Editing Ātman (Hinduism) (section)

=====Advaita Vedanta=====
[[Advaita Vedanta]] (non-dualism) sees the "spirit/soul/self" within each living entity as being fully identical with Brahman.<ref name=arvindsharmaintro/> The Advaita school believes that there is one soul that connects and exists in all living beings, regardless of their shapes or forms, and there is no distinction, no superior, no inferior, no separate devotee soul (''Atman''), no separate god soul (Brahman).<ref name=arvindsharmaintro>Arvind Sharma (2007), Advaita Vedānta: An Introduction, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120820272}}, pages 19-40, 53-58, 79-86</ref> The oneness unifies all beings, there is divine in every being, and that all existence is a single reality, state the Advaita Vedanta Hindus. In contrast, devotional sub-schools of Vedanta such as [[Dvaita]] (dualism) differentiate between the individual ''Atma'' in living beings, and the supreme ''Atma'' (''[[Paramatma]]'') as being separate.<ref>[[Bhagavata Purana]] [http://vedabase.net/sb/3/28/41/en 3.28.41] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217121958/http://vedabase.net/sb/3/28/41/en |date=2012-02-17 }}</ref><ref>[http://srimadbhagavatam.com/7/7/19-20/en1 Bhagavata Purana 7.7.19–20] "Atma also refers to the Supreme Lord or the living entities. Both of them are spiritual."</ref>

Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers ''Atman'' as [[Saccidānanda|Sat-cit-ānanda]], self-existent awareness, limitless and non-dual.<ref name=aramb>A Rambachan (2006), The Advaita Worldview: God, World, and Humanity, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791468524}}, pages 47, 99-103</ref> To Advaitins, the ''Atman'' is the Brahman, the Brahman is the ''Atman'', each self is non-different from the infinite.<ref name=arvindsharmaintro/><ref>Karl Potter (2008), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Advaita Vedānta, Volume 3, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120803107}}, pages 510-512</ref> ''Atman'' is the universal principle, one eternal undifferentiated [[self-luminous]] consciousness, the truth asserts Advaita Hinduism.<ref>S Timalsina (2014), Consciousness in Indian Philosophy: The Advaita Doctrine of 'Awareness Only', Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415762236}}, pages 3-23</ref><ref>Eliot Deutsch (1980), Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press, {{ISBN|978-0824802714}}, pages 48-53</ref> Human beings, in a state of unawareness of this universal self, see their "I-ness" as different from the being in others, then act out of impulse, fears, cravings, malice, division, confusion, anxiety, passions, and a sense of distinctiveness.<ref>A Rambachan (2006), The Advaita Worldview: God, World, and Humanity, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791468524}}, pages 114-122</ref><ref>Adi Sankara, A Bouquet of Nondual Texts: Advaita Prakarana Manjari, Translators: Ramamoorthy & Nome, {{ISBN|978-0970366726}}, pages 173-214</ref> To Advaitins, Atman-knowledge is the state of full awareness, liberation, and freedom that overcomes dualities at all levels, realizing the divine within oneself, the divine in others, and in all living beings; the non-dual oneness, that God is in everything, and everything is God.<ref name=arvindsharmaintro/><ref name=aramb/> This identification of individual living beings/souls, or ''jiva-atmas'', with the 'one Atman' is the non-dualistic [[Advaita Vedanta]] position.