A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c6.47

c6.47

souls partake, from which all reality in this created world emanates, and into which every thing will return. Thus a Hindu speaking of himself (âtman) spoke also, though unconsciously, of the soul of the universe (âtman); and to know himself was to him to know both his own self and the universal Self, or to know himself in the divine Self. The Sanskrit, “âtmânam âtmanâ paśya,” “see (thy) self by (thy) self,” had a deeper signification than the Greek γνῶθι σεαυτόν¹, because it has not only a moral, but also a metaphysical meaning. How largely this idea of the Âtman, as the Divine Spirit, entered into the early religious and philosophical speculations of the Indians, may be seen from the following dialogue between Yâjnavalkya and Maitrêyî, which forms part of the Brihadarânyaka.