Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Atman

आत्मन् · ātman

the self; one's innermost reality

The self that is the witness within, distinct from body, senses and mind. Krishna's first teaching is that it is never born and never dies: it puts on bodies and lays them aside like clothes. The same word is also the ordinary reflexive 'oneself', and the Gita plays on both senses when it says one must lift oneself by oneself.

Appears in

Bhagavad Gita 2.20 · Bhagavad Gita 2.22 · Bhagavad Gita 2.23 · Bhagavad Gita 6.5