Atman
Atman
(Skr.) Self, soul, ego, or I. Variously conceived in Indian philosophy, atomistically (cf. anu); monadically, etherially, as the hypothetical carrier of karma (q.v.), identical with the divine (cf. ayam atma brahma; tat tvam asi) or different from yet dependent on it, or as a metaphysical entity to be dissolved at death and reunited with the world ground. As the latter it is defined as “smaller than the small” (anor aniyan) or “greater than the great” (mahato mahiyan), i.e., magnitudeless as well as infinitely great. — K.F.L.