Bhṛgu and Bharadvāja on the Ātman

This is a talk between Bharadvāja Maharshi and Bhṛgu Maharshi about the jīva (the individual self) and the ātman (the true self). Bharadvāja puts forward the view of the nāstika (one who denies the Veda), that the jīva is only a product of the five elements and ends at death. Bhṛgu answers him step by step. He shows that the ātman is a separate being, the inner ruler living in the body of five elements. He also explains the five kośas (sheaths).

Sānandana Maharshi tells this dialogue to Nārada in the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa.

Where the talk begins

The great discourse at Naimishāraṇya is going on. Nārada Maharshi asks Sānandana Maharshi to explain the nature of the jīva. Sānandana tells the old dialogue between Bhṛgu and Bharadvāja, in which this question was looked at in depth.

Bharadvāja’s challenge: the nāstika view

Bharadvāja states the view of those who deny the Veda with great care. He says:

  • The body, which is held to be the home of the ātman, is made wholly of earth, water, fire, air and ākāśa (space). These are the five gross elements (pañcabhūtas). When the body breaks up at death, these elements simply go back to their own sources in the cosmos.
  • No separate jīva can be seen apart from this body. The “self” that seems to be there is only the result of the elements working together, just as fire arises from rubbing, and ghee comes from milk heated on a fire.
  • On this view, pāpa and puṇya have no meaning beyond this life, because there is no lasting self to enjoy their fruits. Birth, death, the seasons, pleasures and pains all arise from natural causes. They do not come from a higher ātman or from the fruit of karma (karma-phala).
  • The offerings to ancestors (śrāddha), the belief in rebirth, and the idea of a jñāna that goes beyond death all rest on an unproved belief that there is a jīva separate from the body.

Bharadvāja says: “If the ātman is truly different from the body by its nature, by its kind and by the word of the scriptures, then why does it not show itself apart? And if it cannot be seen apart, what is the use of jñāna, vidyā and tapas?”

Bhṛgu’s answer

Bhṛgu answers with both reason (anumāna) and the authority of the scriptures (śruti).

The magnet. A magnet (ayaskānta) moves iron without any visible touch. In the same way the jīva gives life to the body by a power that is not matter. The body cannot explain itself. That which watches, feels and knows the changes of the body does not itself change. This is the ātman.

The inner ruler (antaryāmī). The ātman is the antaryāmī, the one who controls from within. It lives in the body of the five elements but is not made of those elements. The body is the kshetra (the field). The ātman is the kshetrajña, the knower of the field. The five elements alone cannot give the power of looking at oneself, of memory, and of feeling oneself to be the same through waking, dreaming and deep sleep.

The body’s own witness. The body is aśāśvata (not lasting), jīrṇa (wearing out), cala (unsteady) and adhruvā (not to be trusted). Yet the feeling “I am”, the experience of the self (anubhava), goes on without a break. This could not be so if the self were only the body.

The five śarīra-bhedas. Bhṛgu explains that the jīva is not just the gross body. There are five levels of embodied identity, the five kośas. Together they make up the seen and unseen layers of the jīva.

  1. Annamaya kośa: the food-body. This is the gross body made from food.
  2. Prāṇamaya kośa: the body of life-breath. This is the field of prāṇa that gives life to the gross body.
  3. Manomaya kośa: the body of mind. This is the field of mind and of the senses’ knowledge.
  4. Vijñānamaya kośa: the body of knowledge. This is the intellect and the power to tell one thing from another.
  5. Ānandamaya kośa: the body of bliss. This is the seat of the experience of deep sleep and of hidden impressions.

The ātman, the true self, is different from all five kośas and is the witness of them. When the gross body breaks up at death, only the annamaya kośa dissolves. The finer kośas carry the jīva on to its next birth. This is the journey of the ātman through saṃsāra.

Avidyā and rebirth. Bhṛgu teaches that three things together cause rebirth (punar-janma): avidyā (not knowing the true nature of the ātman), karma (action done and stored) and āśā (desire). Even if the present body is destroyed, avidyā gives rise to another moha (delusion), and that brings another birth. This is called sattva-saṃkshaya, the using up of the stored impressions. It can be done only through jñāna and liberation, not by the mere breaking up of the body.

The end of the dialogue

Sānandana gives this dialogue as the base for the path of moksha. That path goes from knowing the ātman to freedom from all the kośas.

Sources

  • Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Poorvardha, Chapters 43–44