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<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>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 said to have consciousness, which is a relative attribute: | Being a universal and absolute principle, ātman cannot said to have consciousness, which is a relative attribute: | ||
Revision as of 19:34, 21 March 2013
Ātman (devanāgarī: आत्मन्) is a Sanskrit word that means "self". In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school, it refers to one's true self beyond phenomena. In the Theosophical literature it refers to the seventh principle in man and the cosmos.
General description
H. P. Blavatsky regarded ātman as a universal principle, rather than a human one:
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.[1]
Ātman is frequently called the "higher self" in human beings. However, this does not mean that each person has his or her own higher self. In reality, there is only One self:
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.[2]
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.[3]
Being a universal and absolute principle, ātman cannot said to have consciousness, which is a relative attribute:
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.[4]
Online resources
articles
- Ātman at Theosopedia
- The Becoming Self by Joy Mills
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy, (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987), 119.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy, (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987), 135.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy (London: Theosophical Publishing House, [1987]), ???.
- ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 44 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 118.