Ātman: Difference between revisions

From Theosophy Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Redirected page to Atman)
 
Line 1: Line 1:
'''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]].
 
== Universal principle ==
 
Ātman, the [[Seventh Principle|seventh principle]], is frequently described by [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] as being a ray of the [[Absolute]]:
 
<blockquote>The seventh [principle is] the synthesis of the six, and not a principle but a ray of the Absolute ALL—in strict truth.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 232, fn.</ref></blockquote>
 
This being the case atman is, 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. . . It is simply that in which we are.<ref>Michael Gomes (transcriber), ''The Secret Doctrine Commentaries'' (The Hague: I.S.I.S. foundation, 2010), 609.</ref></blockquote>
 
Since atman is omnipresent, it cannot be regarded as a human principle, but rather as a universal one:
 
<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>
 
<blockquote>The seventh [Principle] is not a human, but a universal principle in which Man participates; but so does equally every physical and subjective atom, and also every blade of grass and everything that lives or is in Space, whether it is sensible of it or not.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. XII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1980), 630.</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>
 
== The Higher Self ==
 
When referring to the presence of atman in human beings, it is said to constitute the "higher self":
 
<blockquote>The Higher Self is Atma the inseparable ray of the Universal and ONE SELF. It is the God above, more than within, us.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Key to Theosophy'' (London: Theosophical Publishing House, [1987]), 175.</ref></blockquote>
 
However, this does not mean that each person has his or her own higher self. In reality, there is only One self expressing through every person:
 
<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>You must never say: “my Âtma”; you have no Âtma. This idea is the curse of the world. It has produced this tremendous selfishness, this egotism we say, “we are”, “my Âtma”, “my Buddhi”.<ref>Michael Gomes (transcriber), ''The Secret Doctrine Commentaries'' (The Hague: I.S.I.S. foundation, 2010), 646.</ref></blockquote>
 
== Conscious non-consciousness ==
 
Being a universal and absolute principle, ātman cannot be said to have [[consciousness]] as we know it, which is a relative attribute:
 
<blockquote>Consciousness implies limitations and qualifications; something [the object] to be conscious of, and someone [the subject] to be conscious of it. But Absolute Consciousness contains the cognizer, the thing cognized and the cognition, all three in itself and all three one.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 56.</ref></blockquote>
 
<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>
 
However, it should not be thought that atman is just a lack of consciousness. Its state is not what we know as consciousness and, to indicate this fact, it is said to be unconscious or non-conscious:
 
<blockquote>It must not be forgotten, also, that we give names to things according to the appearances they assume for ourselves.  We call absolute consciousness “unconsciousness,” because it seems to us that it must necessarily be so.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 56.</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|Atman]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts|Atman]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine|Atman]]
[[Category:Hindu concepts|Atman]]

Latest revision as of 22:59, 30 June 2017

Redirect to:

Retrieved from "https://theosophy.wiki/w-en/index.php?title=Ātman&oldid=32864"