Atman (ఆత్మ)

Your true self, the eternal soul that is deeper than your body or your thoughts.

Here is a question that Hindu sages have been asking for thousands of years: who are you, really? You might say your name, but your name was given to you. You might point to your body, but your body changes constantly; the you from five years ago had different hair, different height, maybe missing teeth. You might say your thoughts and feelings, but those change even faster; you can be grumpy in the morning and giggling by lunch. Hinduism says that underneath all of these changing layers, there is something that never changes: the Atman, your true self, your eternal soul. Think of the ocean. A wave rises up, has a shape and a name for a moment, and then sinks back down. Was the wave ever really separate from the ocean? No. It was always ocean, just temporarily shaped like a wave. Your Atman is like that. Your body, your name, and your personality are the wave; the Atman is the water itself. And here is where it gets amazing: the Upanishads teach "Tat Tvam Asi," meaning "You are That," which says your Atman is not separate from Brahman, the universal reality behind everything. The drop and the ocean are made of the same water. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains this to Arjuna in one of the most famous verses: weapons cannot cut the soul, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it. The Atman was never born and will never die; it simply changes bodies the way you change clothes. This is why Hindus believe in reincarnation, because the soul moves on when the body wears out. In Telugu, when someone speaks from the heart, elders say it comes from the "atma." When your ammamma tells you "nee atma manchidi" (your soul is good), she is talking about the real you, the one that stays true no matter what changes around it. Knowing your Atman is the first step toward moksha.

In the stories

  • Krishna: Teaches Arjuna that the soul is eternal

See also