is Atman same as soul or spirit?

/Thewww.bhrgupandit.com /cosmological difference between India and West are reflected in their respective views of the ultimate nature of self. In India philosophy , the true nature of self is sat, chit,anand, which can be realized through adhayatama vidhya.In the west,on the other hand, the self is conceived of as sinful, a condition which can be alleviated only by belief in the set of  history- centric revelationt passed down by prophets. In Hinduism, one,s  true self is known as Atman. Atman is the reflection of supreme transcendent Self, Brahman, and as such, differ from Judeo-Christian conception of  soul or spirit.

Since in the christian view, human nature is sinful, it becomes necessary for GOD to intervene from without and save the sinner. people may employ the inner science  (meditation, yoga, etc.) with the aim of advancing  spiritually, but this will only be taken so far.At some stage, God must intervene (from outside, as it were) if the stain of the sin is to be wiped clean. As i have argued, this deficiency or limitation in the soul is due to the christian dependency on a history-centric  metaphysics.

Many christian do not like the idea that their concept of soul or spirt is limited  to the comparison with the atman, yet they are unwillingly to relinquish  their dependence on the exclusivist history which is the underpinning of precisely those limitation.

The dharmic concept of atman is linked tho the concepts of reincarnation and Karma.The atman individualizes in birth, and Karma is an account  of ones,s choices in the past, and this accout is carried forward at the time of death in order to influence future lives. Although dharmic traditions have different views on the nature of Atman, they all have reincarnation and Karma incommonas central  features.

A few early christians (mostly notably Origen) dod affirm reincarnation, but in doing so , they were breaking ranks with the Old Testament. As christian theology evolved, these ideas were rejected by  mainstream theology.

\The reincarnation-Karma theory holds that one,s individual human nature is entirely the result of  one,s past life it is not a sexually transmitted condition passed on from disobedient actions of Adam and Eve. if the notion of  sin as something transmitted via sex-based birth were not a fundamental tenet of Christianity, the whole emphasis on Jesus,s virgin birth would disappear . Indeed, if the original sin were replaced by Karma and reincarnation as the christian explanation for the human condition, the entire history-centric enterprise would collapse along with the notion of Heaven and Hell.

Atman is without beginning or end, the same is not true in westren soul which is beginning with God.In the Dharmic tradition Atman is present in every living thing. it is present in human, animals, plants, insects etc. on the other cremation is a way discouraging attachment to the body, hence there is no cemetery-like place where the dead are visited and communed with long after they died. Reincarnation theory sees death as a natural recycling, and there are fewer obsession with the body  than in the western tradition, which insists there is only one life to live.

Unlike the christian soul, the atman also manifest in non-human forms such as animals, plants, and nature in general, making respect for animals and environment intrinsic and not after thought or optional to the theory. (by rajive Malhotra)