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Can you explain the difference between God and atma according to the Bhagavad-Gita?

Last Updated: 18.06.2025 06:39

Can you explain the difference between God and atma according to the Bhagavad-Gita?

Priyam = Love.

Krishna sums the relationship up in two verses:-

Visiṣṭhādvaita Vedānta - (Qualified non-duality) They are one but ontologically distinct, like a flower and its smell or like a picture and its pixels.

Why is it easy to make money in the USA?

Asti = being

Bhāti = illumination - consciousness

One may ask which of these three views is correct - well each school argues its case in depth and prolixity. The summary and take away information is that Param-ātma and jīvātma are intimately and inseparably related to each other and share three qualities:-

I am skinny, I have been doing 100 pushups a day for more than a month and am seeing very few results, everything is so unfair, I workout more than anyone I know and am still skinny, why cant I build muscle?

So these verses affirm the identity of God and the Individual Self and there are three views according to the three major schools of Vedānta.

Dvaita Vedānta - (Duality) God and the individual Self are absolutely distinct and separate.

Advaita Vedānta - (Non-duality) God (Paramātma) and the individual Self (jīvātma) are one and the same = identical.

I’m wondering about attachment and transference with the therapist and the idea of escape and fantasy? How much do you think your strong feelings, constant thoughts, desires to be with your therapist are a way to escape from your present life? I wonder if the transference serves another purpose than to show us our wounds and/or past experiences, but is a present coping strategy for managing what we don’t want to face (even if unconsciously) in the present—-current relationships, life circumstances, etc. Can anyone relate to this concept of escape in relation to their therapy relationship? How does this play out for you?