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Re: Atmaa : Do I have one ?
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To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: Atmaa : Do I have one ?
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From: santhosh@iss.nus.sg (Santhosh Kumar)
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Date: 7 Feb 1996 02:32:52 GMT
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
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Organization: Institute Of Systems Science, National University Of Singapore.
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References: <4eumgs$cl6@babbage.ece.uc.edu> <4f0v5b$t00@babbage.ece.uc.edu> <4f6drh$eep@babbage.ece.uc.edu>
Roy Raja (rajaroy@ecf.toronto.edu) wrote:
: In article <4f0v5b$t00@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
: N. Tiwari <ntiwari@rs3.esm.vt.edu> wrote:
: >The term aatmaa implies self. So the question whether
: >I have an aatmaa is quite meaningless. The moment I
: >use the word "I", a sense of self-ness is implied.
: >Further, if there is something which I cannot really
: >doubt, it is this "I". I can doubt Raja Roy's existence.
:
: This is what I have been thinking about. Who am I, or Why am I.
: According to Sankhya, there are two fundamental things in universe :
: Purush and Prakriti. Prakriti goes through transformation when universe
: comes into being, but Purush remains unchanged. However since Prakriti
: is inanimate, it can not go through transformation on its own, but it
: happens due to the presence of Purush.
: Let's take another example here of a computer. Computer has a hardware,
: software, but it won't run without electricity. We have a body, mind, but
: we won't be alive without Atmaa. Let's assume there is a computer that
: can think. What should it identify with : its hardware, its software, or
: its electricity? To me it is hard to identify with electricity.
:
You need to identify the computer at the gross level with hardware
and software, and not with electricity because it is the hardware
and software that makes it differ from other similar objects.
We cannot live without food, but we don't identify ourselves
with food in the gross form, do we?
Or, in other words, it is those features that we identify with
which makes us distinguish from the rest, is the limitation of
our gross form. Similarly, when we talk of a person, we don't
say that I know the soul in that body defined by such and such
features. This is the limitation of the gross form manifestation
and the ego in the gross form.
Take the case of computer again, at a higher level, we understand
that it consists of transistors or integrated circuits. This is
a higher level of knowledge, and the ICs are programmable in the
case of computer where as in some other electronic devices they
are not programmable, etc. , etc., are all higher levels of
knowledge about the computer, but a school boy though is using
a computer for his games may not have this knowledge. Further,
if you analyse further you will notice that ICs consists of
transistors, ...., finally will take you to the electron, proton,
neutron, etc. to explain the behaviour of a computer, at which
stage you will see that they are not different from that in
other materials, but manifests in certain combinations
that makes it behave in this particular way. Though we are able
to explain the behaviour of computer, we see that the fundamental
particles are the same, but still computer is different from a
piece of wood for example.
regards,
Santhosh
