atman

A term used for the inmost self in the VEDANTA schools of Hindu philosophy. The Sankhya and YOGA schools have a similar concept. They call it purusha, "person." Others, such as the Jains, talk about the jiva, that is, the living component of human beings and animals, as opposed to inert matter. The UPANISHADS are the last layer of the sacred writings known as the VEDA. For that reason they are called Vedanta, "end of the Veda." Among other topics, the Upanishads are particularly interested in BRAHMAN, the reality that underlies the world that we perceive, and atman, the reality that underlies the human person. The sages of the Upanishads wanted to know what the "self" was. They did not have a single answer. Indeed, they did not even use a single word for this self. Sometimes they called it purusha. Nevertheless, the discussions in the Upanishads laid the foundations on which much later Hindu thought arose. One of the most important discussions took place between a father named Aruni and his son, Svetaketu. It is recorded in the Chandogya Upanishad. Aruni asks Svetaketu to open up a seed-pod from a banyan tree, and then to open up a seed. He asks his son what he sees. Svetaketu answers, "Nothing." That is the point. The atman, like the essence of life at the heart of the seed, is imperceptible. Yet from both impressive living beings grow. Similarly, Aruni asks Svetaketu to dissolve salt in water. Svetaketu can no longer see the salt, and he can no longer separate it from the water. The atman resembles salt dissolved in water. It is distinct from a person's body, senses, mind, and desires, but it pervades them all and cannot be separated from them. The sages of the Upanishads had several ideas of what the atman might be. Some said the sun, others air, others ether, others breath (see PRANA). Most important for later thought, some sages identifi ed the atman as consciousness. There are, however, many kinds of consciousness. Not all of them are atman pure and simple. In waking consciousness the atman interacts with a world of material objects. In dreaming consciousness it interacts with a world of subtle objects. Deeper than either of these is sleep without dreams. But according to the Mandukya Upanishad deeper still is a fourth, nameless state. That is the atman. In some passages the Upanishads seem to equate the atman—the reality underlying the human person—with the brahman—the reality underlying the world that we perceive: "This atman is brahman"; "I am brahman"; "All this is indeed brahman"; "You are that." But other passages seem to disagree. Different schools of Vedanta took different positions. In any case, they agreed that the atman had three basic characteristics: sat, chit, and ananda—being, consciousness, and bliss. Ideas about the atman profoundly infl uenced Hindu teachings about life and death. According to the sage Yajnavalkya, the atman is reborn at death. It takes along with it the fruits of the actions done in this life. This process is known as SAMSARA. According to the BHAGAVAD-GITA, samsara does not alter the atman: "It is never born; it never dies. It does not, nor has it, nor will it become. Unborn, eternal, perpetual, primal—it is not killed when the body is killed" (2.20). Freeing the atman or purusha from continual rebirth came to be the ultimate goal of some infl uential forms of Hindu religious practice.