Atman - The True Self
The immortal essence within every being.
Atman is the eternal Self beyond body, mind, and ego. It is pure consciousness, the witness of all experience, identical with Brahman yet appearing as individual.
The Self is the seer, thinker, hearer, speaker, smeller, taster, and doer - the pure consciousness that knows.
Understanding Atman is the key to liberation.
Prasna Upanishad
Written about in
- What the Upanishads say about the self
Atman is the word for the self that sees, hears and knows, rather than the body that appears to do the seeing. The Prasna Upanishad places it behind every faculty at once.