There are two aspects within us all, the real Self and the mere self. The latter is but a reflection of the former. One is imperishable and beyond change, and the other is the enjoyer and the sufferer.

Yama told Nachiketa:

“The one (the Absolute) is like the self-effulgent sun, the other (the ego, or limited self) is like its image or reflection, bearing relations as between light and shade. The one is like a witness, while the other eats the fruits of its own thoughts and deeds.”

The witness is Atman. The great ninth century Indian saint and philosopher, Shankara stated:

“The nature of the Atman is pure consciousness. The Atman reveals this entire universe of mind and matter. It cannot be defined. In and through the various states of consciousness—waking, dreaming, and sleeping—it maintains our unbroken awareness of identity. It manifests itself as the witness of the intelligence.”

The Kathopanishad says the Atman is never born and never dies, that it is smaller than the smallest atom and greater than the vastest spaces. It is concealed within the heart of all beings. Shankara said the Atman does not dissolve when the body dissolves, just as the air within a jar does not cease to exist when the jar is broken.

Unchanging, unchangeable, birthless, deathless, and eternal, the Atman sits in the deepest chambers of ourselves and knows all the activities of the mind and of the individual. “It is the witness of all the actions of the body, the sense organs and the vital energy,” Shankara said. “It seems to be identified with all these, just as fire appears identified with an iron ball. But it neither acts nor is subject to the slightest change.”

The Bhagavad Gita states about the Atman, the Self:

“He is never born nor does He die; nor having been, does He ever again cease to be. Unborn, eternal, perennial, this ancient One is not killed when the body is killed. He who knows this is imperishable, eternal, unborn, unalterable…

“As a man taking off worn-out garments later puts on new ones, similarly the owner of the body, abandoning the worn-out body, dons another new one…

“Weapons do not cleave Him, fire does not burn Him, the waters do not wet Him, nor does the wind dry Him.

“He is uncleavable, unburnable, cannot be made wet, nor can He be made dry, the eternal, all permeating, absolute, and unmoving, He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. He is the ancient One.”

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Sacred Journey, Living Purposefully and Dying Gracefully by Swami Rama, Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, 2002. Chapter 3: “The Treasure.” Pages 17 – 18.

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