The concept of Ātman

The eternal unity which underlies all the phenomena of nature remained undefined. The process began in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad with the question “who is the Ātman” what is the Brahman? Yājñavalkya too touches the topic in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.^[1] He says to Maitreyi that after death, where everything has become one’s own self, how can one smell, see, hear, address, understand or know anyone at all which suggests that there is no duality. This view of oneness of the ultimate entity, Brahman with that of the Ātman for the first time clearly appeared in the Taittarīyopaniṣad where the incorporation of here Ātman, in the material world and the human body is self dependent on the nourishment is narrated.^[2]

The Mahābhārata absolutely emphasises the oneness of the Ātman with the Brahman stating that some scriptures have described the embodied self and the supreme self as different from each other. Nevertheless, one should not pay any attention to these differences one should just continue to concentrate on the eternal Brahman.^[3] Vyāsa describes the presence of the Brahman in all beings along with its opposite characters.^[4] Brahma expresses similar views when he describes the Ātman as existing in all beings and still maintains its supremacy as the creator.