What Is the Atman?( Brahmarshi Yellamraju Srinivasa Rao) 🙏

What Is the Atman?

( Brahmarshi Yellamraju Srinivasa Rao) 🙏

1. What existed before creation?

Before creation,

👉 there was only one substance — the Atman.

What we now perceive as the non-self world (anātma) also existed then as the Atman itself.

Creation did not bring anything new into existence —

👉 only names and forms appeared.

2. The meaning of the word “Atman”

The word Atman conveys three meanings:

Āpnoti → That which pervades everything

Atti → That which absorbs everything into itself

Atati → That which appears everywhere

👉 Therefore,

there is nothing apart from the Atman.

3. Atman as the fundamental substance

For a table → wood is its essence

For ornaments → gold is their essence

Likewise,

👉 the essence of the entire creation is the Atman.

But:

Wood and gold do not possess the awareness “everything is within me.”

The Atman alone has this awareness.

👉 “All this exists in Me.”

4. Characteristics of the Atman

The Atman is:

Sarvajñaḥ — All-knowing

Sarvaśaktiḥ — All-powerful

Paraḥ — Beyond all bodies

Therefore, the Atman is:

Not the gross body

Not the subtle body

Not the causal body

👉 The Atman has no three bodies.

5. Why are we called individual beings (jīvas)?

We too possess:

Knowledge

Power

But they are:

Limited knowledge

Limited power

Hence,

👉 we depend on the body to live

👉 we are bound (baddha)

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6. How can the Atman be recognized?

The Atman is known through three eternal qualities:

🔱 Nitya Śuddha — eternally pure

(no impurity can touch it)

🔱 Nitya Buddha — eternally conscious

(it knows that it exists)

🔱 Nitya Mukta — eternally free

(always independent, never bound)

7. The space–consciousness analogy

Space (ākāśa) → pure, but not conscious

Individual consciousness → pure and conscious, but not free

👉 When space and consciousness merge, that is the Atman.

This is called:

🕉️ Cidākāśa — Conscious Space

8. Is the body inside you, or are you inside the body?

The truth is:

👉 The body exists within your consciousness

👉 The world exists within your consciousness

It is incorrect to say:

“Space exists inside a room.”

The correct understanding is:

👉 The room exists within space.

Similarly:

👉 The world exists within the Atman

👉 The Atman does not exist within the world

This understanding is Advaita.

9. The nature of the Atman

The Atman is:

Ajaḥ — unborn

Ajaraḥ — undecaying

Amaraḥ / Amṛtaḥ — deathless

Abhayaḥ — fearless

Advayaḥ — non-dual (without a second)

👉 There is nothing other than the Atman.

One-sentence essence

> “Your body exists in your consciousness;

the entire world exists in your consciousness — that is the Atman.”