Atman (also known as Atma)( soul)
The soul. The principle of life. The
Supreme Soul.
A difficult and somewhat confusing concept, but it is fundamental to all schools of theology in Hinduism. The
Atman is
regarded as an ‘amsa’ or fragment of the Supreme Soul. The life-force, the Jiva-atman is regarded as being identical with the Param-atman or Supreme
soul which is also identified as the Brahman. Whether the individual Atman is equal to the Brahman, even if identical with it, is a matter of much dispute.
The Atman, like Brahman, is Without Beginning, Unborn, Eternal, Transcendental, Indestructible, Beyond Good and Evil and so on. The atman alone endures, the
body perishes, the personality changes from life to life, the mind disperses and dissipates. Human birth causes the Atman to forget its true nature and be subject to the bondage of maya as well as the consequences of papa
and punya . All systems of religious striving seek to free the atman from this clouded state and restore it to its original pristine form, where it either merges with the Brahman or realizes it is Brahman.
The physical location of the Atman within the human body is diverse, depending upon the school of thought. It is thought to variously reside in the head, the heart (where it is the size of a thumb), to be enveloping the body like an aura, near the navel, as a halo round the head, in constant transit all over the body, in the great toe and, best of all, in the left testicle!
Attempting to synthesize the available thinking I venture this position on the Atman.
The Atman is Self. This is the best possible English equivalent though the atman is the atman. It was also defined as the soul by early commentators but the Hindu notion of the atman is very different from the Christian soul. The Indian is bewildered at a line like What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul For the atman is immortal and eternal, a part of the supreme transcendent Absolute, the Brahman. According to the Upanishads, the Truth is the absolute Brahman, which also happens to be the indwelling Atman. The atman is thus the true nature of all humans, irrespective of the surface differences in skin type and personalities.
The atman is not regarded as a passive bundle of positive light waiting stodgily to be accessed by spiritual practices either. Rather it is given an active role to play in one's life. The classical analogy is that the atman is the controller of the ratha - the chariot-horse unit- where the body is the actual chariot and the senses the unruly horses. It is the business of the atman to restrain them so that life can be lived at its fullest potential.
It is also a word that we will repeatedly encounter in yoga and it is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most important words India has contributed to the world of spirituality. It is also rather foolish to attempt an explanation of the atman; it can be understood, not explained, only by experience.
More summaries about the The Spiritual Soul