aatma tatha parmaatma
brahm is like the ocean, the all encompassing entity. in the ocean, the waves are there. you can see them and their various patterns but are they different from the ocean. they are alike and yet they are different. it is a beautiful simile for parmatma and its manifestation (the form of parmatma be it brahma, vishnu, shiv, sarsvati, lakshmi or parvati. they are same and yet they are different. but imagine the wave striking a rock. there are water drops scattered in all directions. they will ultimately return to ocean and be part of it but momentarily they have a separate existence. aatma gets separated and yet it is part of ocean. but imagine the water caught in a depression. it is separate from the ocean and has its own existence. but it exists only till the next wave reclaims it. aatma gets separated from parmatma, has its own separate existence but only till it is reclaimed. but some water gets evaporated, forms a cloud and drops elsewhere in the form of rain. it gathers in a lake. its existence is separate and it cannot be reclaimed early. it evaporates, form a cloud but depending upon circumstances, comes back but still we cannot say that it is not the same water which belonged to the ocean and eventually, after many births and deaths ( rain and evaporation) it is eventually going to be part of the ocean. so also with aatma.