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Wellsprings
hindu-selffeatured in 8 works

The Self (Ātman)

Not the body, not the thoughts — the silent awareness in which both appear.

Ātman is the deepest 'I' — not the body, not the passing thoughts and feelings, but the awareness in which all of those appear. Much of Hindu thought is a disciplined inquiry into this self: what it is, whether it is one or many, and how it relates to ultimate reality. Recognizing the self truly is, for several schools, the very heart of liberation.

How it traveled

  1. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad
    Mithilā (kingdom of Videha) · -700
    explains
  2. Chāndogya Upaniṣad
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -700
    explains
  3. Aitareya Upaniṣad
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -700
    explains
  4. Kaṭha Upaniṣad
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -500
    explains
  5. Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -300
    explains
  6. Bhagavad-gītā
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -150
    explains
  7. Upadeśasāhasrī
    Kālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710
    explains
  8. Aṣṭāvakra-gītā
    Kāśī (Varanasi) · 1450
    explains

Key passages(20)

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

Very high

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

Very high

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

Very high

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

Very high

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Tarka-saṃgraha · Annaṃbhaṭṭa

Very high

Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Īśā Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Aitareya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Aitareya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high