Paramatman (Sanskrit: परमात्मन्, IAST: Paramātman) or Paramātmā is the absolute Atman, or supreme Self, in various philosophies such as the Vedanta and Yoga schools in Hindu theology, as well as other Indian religions such as Sikhism. Paramatman is the "Primordial Self" or the "Self Beyond" who is spiritually identical with the absolute and ultimate reality. Selflessness is the attribute of Paramatman, where all personality/individuality vanishes.
The word Ātman generally denotes the Individual Self, but by the word Paramatman which word also expresses Boundless Life, Boundless Consciousness, Boundless Substance in Boundless Space, is meant the Atman of all atmans or the Supreme Self or the Universal Self. The word Ātman ( Atma, आत्मा, आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word that refers to "essence, breath.", Atman Britannica, Atman Hindu philosophy Atman Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper (2012) is often equated with Brahman, the subtlest indestructible Divine existence.
P. T. Raju (2006), Idealistic Thought of India, Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII The word Paramatman refers to the Creator of all.
Even though Jain mysticism centers around Atman and Paramatman because it believes in the existence of soul, in Jainism, which accepts neither Vedic authority nor Monism, all enlightened souls are referred to as Paramatman and regarded as gods. Jainism honours the soul of each man as its own eternally distinct Salvation. Since the Paramatman of Jainism is unable to create and govern the world, there is no place of God as a creator and bestower of fortune.
Hindus conceptualize Para Brahman in diverse ways. In the Advaita Vedanta tradition, Nirguna Brahman (Brahman without attributes) is Parabrahman. In Dvaita and Vishistadvaita Vedanta traditions, Saguna Brahman (Brahman with qualities) is Parabrahman. In Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, Vishnu, Shiva and Adi Shakti respectively are Parabrahman. Mahaganapati is considered as Parabrahman by the Ganapatya sect. Kartikeya is considered as Parabrahman by the Kartikeya sect.
Aurobindo makes the Spirit or Purusha the Source of everything, including Brahman. He makes Purusha more fundamental. Thus, he does not have to say Brahman to be the source of inferior Brahman, and he also dismisses the sense of Reality revealed in imaginative and emotional build-up.
Brahman and Isvara are not synonymous words, the apparent similarity is on account of similar looking attributes imagined with regard to the impressions these two words activate. According to Advaita, Isvara is Brahman associated with maya in its excellent aspect, as the empirical reality it is the determinate Brahman; Isvara has no reality apart from Brahman. The Svetasvatara Upanishad developed the conception of a personal God. The Katha Upanishad states that never has any man been able to visualise Paramatman by means of sight, heart, imagination or mind. The Anandamaya-kosha is the Isvara of the Upanishads. Gaudapada called duality maya, and non-duality, the only reality. Maya is the Cosmic Nescience that has in it the plurality of subject and object and therefore, Isvara is organically bound with the world. Beyond the Prana or Isvara is the state of the Infinite limitless Brahman which is why in the Bhagavad Gita VII.24, Krishna tells Arjuna—"not knowing My unsurpassable and undecaying supreme nature the ignorant believe Me to have assumed a finite form through birth."
With regard to the cause of samsāra, as to where it resides and the means of its removal, Adi Shankara in his Vivekachudamani.49. instructs that the individual self is the Paramatman in reality, the association of the individual self with ajnana i.e. with avidya, which he terms as anatmabandhah, bondage by the anatman or non-atman, makes it to identify itself with gross, subtle and causal bodies and from that arises samsāra, which is of the form of superimposition of qualities of sukha, dukkha etc., on itself, the atman.
For I am actually both the one who receives and the Lord over all acts of worship.He is the overseer and the permitter of their actions. Bhagavad Gita 13.23 Bhagavata Purana 7.14.38 Paramatman is different from five elements ( pancha mahabhutas), the , mind, pradhana and jiva. Bhagavata Purana 3.28.41...Whoever offers even a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water to Me in devotion, That is a meaningful offering I accept from those whose souls are truly devoted.
Vaishnava sects maintain that attaining knowledge of Brahman and identification of atman with Brahman is an intermediate stage of self-realization, and only Bhakti Yoga can lead to the next step of Paramatman realization as the indwelling God, ultimately leading up to liberation ( Moksha) by God-realization.
The Viṣṇu or the deity of the quality of goodness in the material world is the puruṣa-avatāra known as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu or Paramātmā.[6]
In Bengal, Vaishnava Krishna is viewed as one endowed with his essential svarupa-shakti; he is Bhagawat in full manifestation endowed with Jivasakti and Mayasakti, he the Paramatman and Brahman. Brahman, Paramatman and Bhagavan are 3 gradations of the ultimate reality.
Jiva Goswami, Gaudiya Vaishnava scholar, distinguishes between Brahman, Paramatman, and Bhagavan, citing a passage from the Bhagavata Purana (1.2.11): "The knowers of the Absolute Reality call that Reality advaya-jnana, 'nondual consciousness,' which is designated as Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan." He asserts that the one absolute reality is conceived with different terms depending on who is doing the conceiving: the Advaitins conceive of it as an "all-pervasive Brahman"; the yogis conceive of it as Paramatman; and the Vaishnavas conceive of it as Bhagavan who possesses a transcendent and immaterial form. Goswami contends that Bhagavan is the most complete conception or manifestation of the Absolute Reality, and the other two are dependent and based on it, Brahman (who is undifferentiated) and Paramatman (as the Supreme soul) are thus understood to be included in Bhagavan.
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