropriate efforts in this regard.
According to Shankara (7th–8th centuries), who interpreted the “great sayings” of the Upanishads, differences between objects, between subjects, and also between subjects and objects are consequences of Ignorance, because they are based on the basic delusion - the idea of the difference between the individual subject and the Absolute. The body is a product of Maya, the idea of one’s own individual desires and dislikes, likes and dislikes, interests and means of their realization - the action of deep ignorance. According to the definitions of Atman by Shankara's student Suresvara in Brihadaranyakopanishadbhashya-varttike, the word “atman” means “penetration”, “piercing”, for he “penetrates” everything that is not the Atman, just as a rope penetrates a snake, and also because he contemplates all the transformations of consciousness in which he is reflected thanks to its luminosity. The example of Sureshvara is very significant: according to the Vedantin allegory, the world is like a snake, which a person in the dark mistakenly sees in a coiled rope, and is a temporary illusion (although not a phantom, like the son of a barren woman), which is believed until “insight”.
Vladimir Shokhin
a fundamental concept of Indian philosophy, originating in the Vedas and characteristic of the vast majority of philosophical schools. It means the all-pervading subjective spiritual principle, “I”, soul. It opposes Brahman as the highest objective spiritual reality and at the same time is identical to it. - the self-consciousness of Brahman, constitutes the deep essence of the human “I”, is not reducible to feelings or mind, but belongs to them. This is pure consciousness, not subject to change and identical for all beings and objects. - in everything, everything animates, and therefore man has no need to look for God outside of himself. , existing in the depths of our empirical self, is God. He is the truth, he is a helper, he is not subject to any external illusions or vices. Look for the one God and the One Life of the Universe within you! There are no “different people”, “different personalities”, we are all manifestations of a, its external revelation. Inside man and dog, friend and enemy, there is the same eternal principle, and awareness of our fundamental unity is the path to deliverance from fear and enmity.
Definitions, meanings of words in other dictionaries:
Large dictionary of esoteric terms - edited by Doctor of Medical Sciences Stepanov A.M.
the generation of Paramatma - the oversoul - the true “I”, as opposed to the individual “I” of the personality, which a person considers to be himself. In the broadest sense, the atman of something or (much more often) someone is that which makes this something or this someone itself, that is, the essence, essence,...
Philosophical Dictionary
(Sanskrit) - one of the main. concepts in religious-mythological. system of Hinduism. In Vedic lit-re, primarily in the Upanishads, denotes the subjective mental. beginning, individual, being, “soul”, understood both in personal and in universal terms. As a subjective, individual, the beginning of A. appears in...
Dictionary of Hinduism
in the general linguistic meaning, a noun that performs the function of a reflexive pronoun in the nominative and indirect cases, i.e. “himself, himself: by himself,” etc. From here, very early, already in the Upanishads, a general categorical philosophical meaning developed: reflection, posited as something.. .
The latest philosophical dictionary
ATMAN (Sanskrit - breath, soul, self) - in ancient Indian religious speculation and the teachings emanating from it - a concept denoting the all-pervading subjective individual spiritual principle, "I", soul. The doctrine of A is set forth in the Upanishads, where A is a derivative concept from...
1) Atman- (Sanskrit) - one of the main. concepts in religious-mythological. system of Hinduism. In Vedic lit-re, primarily in the Upanishads, denotes the subjective mental. beginning, individual, being, “soul”, understood both in personal and in universal terms. As the subjective, individual, beginning of A. appears in relation to the objective primary reality - Brahman; comprehension of their identity is one of the main. commandments of Hinduism.
2) Atman- - in Indian philosophy denotes the deepest level of human self-awareness. According to the Upanishads, “Atman is Brahman,” i.e. at the center of human self-awareness there is the Self-awareness of the entire universe.
3) Atman- a fundamental concept of Indian philosophy, originating in the Vedas and characteristic of the vast majority of philosophical schools. It means the all-pervading subjective spiritual principle, “I”, soul. It opposes Brahman as the highest objective spiritual reality and at the same time is identical to it. Atman - the self-consciousness of Brahman, constitutes the deep essence of the human “I”, is not reducible to feelings or mind, but belongs to them. This is pure consciousness, not subject to change and identical for all beings and objects. Atman is in everything, animates everything, and therefore man has no need to look for God outside of himself. The Atman, which exists in the depths of our empirical self, is God. He is the truth, he is a helper, he is not subject to any external illusions or vices. Look for the one God and the One Life of the Universe within you! There are no “different people”, “different personalities”, we are all manifestations of the Atman, its external revelation. Inside man and dog, friend and enemy, there is the same eternal principle, and awareness of our fundamental unity is the path to deliverance from fear and enmity.
