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Re: ATMAN is FOOLED?
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Subject: Re: ATMAN is FOOLED?
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From: ntiwari@rs3.esm.vt.edu (N. Tiwari)
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Date: 5 Dec 1995 21:01:49 GMT
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Approved: srh <srh@rbhatnagar>
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Article: 639 of soc.religion.hindu
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
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Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
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References: <49iout$6e3@babbage.ece.uc.edu>
Joshua D Crozier (jcrozier@uoguelph.ca) wrote:
: Hello again.
: Nearing the end of my Indian Religion course, I have a further question of
: you all... Since I have been taught that it is the Atman which is the
: 'mind' within us, and does all our thinking - how is it that we aer mistaken
: as to the nature of the world? The Atman should not be able to be mistaken,
: right?
: I have been told that it is the nature of the world to decieve as to its
: nature, but the Atman should see through this. I thought this may be
: explained by a brain/atman duality, but my prof says that is not the case.
The comparison of 'atman' with 'mind' is in my view an erroneous one. IMO
this is based on the notion: "I think, therefore I am". An Indian will not
agree to that, and will rather assert: "I am, therefore I think." The Self
(Atman) is more fundamental than the 'mind'. In fact, the only thing that
I can really not disprove or doubt is the statement: "I exist." And the idea
of I-ness, is what is "atman" all about.
Now to the fooling of Atman. Since "Self" is just Self, it is pure, un-
adulterated and property-less. The term "Self" implies only one notion.
That is "Existence". Nothing more and nothing less. So, it is neither good
nor bad. However, in this world, it gets associated with 'mind' (that
does the thinking) and a whole lot of other appendages. It is this association
with the non-essential, which causes the 'fooling'. Imagine a flame. A bright
flame. As long as it is just a flame, we have no problem. Then we cover it
with a glass cover. The cover gets dirty. And then we have two eyes, which
see the flame from outside. What do we see? A flicker of light, which is
radically different from the actual one. Replace the cover with a blue
glass cover. ANd the flame now looks blue. And the perception about the
reality of the flame changes. That is what happens with us. We see with
our eyes and mind. And since these organs are designed to pervieve only
the impermanent, we do not see anything permanent. That is the 'fooling'.
Sages say that the process of discovering reality begins when you start
moving inwards. In that process, you penetrate the glass cover and see
a pure unadulterated flame. You see just I. And the sages have termed it
as Sat-Chit-Ananda. But only you can do your own journey. No one else can
do it for you.
--
Nachiketa Tiwari
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