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

15.06.2025 10:25

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

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.

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

Krishna sums the relationship up in two verses:-

Why do some women alter their faces by so-called cosmetic surgeries (on their eyes, cheeks, lips, chin, jaw) that making them look like Donald Duck or puffy aliens, while for most men these unnatural facial changes are ridiculous or even disgusting?

Bhāti = illumination - consciousness

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

Priyam = Love.

If Jesus was crucified by Governor Pontius Pilate, why does the Quran deny his death?

Asti = being

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

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:-

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