Is the individual soul comparable to the lamp along with the light, in the given analogy?

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on April 03, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[Śrī Anil Antony asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swami! You have given an analogy of a lamp and the light radiating from it to understand awareness and its instruments. You have said that core of the lamp, which is its flame, is comparable to be the basic awareness or pure awareness, whereas, the light emerging from it can be said to be the internal instruments of the awareness (four Antaḥkaraṇas). In that case, can we say that the lamp and the light taken together are like the individual soul or the Jīva? This is because, the bundle of thoughts that constitute the individual are contained in the mind, memory (Cittam), intellect and the basic ego and not in the pure awareness, which is the subject.]

Swāmi replied: You are correct in your understanding. The individual soul or Jīva is both the lamp and its spread-out light. Of course, in the stage of meditation, this individual soul becomes the basic soul or Ātman, which has the pure awareness. This Ātman is almost similar to the inert energy and hence, the inert energy can be also called as Ātman. If you take Ātman as pure awareness, such Ātman is limited to the body only. If you take Ātman as the inert energy, such Ātman is all pervading, the material cause of the world etc., by which Ātman can be misunderstood as God. At this juncture, inert energy is refuted to be God because God has awareness. At this juncture, again God shall not be misunderstood as this relative imaginable awareness because God is absolute unimaginable awareness.

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