The Connection to GOD, Paramatma and the Universe

Is there a connection between the Paramatma (परमात्मा ) or God and the living Soul or Jeevatma (जीवात्मा) ? If so what is it ?

These are the very important questions which one has to understand the true essence of life and in turn understanding the Soul’s inner need

The Soul or “Atman(आत्मन)” represents the immortal aspect of our mortal existence, the individual Self, which is hidden in every object of creation including humans

“Atma(आत्मा)” may also be described as “God’s” Light which exists as the Light of Life in every Human Being. It is a part of the Parmatma(“परमात्मा”) and is thus identical to Him in nature and qualities.

“Jeevatma(जीवात्मा)”  the individual soul is the reflection of Aatma in the individual. It also represents the soul that has manifested into a form and is identified by the attributes of the divine the physical body, the mind, the intellect, he thoughts etc. The soul goes through a path of many cycles of birth and death before it can get liberated by realizing the Divine essence of God and in turn gets mingled with the Paramatma

The Isha Upanishad (Devanagari:ईशोपनिषद् IAST īśopaniṣad) is one of the shortest Upanishads, embedded as the final chapter (adhyāya) of the Shukla Yajurveda. It is a Mukhya (primary, principal) Upanishad, and is known in two recensions, called Kanva (VSK) and Madhyandina (VSM). The Upanishad is a brief poem, consisting of 17 or 18 verses, depending on the recension.

One of the first books Srila Prabhupada published in the course of establishing the “Hare Krishna” movement where he provided the meanings for the verses of 

Sri IsoPanishad(ईशोपनिषद्)

Sri Isopanishad‘s mantras direct our attention toward how the Supreme Person is the complete whole of existence, and that all manifestations emanating from Him—including our bodies and the world we inhabit—are also complete in and of themselves. The Isa—”supreme controller”—for whom Isopanishad is named, is described as both far away and near, walking and not walking, and both within and outside of everything.

To understand the connect better, I would like to quote some of the verses from this divine book :

Invocation Mantra:

Meaning :

As explained by Srila Prabhupada Ji What it means is, the Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete. As he is perfect, the emanations or creations from Him are also equipped as a Complete whole and  can function as a complete unit and can produce complete things.

Since the God Head represents the overall Complete Whole and even though so many complete units emanate from him, he still remains Complete and represents the Complete Balance

This Shloka very beautifully explains the personality of the Supreme Godhead 

The impersonal Brahman(ब्रह्मंड ) is the realization of “Sat” or eternity aspect of the Supreme Godhead.

The realisation of the Paramatman(परमात्मन ) is the realisation of his “Sat” “Chit” which represents “Eternal Knowledge”

The realisation of the Supreme Godhead or God(भगवान ) is the realisation of all his Transcendental features which is Sat, Chit and Ananda all together and therefore it is called Sachidananda(सचिदानंद ) 

What this means the Supreme GodHead is not formless and is the Complete Whole as he is able to create other Complete Wholes and Units like this phenomenal world.

The Complete Whole representing the Supreme GodHead has everything within our experience and beyond. The material world which is His creation is also a Complete Whole or Unit is a temporary manifestation and the 24 elements it comprises is adjusted for producing Complete things needed for maintenance and subsistence of the Universe

The Universe has his own time fixed by the energy of the complete Whole and when that time is Complete this temporary manifestation will be annihilated by the arrangement of the “Supreme Godhead” or “Complete Whole”

So all of us who are part of this Universal system are governed by these rules and arrangement

Mantra 4:

Meaning :

In this verse, as explained by Srila Prabhupada Ji, the Transcendental powers of the Supreme GodHead is explained and his Supreme abilities are incomprehensible to the Mortal Soul or Jeevatma

He  cannot be understood event to the greatest philosopher just through mental speculation and he can be only felt and understood by his true Devotees who are willing to surrender to Him

Even if the Mortal Soul can try to travel at the speed of sound or light, or is able to travel in Space thousand of miles, he will still not be able to reach the Absolute or Supreme GodHead

The Supreme Godhead hereafter referred to as “God” through is inconceivable potency can reach simultaneously every part of the Creative Energy.

