This Atman (Self within) is Brahman.

The individual self is only an 'abridged edition,' as it were, of Brahman. The Supreme Self, chained to a body-mind consciousness, appears to be limited, weak and finite. Although the individual is one with the Divine, each person is a partial manifestation of the Divine.

The Self is revealed in every state of consciousness. Every thought, every physical act, produces a flash of Self--revelation in us. The ego is transcended only when the luminous Atman manifests in our conscious mind in the wake of strenuous spiritual struggle. The supreme object, according to Vedanta, is to know the Reality through direct intuitive knowledge, which is superior to discursive reasoning. This immediate knowledge unites the knower with that which is known.

The essence of knowledge is self-shining consciousness. Vedanta denotes Supreme Reality as Sat-Chit-Ananda, (Being--Consciousness--Bliss Absolute). Through consciousness (Chit) we are aware of our existence (Sat), and happiness or bliss (Ananda). The whole universe is a projection of Consciousness. The luminous Self requires no proof. An individual's self-awareness is immediate and direct. Here is the foundation of human knowledge. From here the entire cognitive process starts. It is the luminosity of Consciousness that manifests all objects, physical and Psychical. Each and every act of cognition is but an expression of Pure Consciousness through mental modes.

Consciousness or Intelligence is at the root of life, which is ever associated with sentience, purposiveness, and the power of cognition. Life presupposes sentience. Purposiveness is implicit in livingness because we notice an innate plan of self-preservation and self-development in all living beings. Unconscious things like the three forms of energy of nature, which are themselves mechanical, cannot organize themselves and work purposively unless there is a conscious principle to furnish the goal and purpose. Consciousness is intrinsic in the cognizer, while the object cognized is devoid of it. The cognizer and the cognized cannot be identical. The knower per se and the objects known are of contrary nature, like light and darkness. The Self illuminates everything and is not illuminated by anything else. The Real Self is the single constant factor in human personality. This Self is the changeless immortal in a changeful psychological garb. The Atman as the immutable and eternal Consciousness is the witness of the changing states. This knowing Self integrates all physical and Psychical factors into a coherent whole, and coordinates the diverse functions of the mind, the organs, and the body. In fact the organs, the mind and the prana> (vital force) are like so many attendants of the Self (Atman) to carry out specific functions. The Self maintains the identity of the man in spite of all changes within and without. Our ideas of the Self are that:

• It is Consciousness.
• There is continuity in Consciousness.
• It is associated with all activities as the knower and experiencer.

The existence of the Self (Atman) is self-evident. Though the Self permeates pore of our being, the real nature of the Self is not self-evident to us. The famous argument of Descartes, I think, therefore, I exist, can be remembered. Nothing is indubitable in this universe, except the fact of Self-existence. Vedanta reverses this statement: I exist; therefore, I think. Descartes also says, Mind is a self-knowing principle, which is also not accepted by Vedanta. S. Radhakrishnan observes:

There is a tendency, especially in the West, to overestimate the place of the human self. Descartes attempts to derive everything from the certainty of his own isolated selfhood. It is not realized that the thought of the self which wants to explain everything, the will of the self which wants to subjugate everything, are themselves the expression of a deeper whole, which includes the self and its object. If the self is not widened into the universal spirit, the values themselves become merely subjective and the self itself will collapse into nothing. (S. Radhakrishnan, An Idealist View of Life, Hibbert Lectures for 1929, 2nd ed. (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1937, p. 274.)

Existence precedes thinking or doubting. One can never doubt the existence of one's Self. The body is compared to a cart and the soul to its driver. Coordination between the body, the mind, the organs, and prana, is possible due to conscious spirit, the knowing Self. All living bodies possess a tripartite personality with soul, mind and body. There cannot be a living organism without the coordination of these three.

The individual self represents finite, small consciousness. Every human being is individualized Universal Consciousness, the Self of the universe. All individual minds are parts of a Cosmic mind. Just as the microcosm is held, sustained, and controlled by the individual self, so is the macrocosm by the Universal Self. One Supreme Self is individualized or particularized by each finite mind, just as one sun reflected in the ocean appears as millions of suns. When the transcendental entity appears through the screen of matter in a particular way, we call it the individualized expression of the Infinite Being. It is something like a solar light or the sky. The light or the sky is infinite in its own being, but when we open the door of a room and look at the infinite sky or the light beyond through the door, they appear in the shape of the door. Various golden ornaments such as bangles, rings, and so on, though outwardly different, partake in essence of the same substance; that is, gold. We may number the various waves in the sea as separate lines of force, but they all actually represent unfoldings of the same tidal wave. Maya or ignorance obliges us to see things as separate rather than as unified in a single field. The individual is a creature, not a creator. The soul is being and God is the Supreme Being.

Vedanta holds that Self is beyond the intellect, mind, and ego. Life and nature are very limited expressions of Self and dependent on it. From the aforesaid study it can be concluded that:
 

	The Self is eternal, immortal, infinite Consciousness, one and non--dual. It is transcendental as well as immanent Entity.
	It is self-evident. Its existence and its unchanging continuity are facts.
	It is identical with the Absolute Reality.
	Pure Consciousness is ever the subject and hence the Absolute Reality is never objective.
	The objective world is a projection of the Self and hence is only apparently real.
	It is the source of all experience and knowledge.
	It is Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss Absolute.

  Read Part 1 and Part 3 of this article.

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Books by Swami Tathagatananda:

1. The Vedanta Society of New York -- A Brief History, 2000
2. Mahabharat--Katha (Bengali), 1998
3. Ramayan Anudhyan (Bengali), 1996
4. Healthy Values of Living, 1996
5. Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, 1994
6. Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 1993
7. Glimpses of Great Lives, 1989
8. Shubha Chinta (Bengali), 1988
9. Smaran--Manan (Bengali), 1987

You can order these books from The Vedanta Society of New York.

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