Paramatman (Sanskrit: परमात्मन्,IAST: Paramātman) orParamātmā is the absoluteAtman, or supreme Self, in various philosophies such as theVedanta andYoga schools inHindu theology, as well as otherIndian religions such asSikhism.Paramatman is the "Primordial Self" or the "Self Beyond" who is spiritually identical with the absolute and ultimate reality. Selflessness is the attribute ofParamatman, where all personality/individuality vanishes.[1]
The word stemparamātman ([pɐɾɐmaːtmɐn], its nominative singular beingparamātmā — परमात्मा, pronounced[pɐɾɐmaːtmaː]) is formed from two words,parama, meaning "supreme" or "highest", andātman, which means individual self.
The wordĀtman generally denotes the Individual Self, but by the wordParamatman which word also expresses Boundless Life, Boundless Consciousness, Boundless Substance in Boundless Space, is meant theAtman of allatmans or the Supreme Self or the Universal Self. The wordĀtman (Atma, आत्मा, आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word that refers to "essence, breath.",[web 1][web 2][2] is often equated with Brahman, the subtlest indestructible Divine existence.[3][4][5] The wordParamatman refers to the Creator of all.[citation needed]
In Jainmysticism, eachatman or individual self is a potentialParamatman or God; both are essentially the same. It remains anatman only because of its bindingkarmic limitations, until such time as those limitations are removed. AsParamatman, theatman represents the ultimate point of spiritual evolution.[6]
Even though Jainmysticism centers onAtman andParamatman because it affirms the existence of the soul, in Jainism, which does not accept the Vedic notion ofParamatman, all enlightened souls are referred to asParamatman and regarded as gods, while it honours the soul of each person as its own strictly eternally distinctsaviour.[7] Because the Jain paramātman neither creates nor governs the cosmos, Jainism has no place for a creator deity, and is thus classified as a heterodox (nāstika) school in the Indian philosophical tradition.[8]
Hindus believe in one God, who is known variously asParamatman,Parameshwar,Parabrahman,Purushottam and so on.[9][10] Even though God is one, He manifests in infinite forms, but this should not to be confused with the belief that there are multiple Gods.[10]
Hindus conceptualizeParabrahman in diverse ways. In the Advaita Vedanta tradition,Nirguna Brahman (Brahman without attributes) isParabrahman. In Dvaita and Vishistadvaita Vedanta traditions,Saguna Brahman (Brahman with qualities) isParabrahman. In Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, Vishnu, Shiva and Adi Shakti respectively areParabrahman. Mahaganapati is considered asParabrahman by the Ganapatya sect. Kartikeya is considered asParabrahman by the Kartikeya sect.
The sage of theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.2, although not using the wordParamatman, explains that at the time of release the portion (aspect) of theParamatman and the portion (aspect) of theJiva presiding in the right eye become unified with theParamatman and theJiva presiding in the heart, then theJiva does not see, smell, taste, speak, hear, feel, touch and know; whenParamatman goes out, the ChiefPrana goes out after him, followed by the Lower Prana.Paramatman goes out riding on theJiva following consciousness and work, knowledge of former life or natural capacity. In thePrashna Upanishad IV.11 the wordAtman cannot refer toJiva because theJiva cannot of its own accord throw off its body or understandavidya, therefore, it refers toParamatman.[11] The Jiva attainsMoksha when he actually knows theParamatman, the Asarira Prajnatman, to be thousand-headed, to be the governor of all and to be superior to all.[12] Thus,Paramatman is one of the many aspects ofBrahman and has all attributes of Brahman.[13]Atman (Spirit) andParamatman (God) are one, some say they are distinct as well as one, they are one with reference toShakti but distinct with reference to that power.[14][clarification needed]
The wordParamatman is not to be found in theRig Veda but through allusion referring toParamatman asIsha. This distinction is made because all of its mantras which in the form of prayers are addressed to gods. In its great Riddle Hymn (Sukta I.164) is the famous mantra - R.V.I.164.20, that was revealed to Rishi Deergatamaah Auchathyah and borrowed byMundaka Upanishad III.1.1-3, which belongs toAtharva Veda, to weave the parable of the Two Birds:-Two birds.
Two birds, beautiful of wings, close companions, cling to one common tree: of the two one eats the sweet fruit of that tree; the other eats not but watches his companion. The self is the bird that sits immersed on the common tree; but because he is not lord he is bewildered and has sorrow. But when he sees that other who is the Lord and the beloved, he knows that all is His greatness and his sorrow passes away from him. When, a seer, he sees the Golden-hued, the maker, the Lord, the Spirit who is the source of Brahman, then he becomes the knower and shakes from his wings sin and virtue; pure of all stains he reaches the supreme identity.
— Translation of Verses 1-3 of Third Mundaka Upanishad by Sri Aurobindo.
