Chidabhasa — The Reflection of Consciousness
Chidabhasa (the reflection of consciousness in the intellect) is Advaita's explanation of how the one infinite Atman appears as multiple individual selves — through the mirror of the individual intellect.
Chidabhasa (reflection of consciousness — chit = consciousness, abhasa = reflected light, appearance) is Advaita's technical explanation of apparent individuality. The one infinite Atman, like the one sun reflected in multiple water vessels, appears as multiple individual selves through the medium of individual intellects (Buddhis). Just as the sun in each vessel appears to have the size and shape of that vessel (and appears to shake when the vessel shakes) — so the infinite Atman appears to have the size and shape of each individual intellect and appears to be affected by that intellect's moods. But just as the sun itself is unaffected by what happens to its reflection — so the Atman is unaffected by what happens to the apparent individual. The mistake of ignorance (Avidya) is to identify with the reflection (the apparent individual self) rather than with the original (the infinite Atman). Recognition of this distinction — not just intellectually but as lived understanding — is liberation.
As the sun appears as many in many water vessels, so the one Atman appears as many through many intellects.
Philosopher Derek Parfit's 'Reasons and Persons' — which demonstrates through thought experiments that the sense of personal identity is far less robust than ordinarily assumed and that 'what matters' in survival is not the continuity of a particular self — arrives at conclusions consistent with the Advaita teaching that the apparent individual self is not the real self.
Brahmasutra Bhashya
Written about in
- What Advaita Vedanta says about the self
One sun appears in many water pots. Advaita uses the image to explain why a single awareness looks like a crowd of separate people.