He has the ability to distribute his different energies everywhere and primarily classified into 3 types:

a) Internal b) Marginal c) External potency

This has been explained by Srila Prabhupada in his book. Human beings represent the Marginal Potency , The Material Objtects represent the external potency and the Internal Potency is only known to GOD which represents his abode and the true devotee can feel and understand based on God’s will and mercy

Since we all represent the part of the Complete Whole the manifestation of the potencies in us are also marginal. Although we have all the symptoms of God himself and we are allowed to operate and comprehend in limited spheres of activities and thus are limited and are not equal to the Whole.

Therefore the Mortal beings who are parts and parcels are unable to comprehend and appreciate the full potency of the Lord and when they try to make a Mental speculation of God through the sources of Material world available to them, they actually see the Supreme God through the limited knowledge and understanding.

This partial energy which every such part has been endowed with to Act and the actions and the partial perception which it generates creates a sense of illusion or Maya which limits our comprehension of the Complete Whole, GOD and the Universe

Mantra 5:

Meaning :

In this verse, the inconceivable potencies of the Supreme GOD is further elaborated through Contradictory statements.

Here it is described that the Supreme GOD can walk and cannot walk. He is extremely far away and yet very near as well. He is within everything and at the same time outside of everything.

To the Human and  Mortal understanding, it is extremely complex to comprehend these potencies and abilities of the Supreme GOD with our limited abilities of understanding provided to us.

The Abode of GOD is extremely far away and incomprehensible and since we cannot comprehend such vast distances and time periods, we tend to question His Existence.

The GOD by his will can use all the creative energies and potencies at the same time and thus can travel at a speed faster than Mind or Thought.

He can convert himself to one form to another and from Material to Spiritual Energy. GOD can accept our service through any sort of Medium through his transcendental inconceivable potencies

He can use his inconceivable potency to change and transform the energies and use them to Transcend Space and Time

References: 

http://www.prabhupada.de/Books/SI.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isha_Upanishad

PURPORT

The above 3 verses from “IsoPanishad (ईशोपनिषद)” provides us with the beautiful understanding of GOD, the Paramatman (परमात्मन) and his creations which include the Material World represented by the Universe and the Moral beings of “Jeevatma(जीवात्मा)”

I would request everyone to go through the entire set of verses and get the complete understanding of this Divine Wisdom

However, to understand the essence of life and the Connection we have with GOD and the Paramatman(परमात्मन ) it is very important we understand the purport of these verses.

The abode of GOD is incomprehensible to mortal understanding due to our marginal potencies and more often than not we fall into the trap of our understanding of GOD and our existence through what we comprehend which is through our partial understanding driven by Maya or Illusion

GOD through his transcendental potencies can transform his energies and himself to any material or spiritual form as per his wishes. He controls all that is there in the Cosmos as he is the ABSOLUTE and the Complete Whole and thus maintains the balance

He can travel through any Dimension which is inconceivable and thus transcends the concept of Space and Time

It is however very clear that GOD although inconceivable is also “Sachidananda(सच्चिदानन्द)” and is a combination of the Eternal Truth, Eternal Knowledge and Eternal Bliss.

Since we are all his parts and which are complete in our limited dimension of our understanding we also possess the possess the route to connect to GOD through our soul or “Atman(आत्मन)” which has the knowledge to reach the “Paramatman(परमात्मन)”

In this age of Kal Yuga which is indeed the age of ignorance we must rekindle the connect to GOD and surrender to his will so that we can obtain a state of bliss and make our soul progress to the path of GOD or Paramatman

Every birth has a certain purpose and only the Soul has the complete understanding of the Life’s Purpose due to its connect to the Absolute or the Paramatman ( Super Soul). In this material world, while we perform our actions and enjoy the perceived fruits of those actions, we tend to lose the connect to our Soul which is also the True Voice of GOD imbibed into our hearts when we were born..

In the next few chapters I will talk about how to decipher the Soul’s desire and also provide a brief explanation of the physics and science behind the Universe and our Solar System for all of you to connect the dots

धन्यवाद्