Atma-darsanam means

Expressions researched:
"Atma-darsanam means"

SB Canto 3

Ātma-darśanam means to see oneself by knowledge; therefore, when one is freed from the false ego by the cultivation of real knowledge, he sees himself, and that is the ultimate necessity of human life.

SB 3.26.2, Purport:

Lord Caitanya explained to Sanātana Gosvāmī the real constitutional position of the individual. He said directly that each and every individual soul is eternally a servitor of Kṛṣṇa. Jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa': (CC Madhya 20.108) every individual soul is eternally a servitor. When one is fixed in the understanding that he is part and parcel of the Supreme Soul and that his eternal position is to serve in association with the Supreme Lord, he becomes self-realized. This position of rightly understanding oneself cuts the knot of material attraction (hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam). Due to false ego, or false identification of oneself with the body and the material world, one is entrapped by māyā, but as soon as one understands that he is qualitatively the same substance as the Supreme Lord because he belongs to the same category of spirit soul, and that his perpetual position is to serve, one attains ātma-darśanam and hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam, self-realization. When one can cut the knot of attachment to the material world, his understanding is called knowledge. Ātma-darśanam means to see oneself by knowledge; therefore, when one is freed from the false ego by the cultivation of real knowledge, he sees himself, and that is the ultimate necessity of human life. The soul is thus isolated from the entanglement of the twenty-four categories of material nature. Pursuit of the systematic philosophic process called Sāṅkhya is called knowledge and self-revelation.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

So ātma-darśanam means hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam, opening the knot.

Lecture on SB 3.26.2 -- Bombay, December 14, 1974:

Just like here, we are puruṣa. This birth I am puruṣa, next birth I may become stri or prakṛti. If I am too much fond of woman, and at the time of death, if I think of woman, then I get a woman's body. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajanty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Therefore too much attachment for woman is not good, because, or too much attachment for anything in this material world, that is doomed. Therefore, here it is said, hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam. Hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam, my attachment, my heart attraction is so strong, it is like granthi, knot. So ātma-darśanam means hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam, opening the knot. Hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam, that is ātma-darśanam. When I become free from all attachment of this material world, that is called hṛdaya-granthi-bhedanam. And how the hṛdaya-granthi, knot in the heart begins? That begins, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etat tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ. We are in this material world, it is going on, puṁsaḥ, the man, and striyā, of the woman, attachment. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī, what is that attachment? Sex. Sex. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etat tayor, the desire is there, and as soon as they unite by marriage or by agreement, by any way, then hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ. Then the attachment becomes more and more. There are thousands and millions of women, but the woman with whom I have got my bodily relation, I cannot forget her, and she cannot forget me. Hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ. The attachment increases. And as soon as they are united the, that is hṛdaya-granthi, knot between heart to heart.