4) Atman- (Sanskrit - breath, soul, self) - in ancient Indian religious speculation and the teachings emanating from it - a concept denoting the all-pervading subjective individual spiritual principle, “I”, soul. The doctrine of A. is set forth in the Upanishads, where A. is a concept derived from the meaning images of purusha and prana and in a certain respect identical with them, because and purusha (universal man) and prana (breath) denote the original beginning and basis, the “support” of life and the universe. The meaning of the concept of A. is flexible and acquires different shades in the context of connection with other concepts: A. is breathing, and the basis of life, and the human soul. The concept of A. taken separately does not reveal the problem of the unified and the diverse. The solution to this problem is carried out through the relationship of the concepts of A. - Brahman, where A. is endowed with the meaning of a single, subjective manifestation of Brahman, as a universal principle. Definition of the foundation as the primary reality in the words of A. - Brahman means its characteristics from two sides: subjective and subjective (A.) and objective (Brahman). At the same time, the correlation between the concepts of A. and Brahman is multi-level in nature: when A. is identified with a bodily subject, Brahman symbolizes the cosmos; when A. expresses the subjective, mental or vital “I” - Brahman appears as a cosmic soul (hiranyagarbha), when A. reveals the meaning of individual, subjective self-knowledge (intellectual “I”, prajna) - Brahman carries within itself the meaning of the self-perceiving and all-perceiving absolute ( self-aware isnavara); finally, at the highest level, when subject and object are fused together, A. becomes the highest Brahman, or bliss. The connection between the concepts of A. - Brahman in the epistemological aspect expresses the recognition of the independence and relative isolation of the soul from the body shell and from a specific object embodiment (A. is hidden in the “I” of a person, and in the “I” of all other beings, and in the absolute, Brahman) , characterizes the highest form of knowledge - self-knowledge as bliss, where A. and Brahman are fused together. Through the relationship of the concepts A. - Brahman in the Upanishads, an attempt is also made to establish a functional connection between breathing and mental-sensory processes, to present cognition as a syncretic process of perception of the internal state and the external world. E.V. Petushkova
5) Atman- - in Hinduism “universal spirit”, “absolute self”, “divine subject” hidden in the human heart. According to the Advaita-Vedantinist tradition, “atman is brahman,” i.e. the subjective absolute coincides with the objective absolute.
6) Atman- (Sanskrit - self, soul) - one of the central concepts of Indian. philosophy and religion of Hinduism: the eternal, unchanging spiritual essence of the individual. Vedanta identifies atman with brahman - the cosmic (objective) spiritual principle; Buddhism rejects the atman.
Atman
(Sanskrit) - one of the main. concepts in religious-mythological. system of Hinduism. In Vedic lit-re, primarily in the Upanishads, denotes the subjective mental. beginning, individual, being, “soul”, understood both in personal and in universal terms. As the subjective, individual, beginning of A. appears in relation to the objective primary reality - Brahman; comprehension of their identity is one of the main. commandments of Hinduism.
In Indian philosophy, it denotes the deepest level of human self-awareness. According to the Upanishads, “Atman is Brahman,” i.e. at the center of human self-awareness there is the Self-awareness of the entire universe.
a fundamental concept of Indian philosophy, originating in the Vedas and characteristic of the vast majority of philosophical schools. It means the all-pervading subjective spiritual principle, “I”, soul. It opposes Brahman as the highest objective spiritual reality and at the same time is identical to it. Atman - the self-consciousness of Brahman, constitutes the deep essence of the human “I”, is not reducible to feelings or mind, but belongs to them. This is pure consciousness, not subject to change and identical for all beings and objects. Atman is in everything, animates everything, and therefore man has no need to look for God outside of himself. The Atman, which exists in the depths of our empirical self, is God. He is the truth, he is a helper, he is not subject to any external illusions or vices. Look for the one God and the One Life of the Universe within you! There are no “different people”, “different personalities”, we are all manifestations of the Atman, its external revelation. Inside man and dog, friend and enemy, there is the same eternal principle, and awareness of our fundamental unity is the path to deliverance from fear and enmity.
(Sanskrit - breath, soul, self) - in ancient Indian religious speculation and the teachings emanating from it - a concept denoting the all-pervasive subjective individual spiritual principle, “I”, soul. The doctrine of A. is set forth in the Upanishads, where A. is a concept derived from the meaning images of purusha and prana and in a certain respect identical with them, because and purusha (universal man) and prana (breath) denote the original beginning and basis, the “support” of life and the universe. The meaning of the concept of A. is flexible and acquires different shades in the context of connection with other concepts: A. is breathing, and the basis of life, and the human soul. The concept of A. taken separately does not reveal the problem of the unified and the diverse. The solution to this problem is carried out through the relationship of the concepts of A. - Brahman, where A. is endowed with the meaning of a single, subjective manifestation of Brahman, as a universal principle. Definition of the foundation as the primary reality in the words of A. - Brahman means its characteristics from two sides: subjective and subjective (A.) and objective (Brahman). At the same time, the correlation between the concepts of A. and Brahman is multi-level in nature: when A. is identified with a bodily subject, Brahman symbolizes the cosmos; when A. expresses the subjective, mental or vital “I” - Brahman appears as a cosmic soul (hiranyagarbha), when A. reveals the meaning of individual, subjective self-knowledge (intellectual “I”, prajna) - Brahman carries within itself the meaning of the self-perceiving and all-perceiving absolute ( self-aware isnavara); finally, at the highest level, when subject and object are fused together, A. becomes the highest Brahman, or bliss. The connection between the concepts of A. - Brahman in the epistemological aspect expresses the recognition of the independence and relative isolation of the soul from the body shell and from a specific object embodiment (A. is hidden in the “I” of a person, and in the “I” of all other beings, and in the absolute, Brahman) , characterizes the highest form of knowledge - self-knowledge as bliss, where A. and Brahman are fused together. Through the relationship of the concepts A. - Brahman in the Upanishads, an attempt is also made to establish a functional connection between breathing and mental-sensory processes, to present cognition as a syncretic process of perception of the internal state and the external world. E.V. Petushkova
