The Secret of the Self, According to the Upanishads

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In the Chandogya Upanishad (c. 7th century BCE), Indra, king of the Vedic gods, and his nemesis, Virochana, king of the asuras (anti-gods), go to the temple of the creator god, Prajapati, to learn the secret of Atman (the Self).

Prajapati takes them both in, and, after 32 years, summons them and tells them that Atman is the reflection of the self in the pupil of the eye. Satisfied with this answer, Virochana returns to the asuras, who take to venerating the bodily self.

But Indra is not so sure, and goes back to the ashram. After 32 more years as a brahmacharya (celibate student), Prajapati tells him that Atman is the dream self.

Still full of doubt, he is made to wait another 32 years, before being told that Atman is the unconscious self.

When he protests that no good can come out of this knowledge, Prajapati keeps him for five more years, and, after a total of 101 years, finally tells him the secret of Atman.

If Atman is neither the waking self, nor the dreaming self, nor the sleeping self, then what is Atman?

By having Indra wait for what is the natural lifespan of a (wise) person, Prajapati is making the point that the deepest truths cannot simply be taught, but must painstakingly be learnt. Only by much patience and perseverance, which Virochana did not possess, is it possible to share in the knowledge of the gods.

The Story of Nachiketa from the Katha Upanishad

The brahmin (priest) Vajashravasa purports to be sacrificing everything he owns, but his son Nachiketa notices that he is only bringing out those cows that are old, lame, or otherwise unproductive.

Nachiketa repeatedly taunts his father about this, saying, “I too am yours! To which god will you offer me?” In a fit of rage, Vajashravasa cries out, “To Yama himself!”

Taking his father at his word, Nachiketa descends to Yama’s abode. But the god of death is out, and the boy is made to wait for three days without food or water. When Yama returns, he offers the brahmin boy three boons to atone for his lack of hospitality.

For the first boon, Nachiketa asks for peace between himself and his father, when he is returned to the old man. Yama happily grants this.

For the second boon, he asks to learn the fire sacrifice, which he performs to Yama’s satisfaction.

Finally, for the third boon, he asks to be told what comes after death.

Yama replies:

Here, even the gods of yore had doubt. Indeed it is not easy to know—subtle is this matter—Oh, Nachiteka, ask for some other boon. Press not this on me; give this up for me…ask for centenarian sons and grandsons, many cattle, elephants, gold and horses. Ask for wide extent of earth and live yourself, as many autumns as you like.

But Nachiketa is unswayed by the riches of the world, saying that man is not to be satisfied with wealth: “If wealth were wanted, we shall get it, if we only see thee.”

Impressed and flattered by the boy, Yama agrees to tell him the Secret of the Self, which persists beyond the death of the body.

After a time, Nachiketa bids farewell to Yama and returns to his father as a jivanmukta, one who has achieved moksha (liberation) in this life.

The Secret of the Self

What did Yama tell Nachiketa? And what, in the Chandogya Upanishad, did Prajapati finally tell Indra, after having him wait for 101 years?

“Atman” is often translated into English as “soul” but does not include the individual or cognitive aspects of the Judeo-Christian soul, and, for this reason, is better translated as “Self.”

In Hindu thought, the individual aspects of the Judeo-Christian soul, such as ego, mind, reason, emotion, and desire, are subsumed under the jivanatman (“life-breath”), or jiva for short.

Whereas the jiva, the personal self, is enmeshed in the world, the Atman is detached from this particular life and incarnation. And whereas the jiva is ever-changing and evolving, the Atman, the universal Self, is steadfast and immoveable.

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In the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the jiva and Atman are compared to two inseparable birds sitting in a tree (the body). One bird, the jiva, gorges on the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree, while the other, tasting of neither, calmly looks on.

The Atman is neither the waking self, nor the dreaming self, nor the sleeping self, as Indra had been led to believe, but pure consciousness, or witness-consciousness, and of a kind with the supreme soul, paramatman, which is either Brahman or an aspect of Brahman.

In all living things, Atman is the spark of life, or light of consciousness, that ignites and illumines all else for the time that it remains embodied. It is the eternal core of a living being, which, in death, leaves it for another form, or, at long last, returns to the infinity of Brahman.

Thus, although the Atman is detached, it must, on some level, be affected by the jiva, or long series of jivas, that it comes to be paired with. The first Jiva who recognizes it, on the back of all the jivas that went before, liberates it, and, by the same token, liberates itself. In a jivanmukti such as Nachiketa, the jiva and the Atman become one, or as one.

If the Self, the Atman, is made out of the same stuff as the world, then self-understanding and self-control become means of understanding and controlling the world and existing on a higher plane.

In the Katha Upanishad, Yama tells Nachiketa:

Subtler than the subtle, greater than the great, in the heart of each living being, the Atman reposes. One free from desire, with his mind and the senses composed, sees the glory of the Atman and becomes absolved from grief.

Knowledge of the self can be attained through the practice of yoga, which Yama defines for Nachiketa as “the firm holding back of the senses.”

This is the first ever mention of "yoga" in its modern sense, and it is by Death himself!

Yama warns Nachiketa to be watchful, "for yoga comes and goes."

Read more in Indian Mythology and Philosophy.