Page:Philosophy of bhagawad-gita.pdf/79

Rh is Parabrahmam, but that the only true self in the cosmos, which is the Logos or Praṭyagāṭma, is a manifestation of Parabrahmam.

It will be noticed that when Kṛṣhṇa is speaking of himself he never uses the word Parabrahmam, but places himself in the position of Praṭyagāṭma', and it is from this standpoint that we constantly find him speaking. Whenever he speaks of Praṭyagāṭma, he speaks of himself, and whenever he speaks of Parabrahmam, he speaks of it as being something different from himself.

I will now go through all the passages in which reference is made to Parabrahmam in this book. The first passage to which I shall call your attention is chapter viii, verse 3:

Here the only words used to denote Parabrahmam are Akṣharam and Brahma. These are the words he generally uses. You will notice that he does not in any place call it Īshvara or Maheshvara; he does not even allude to it often as Āṭmā. Even the term Paramāṭmā he applies to himself, and not to Parabrahmam. I believe that the reason for this is that the word Āṭmā, strictly speaking, means the same thing as self, that idea of self being in no way connected with Parabrahmam. This idea of self first comes into existence with