ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>&#256TM&#256</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="TM"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279&#256TM&#256, Sanskrit <i>&#257tman, </i> originally meant breath'. Later the term came to connote 'soul' or 'principle of life'. The different systems of Indian philosophy gave it further semantic shades. <i>Ny&#257ya Vi&#347e&#7779aka</i> considered <i>&#257tm&#257</i> a substance and endowed it with qualities of cognition, pleasure, pain, desire, aversion and effort. S&#257&#7749khya recognized it as an object of inference. <i>Bha&#7789&#7789a-Mim&#257&#7749s&#257</i> held it as the object of internal perception <i>(manaspratyak&#7779a). Prabh&#257kara Mim&#257&#7749s&#257</i> considered it to be the knowing ego revealed in the very act of knowledge and held it to be the subject and not the object of perception. The Upanishads regarded it as the object of higher intuition and equated it with Brahman, the Impersonal Absolute. &#346a&#7749kara's<i>advaita</i>Ved&#257nta held it to be pure consciousness above the distinction of subject and object, knowable by an immediate intuitive consciousness. R&#257m&#257nuja, however, rejected &#346a&#7749kara's concept of <i>&#257tm&#257</i> as pure consciousness and considered it to be nothing but the knower or ego.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Sikh concept is nearest to the Upani&#7779adic-Advaitic viewpoint. In Sikh lore, <i>&#257tm&#257</i> is considered to be of the nature of pure resplendent consciousness: <i>man t&#363&#7749 joti sar&#363pu hai &#257p&#7751&#257 m&#363lu pachh&#257&#7751u-</i> O my Self ! you are of the nature of light; do recognize your origin (GG, 441). 'Light' here signifies consciousness. The Self <i> (&#257tm&#257)</i> is conscious while the non-self is the object of consciousness. Though itself not an object of consciousness, <i>&#257tm&#257</i> is apprehended by unmediated intuition. "As the Self realizes, enlightenment grows without effort" (GG, 87). In fact, consciousness is directed outwards to objects, inwards to <i>&#257tm&#257. &#256tm&#257</i>is pure consciousness without any content. Thus, the contentless consciousness within is <i>&#257tm&#257. </i></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>&#256tm&#257</i> is not different from <i>Param-&#257tm&#257, </i> the Cosmic Consciousness, but is only a fraction thereof. Kab&#299r designated it as <i>R&#257m k&#299 a&#7749s</i> (a fraction of R&#257m). It is the subtlest, purest essence of life: <i>nirmal joti nirantari j&#257t&#299-</i> purest light constantly seen inside (GG, 1039). It remains unperturbed-<i>&#257tm&#257 a&#7693olu na &#7693ola&#299</i>(GG, 87) - through life's vicissitudes, pleasures and pains. Uninterrupted tranquillity is its hallmark.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In its corporeal attire, it passes through cycles of transmigration. Through Divine Grace, it can merge back into the Cosmic Soul <i> (Param&#257tm&#257) </i> and escape the throes of birth and death again and again.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It is equated with Brahman: <i>&#257tam mahi p&#257rbrahmu lahante</i> - they discover p&#257rbrahma in <i>&#257tm&#257</i> (GG, 276). The individual soul and the Cosmic Soul are indistinguishable one from the other: <i>&#257tm&#257 par&#257tm&#257 eko karai - </i> (he) reckons the personal soul and Cosmic Soul as one (GG, 61). The <i>&#257tm&#257</i> is Divine, the Divine is <i>&#257tm&#257: &#257tam deu deu hai &#257tamu</i> (GG, 1325). <i>&#256tm&#257</i> is also equated with the Creator: <i>&#257tam pas&#257r&#257 kara&#7751h&#257r&#257 prabh bin&#257 nah&#299 j&#257&#7751&#299ai. </i> The Self is the creator of the entire universe, beyond it reckon naught (GG, 846). It is also equated with the immanent God: <i>&#257tam R&#257mu ravi&#257 sabh antari</i> - the immanent Self pervades everything (GG, 916).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The experiential realization of this identification is the <i>summum bonum</i> of Sikh mysticism. <i>&#256tam dhi&#257n</i> (self absorption) is the operational mode for such an attainment and <i>&#257tam gi&#257n</i>(self-knowledge) is its apprehension.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The empirical ego <i> (haumai)</i> is only an object of consciousness. There must be a witness of the empirical ego, otherwise there can be no unity of apperception in our knowledge of the external objects and that of the empirical ego. <i>&#256tm&#257, </i> in fact, is such witness. However, <i>&#257tm&#257</i> itself is not an object of knowledge; it is the presupposition of all knowledge-the knowledge of objects as. well as that of the empirical ego. <i>&#256tm&#257</i> is thus the transcendental Self as distinguished from the empirical ego. Intuitive apprehension of this is <i>&#257tam gi&#257n</i> and its actual experience is <i>&#257tam daras, </i> vision of the Self. Such experiential absorption in the Self is attended with the highest aesthetic pleasure, <i>&#257tam ras</i>or <i>&#257tam ra&#7749g</i>-aesthetic, because it is based on an experience of ultimate beauty.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Sher Singh, <i>The Philosophy of Sikhism. </i> Lahore, 1944<BR> <li class="C1"> Avtar Singh, <i>Ethics of the Sikhs. </i> Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Jodh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Gurmati Nir&#7751aya. </i> Lahore, 1932<BR> <li class="C1"> Nripinder Singh, <i>The Sikh Moral Tradition. </i> Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Jaswant Si&#7749gh Nek&#299<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>