Atman Meaning: The Self in Hinduism, Atman and Brahman Explained

What does atman mean?

Atman (आत्मन्, also atma) is the Sanskrit word for the self. In Hinduism it means the true self: the eternal, divine consciousness in every living being. Hindus understand each being to be a divine self, but spiritual ignorance makes us identify the self completely with the body and mind, the ego, and so forget the divine nature of ourselves and of all existence.

The Bhagavad Gita describes the atman in some of its most famous verses:

Sanskrit and transliteration	English
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः। अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥ na jāyate mriyate vā kadācinnāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ | ajo nityaḥ śāśvato’yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ||	The Self is never born and never dies. Having once existed, it never ceases to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, and ancient, it is not slain when the body is slain.

Sanskrit and transliteration	English
नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः। न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः॥ nainaṃ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṃ dahati pāvakaḥ | na cainaṃ kledayantyāpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ ||	Weapons do not cut this Self, fire does not burn it, waters do not wet it, and wind does not dry it.

Atman and rebirth

Hindus recognize the atman to be immortal. It evolves through the experience of many lives, reincarnating into different physical bodies through cycles of birth and death, and the laws of karma guide its path. The Gita compares it to changing clothes:

Sanskrit and transliteration	English
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि। तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही॥ vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro’parāṇi | tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇānyanyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī ||	As a person discards worn-out garments and puts on others that are new, so the embodied self discards worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.

Atman and Brahman

Brahman is the eternal, infinite, unchanging principle that underlies the universe, both within everything (immanent) and beyond it (transcendent). The Upanishads teach that the atman, the self within, is one with Brahman, the reality behind all. Their great sayings (mahavakyas) say it in a few words:

Saying	Source	Meaning
Tat tvam asi	Chandogya Upanishad	You are that
Aham brahmasmi	Brihadaranyaka Upanishad	I am Brahman
Ayam atma brahma	Mandukya Upanishad	This self is Brahman

Hindu schools read this differently: Advaita Vedanta teaches that atman and Brahman are identical; Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita teach that the self is a part of God or eternally distinct from God, while sharing God's nature. See start reading the Upanishads.

Atman and moksha

The ultimate aim of Hindu life is for the atman to be freed from the continuous cycle of birth and rebirth and to discover its divine origin. That freedom is moksha, and it comes through Self-realization (atma-jnana): knowing, directly, that you are the atman and not only the body and mind.

How to experience the atman: practice

Hindu teachers point to simple daily practices to turn attention inward: japa, the repetition of a mantra; chanting Om; meditation; and reading the Gita and the Upanishads. Diya lets you read a verse of the Bhagavad Gita each day with its meaning in plain English, and chant along with mantras. Diya is available for iPhone. See the Diya app.

Related reading

• Moksha meaning
• Hinduism's core beliefs
• Karma meaning
• Start reading the Upanishads