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

Last Updated: 03.07.2025 00:49

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

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

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.

Krishna sums the relationship up in two verses:-

What do you think of the 2 female 18 and 19 year-old German tourists, detained in Honolulu, strip-searched, put in green jumpsuits, placed in a holding cell and the next day deported, for the terrible crime of not pre-booking a hotel for their trip?

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

Bhāti = illumination - consciousness

Priyam = Love.

Do women lack the mental strength to succeed at STEM? There seems to be few women at STEM and more women leave STEM after a time of working at it. How can it be just sexism if women aren't banned from entering?

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:-

Asti = being

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

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