Atman

The West regards the atman as being like the human soul, and this implies individualism. The Greek word for spirit is atmos and by looking at this, we can see that the word atman is more closely related to the notion of a spirit. In Hindu literature, the atman is the part of human existence that lives on and there are numerous illustrations given by writers that support this.

One of the most famous illustrations about atman can be found in the Chandogya Upanishad. In the Chandogya Upanishad, there there are over 16 different illustrations of this vital  notion of atman. It’s this story of a boy where basically his dad tells him to put a big old chunk of salt in some water. The next day the dad tells him to get the water and drink from the side of it. He asks the boy what it’s like and the boy replies (quite obviously) “salty” and he gets the boy to drink from different bits of the container and the middle and every time, the boy tells him that it’s salty. The point of this story is showing that he can’t distinguish the salt from the water, and in the same way atman evades us and becomes part of the whole world.

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The first recordings of the notion of atman are found in the Upanishads and it isn’t really featured  that much in the Vedas.

In the Upanishads, the main teaching is that of Atman-Brahman synthesis. “Though it fills the whole of space, by mysterious way which defies logic, it is proved by experience it dwells in the core of the human heart” [Chandogya Upanishad]

Evidence that supports this is the following passages: “Deep hidden in the heart of every creature” and “as water pure into pure water poured.” Both of this are found in the Katha Upanishad and they show the ...

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