Ātmārāma
Ātmārāma · ātma-ārāma, “one who delights in the Self”
Grammar: masculine noun or adjective; a compound of ātman (the Self) and ārāma (delight, a pleasure-garden), from the root ram (to delight) with the prefix ā: “one whose delight is the Self”.
Meaning: one who delights in the ātmā alone and needs nothing outside it; said of Śrī Kṛshṇa, who is complete in himself, and of the maharshis established in the Self.
In the scriptures: Śaunaka asks why Śuka Maharshi, devoted to the dharma of withdrawal, desiring nothing and delighting in the Self, studied so large a book. Sūta answers that maharshis who delight in the Self, though they are beyond books, have bhakti without any cause for Śrī Hari, who took the form of Vāmana and measured the brahmāṇḍa with his huge steps; such all-attracting sweetness is in the guṇas of Śrī Hari. So Śuka, his heart drawn by those guṇas, studied the Bhāgavata every day (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 7).
In the rāsa night, hearing the piteous words of the gopīs, Śrī Kṛshṇa laughed with compassion; though he is one who delights in his own svarūpa, he gave them delight with his song and his play, and shone among them like the moon among the stars (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 29). When the gopīs followed his footprints and found where he had adorned the hair of one gopī with flowers, Śuka adds his own word: Śrī Kṛshṇa is the complete one, who delights and plays in himself alone; he sported with her to show the world that those full of desire come to wretchedness, and that women who are loved treat their lovers harshly (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 30).
When he returned to the gopīs, Śrī Kṛshṇa told them that some do not love even those who love them: the mahātmās established in the ātmā, whose every desire is fulfilled; or the ungrateful; or those who betray a benefactor (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 32).
Related terms: Ātmā · Āptakāma · Pūrṇa · Nivṛtti · Rāsa
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 7; Skandha 10, Chapters 29–30, 32