The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s2.70

v2.c39.s2.70

The final step to be taken in the conception of the Brahman was to identify it with the Ātman,⁴ which, from another point of view in the Brāhmaṇas, attains the position of representative of the unity of the world, and this step is partially taken in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa,⁵ where the Brahman and the omnipresent Ātman are identified, and the self of man, as it seems, is stated to be the mode of finding the Ātman, while knowledge of it frees from contamination by works, and the same idea occurs in the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa.⁶ Both these passages, however, are clearly transitional to the period of the Upaniṣads, and mark the end of the reflections of the Brāhmaṇas before the new views were definitely accepted.