Ābhāsa-caitanya

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Ābhāsa-caitanya (Skt., ‘reflection’ + ‘consciousness’). The way in which, in Hinduism, absolute consciousness (cit) is reflected in human awareness. The world-entangled self (jīva) takes this reflection to be the reality and thus fails to break through to the true realization of Brahman, and of the true self (ātman) as Brahman.