Aurobindo makes the Spirit orPurusha the Source of everything, includingBrahman. He makesPurusha 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.[15]
The Dualistic school of philosophy initiated byAnandatirtha draws its support from the afore-cited passage as well as from the passage ofKatha Upanishad I.3.1 of an earlier Upanishad that speaks about two souls which taste the fruits of action, both of which are lodged in the recess of the human heart, and which are different from each other as light and shade, that carried the flaw—how could the Universal soul be regarded as enjoying the fruits of action? The followers ofMadhva draw their support from theBhagavad Gita XV.16 that speaks about two persons in this world, the Mutable and the Immutable; the Mutable is all these things, while the Immutable is the one who exists at the top of them, one is the Jivatman and the other, Paramatman.[16]Jivatman ischit, the sentient, andParamatman isIsvara, both have the same attributes; they are inseparably present together on the tree which isachit, the insentient, or the grossAvidya component of existence.Jivatman andParamatman are both seated in the heart, the former is driven by the three modes of nature and acts, the latter simply witnesses as though approving the former's activities.[17] The relationship between Paramātmā, the Universal Self, and'ātma, the Individual Self, is likened to the indwelling God and the soul within one's heart. Paramatman is one of the many aspects ofBrahman. Paramatman is situated at the core of every individualjiva in themacrocosm. TheUpanishads do compare Atman and Paramatman to two birds sitting like friends on the branch of a tree (body) where the Atman eats its fruits (karma), and the Paramatman only observes the Atman as a witness (sākṣin) of His friend's actions.
InAdvaita philosophy, individual souls are calledJīvātman, and the Highest Brahman is calledParamātman. TheJivatman and theParamatman are known to be one and the same when theJivatman attains the true knowledge of the Brahman (SanskritBrahmajñāna). In the context of Advaita, the wordParamatman is invariably used to refer to Nirguna Brahman, withIshvara andBhagavan being terms used to refer to Brahman with qualities, orSaguna Brahman. However, there is still a tendency inShankara to use interchangeably the termsParamatman andIshvara, even when he is referring to personal names ofIshvara like Narayana and Vishnu.[18]
Brahman andIsvara 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 withmaya in its excellent aspect, as the empirical reality it is the determinate Brahman; Isvara has no reality apart from Brahman. TheSvetasvatara Upanishad developed the conception of a personal God. TheKatha Upanishad states that never has any man been able to visualiseParamatman by means of sight, heart, imagination or mind. The Anandamaya-kosha is the Isvara of the Upanishads.Gaudapada called dualitymaya, 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 thePrana or Isvara is the state of the Infinite limitless Brahman[19] which is why in theBhagavad 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 ofsamsāra, as to where it resides and the means of its removal,Adi Shankara in hisVivekachudamani.49. instructs that the individual self is theParamatman in reality, the association of the individual self withajnana i.e. withavidya, which he terms asanatmabandhah, bondage by theanatman 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 ofsukha,dukkha etc., on itself, theatman.[20]
Paramatman is beyond knowledge and ignorance, devoid of all material attributes (upadhi). In Chapter 13 of theBhagavad Gita,Paramatman is described asKrishna residing in the hearts of all beings and in every atom of matter.Paramatman is also described in the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 9) as worthy of the bhakti (devotion) of the individual selves:
For I am actually both the one who receives and the Lord over all acts of worship....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.[21]
He is the overseer and the permitter of their actions.[22][23]Paramatman is different from five elements (pancha mahabhutas), thesenses,mind,pradhana andjiva.[24]
Vaishnava sects maintain that attaining knowledge of Brahman and identification ofatman with Brahman is an intermediate stage of self-realization, and onlyBhakti Yoga can lead to the next step ofParamatman realization as the indwelling God, ultimately leading up to liberation (Mukti) by God-realization.
The Viṣṇu or the deity of thequality of goodness in the material world is thepuruṣa-avatāra known asKṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu orParamātmā.[1]
In Bengal, Vaishnava Krishna is viewed as one endowed with his essentialsvarupa-shakti; he is Bhagawat in full manifestation endowed withJivasakti andMayasakti, he theParamatman andBrahman.Brahman,Paramatman andBhagavan are 3 gradations of the ultimate reality.[25]
Jiva Goswami, Gaudiya Vaishnava scholar, distinguishes betweenBrahman,Paramatman, andBhagavan, citing a passage from the Bhagavata Purana (1.2.11): "The knowers of the Absolute Reality call that Realityadvaya-jnana, 'nondual consciousness,' which is designated asBrahman,Paramatma orBhagavan." 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-pervasiveBrahman"; the yogis conceive of it asParamatman; and the Vaishnavas conceive of it asBhagavan who possesses a transcendent and immaterial form. Goswami contends thatBhagavan 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) andParamatman (as the Supreme soul) are thus understood to be included inBhagavan.[26]
Time is described in theBhagavata Purana:
My Lord, I consider Your Lordship to be eternal time, the supreme controller, without beginning and end, the all-pervasive one. ... Eternal time is the witness of all our actions, good and bad, and thus resultant reactions are destined by Him. It is no use saying that we do not know why and for what we are suffering. We may forget the misdeed for which we may suffer at this present moment, but we must remember that Paramātmā is our constant companion, and therefore He knows everything, past, present and future. And because the Paramātmā feature of Lord Kṛṣṇa destines all actions and reactions, He is the supreme controller also. Without His sanction not a blade of grass can move.[2]
