Sa Atma
Sa Ātmā (IAST)Translation: "that is the Self"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 7)
Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: स आत्मा
Transliteration: Sa Ātmā
Translation: "that is the Self"
Commentary: "i.e., this is the real nature of the Ātman and what has been spoken of before as possessing the first three states are not real but superimposed upon it by Upadhi(s) or limiting adjuncts."
From Mandukya Upanishad (James Swartz)
"The three ego’s [waking, dreaming, sleeping] are called Upadhi, limiting adjuncts, in Vedānta. An Upadhi is something that apparently covers or conceals the nature of something else. If I put clear water in a colored glass, the water, seen through the glass, appears colored. Similarly, when I look at myself through my waking, dream, and sleep personalities, I seem to be three distinct personalities. However, when I remove the Upadhi, I can see what I really am. The removal or negation of the Upadhi is simply knowing they are unreal, not going into some high or “spiritual” state to get rid of them. The Yoga Sūtra says liberation depends on destruction of the mind, but Vedānta says that the more one struggles to remove the thoughts, the more one lends them reality, reinforcing one’s Self ignorance.
The waker and the dreamer, which are just different ways of discussing a Self-ignorant person, are fractured into many sub-identities, Upadhi within an Upadhi, so that most of us are dealing with a confusing array of selves, none of which are real. Remember, ‘real’ in metaphysics means enduring, unchanging, unlimited. Because something is experienced does not make it real, the snake in the rope, the blue sky, and the rising sun, for example."
References:
- Sharvananda, Swami (1920). Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads: With Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-For-Word Literal Translation, English, Rendering and Comments. Mylapore, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math
- Swartz, James (1996). Mandukya Upanishad: An ancient Sanskrit text on the nature of Reality. Retrieved from https://www.holybooks.com/mandukya-upanishad-an-ancient-sanskrit-text-on-the-nature-of-reality/. p. 10.
