The identity of Brahman and Atman, of the ultimate reality and the self, forms the fundamental thesis of the entire Uppanisadic philosophy. The key subject of investigations in all the Uppanisads can be expressed by the simple equation ; Brahman = Atman.
Atman means breath, the breath of life. It actually means the soul or self that covers life. It is the principle of man's life. The soul or self or atman is what remains when everything that is not - self has been eliminated. The self, therefore, the self or soul is the residue, which is left after all physic and mental constiuents of man's personality are analyzed. Hence the self is independent of the body and on the dissolution of the body, the self is not annihilated. The self is regarded as the subject of all experiences. It is the thinker, the feeler of sensation and the doer of deeds.
Some Uppanisadic thinker thinks that the self can not be know by any means of knowledge. It is unknowable and indescribable. One can not point what out the self is and what it looks like, or the being - other - than - object, which is compatible with the Satrean's " transcendental ego " or with the " otherness " of Platonic notion.
The Uppanisadic philosophy is regards as idealism. They think that fullness of being is on the side of knowing object. The object has no being in itself, but it is a mere Maya of deceit and illusion caused by Avidhava. By contrast, it stands Sartre, the full positivity of being lies close to consciousness.
Uppanisadic thinkers maintain that the self, as the knowing subject, can never become an object. It can be realized only through Yoga, One can see the self while in meditative rapture by purification of knowledge. By the peace of knowledge, one's nature is purified. In this way, however by meditation, one does behold Him who is without parts, Hence some Uppanisadic thinker regards Yoga or intuitive insight developed by practising meditation as a means of knowing the self.
[ Note - Although this kind of practice increases the mental power, it could be brought to realize a " miracle " of psychic wonder. A Buddhist abbot at a popular temple in Bangkok has introduced such kind of meditation to his followers in order to realized " the Gem of Buddha ". According to the Theravada Buddhism, this type of meditation is really regarded as distortion of the Buddha's master teaching. - the Auther ]
According to Uppanisadic thikers, to know self is to know Brahmin. This is because the self or atman is identical with Brahmin. Brahmin is the ultimate principle as realized in the universe. Atman is the same principle as realized in man while Brahmin stands for the transcendent unity. Thus knowing atman amounts to the realization of Brahmin is the attainment of Moksa or liberation. Hence the knowledge of the self is called Moksa, which does not lead to liberation but is liberation itself.
Uppanisadic thinkers assert that, by reality, the true self of man is already and always Brahman and such liberated, but its real nature is concealed by man's ignorance or avidhaya. So long as man is ignorant, he has undergone a ceaseless series of transmigration. This sequence of rebirth comes to an end only when man knows his self to be Brahman and at once becomes liberated. Liberation is thus achieved not by any worldly, change, but rather by the disappearance of ignorance, a false outlook. That is, the change brought about is only epistemic and not ontological.
" Just as the flowing rivers disappear in the ocean casting offname and form, even so the knower, freed from name and form, attains the divine person, higher, freed from name and form, attains the divine person, higher than high... He crosses over sorrow. He crosses over sins. Liberated from the knots of the secret place [ of the heart ], he becomes immoral "
By THE BUDDHA'S Core Teachings
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