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'''Ātman''' (devanāgarī: आत्मन्) is a [[Sanskrit]] word that means "self". In [[Hinduism|Hindu philosophy]], especially in the [[Vedānta]] school, it refers to one's ''true'' self beyond phenomena.
#REDIRECT [[Atman]]
 
In the [[Theosophy|Theosophical]] literature, it refers to the [[Seventh Principle|seventh principle]] in man and the cosmos. Atman is said to be a ray of the [[Absolute]] and, therefore, not individual. Each person participates of this universal principle, which manifests in him or her as the "Higher Self". However, ''per se'', atman is beyond consciousness or any other relative attribute. Its vehicle of expression in the differentiated universe is the sixth principle, or [[Buddhi]].
 
== General description ==
 
[[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] explained atman as being a ray from the [[Absolute]] and, therefore, essentially beyond any description:
 
<blockquote>Ātma is nothing; it is all absolute, and it cannot be said that it is this, that or the other.<ref>Michael Gomes (transcriber), ''The Secret Doctrine Commentaries'' (The Hague: I.S.I.S. foundation, 2010), 609.</ref></blockquote>
 
Being a ray of the Absolute, this [[Principle]] is regarded as universal and omnipresent, rather than human:
 
<blockquote>Spirit (in the sense of the Absolute, and therefore, indivisible ALL), or Atma. As this can neither be located nor limited in philosophy, being simply that which IS in Eternity, and which cannot be absent from even the tiniest geometrical or mathematical point of the universe of matter or substance, it ought not to be called, in truth, a “human” principle at all.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Key to Theosophy'', (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987), 119.</ref></blockquote>
 
When referring to the presence of atman in human beings, it is said to be the highest, or [[Seventh Principle|seventh principle]], frequently called the "higher self". However, this does not mean that each person has his or her own higher self. In reality, there is only One self:
 
<blockquote>Atma, the "Higher Self," is neither your Spirit nor mine, but like sunlight shines on all. It is the universally diffused "divine principle," and is inseparable from its one and absolute Meta-Spirit, as the sunbeam is inseparable from sunlight.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Key to Theosophy'', (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987), 135. </ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>We say that the Spirit (the "Father in secret" of Jesus), or Atman, is no individual property of any man, but is the Divine essence which has no body, no form, which is imponderable, invisible and indivisible, that which does not exist and yet is, as the Buddhists say of Nirvana. It only overshadows the mortal; that which enters into him and pervades the whole body being only its omnipresent rays, or light, radiated through [[Buddhi]], its vehicle and direct emanation.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Key to Theosophy'' (London: Theosophical Publishing House, [1987]), ???.</ref></blockquote>
 
Being a universal and absolute principle, ātman cannot be said to have [[consciousness]] as we know it, which is a relative attribute:
 
<blockquote>Understand me, Ātman cannot be called infinite consciousness. It is the one Absolute, which is conscious non-consciousness. It contains everything, the potentiality of all; therefore, it is nothing at all. . . . It is “No Thing,” you understand?<ref>Michael Gomes (transcriber), ''The Secret Doctrine Commentaries'' (The Hague: I.S.I.S. foundation, 2010), 609-10.</ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>He [man] starts downward as a simply spiritual entity—an unconscious seventh principle . . . with the germs of the other six principles lying latent and dormant in him.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 44 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 118.</ref></blockquote>
 
==Online resources==
===Articles===
*[http://www.theosophy.ph/encyclo/index.php?title=%C4%80tman# Ātman] at Theosopedia
*[http://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/1367# The Becoming Self] by Joy Mills
 
== Notes ==
<references/>
 
[[Category:Sanskrit terms]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts|Atman]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine|Atman]]
[[Category:Hindu concepts]]

Latest revision as of 22:59, 30 June 2017

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