Someone said, “Please do not use the meaningless term “RIP” when someone dies. Hinduism neither has the concept “Soul” nor its “resting”. The terms Atma and Jeeva are in a way antonyms for the word Soul”

A friend asked

“Good morning. Sir Can you explain Atma and Soul said as antonyms in some way.?”

My answer is

“The person who posted about RIP is dealing with the term Soul as conceived in Christian faith. There the soul is the individual life force manifest in a particular body and once the body separates from that body--what Christians believe as death--the body is interned in earth and that particular soul is hovering around waiting for the judgement day. So Christians pray for the peace of that soul which is uneasy as it has no body.

But for the Hindu Atma is the divine being just occupying the body and that Atma is equal to God Himself. So the loss of body does not disturb the Atma in any way. The Atma is always in sat chit ananda state and it does not require any prayer for rest in peace because the Atma which is God does not have any disturbance or peace at any time.

So RIP is an idea not conceived by Hindu faith.

What the person meant by saying that soul (as conceived by non- Hindu religion) and Atma of Hinduism are antonyms is that they are to be understood in entirely different perspectives.

The English word “antonym” does not really suit the situation. Perhaps he meant  the idea is not compatible with the Hindu system of faith.   But the author has attempted to  conveyed the right idea.
We need not sit on judgment as to which belief is the correct one.

नैनं छिन्दन्दि शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः।

न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ।। gita

Yes , that is Atma as per Hinduism.. be it either Jeevatma or Paramatma.

Some Hindu teachers while dealing with Advaitam etc often translate this Atma as Soul.

But the Soul that rests in peace after death as enunciated in Christianity is not this

Atma.

There the living being has a body and a life force that they call Soul.

They do not seem to recognize the presence of God for ever in this human body.

They seem to think that God is stationed outside the human living mass.

That is a major difference.