Pratyagātmā
Pratyagātmā · pratyak-ātmā, “the inward Self”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of pratyak (turned inward, within) and ātman (the Self): “the inward Self”.
Meaning: the inner Self, pure consciousness within every being, the witness beyond the body, the senses and the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. The Bhāgavata teaches that it is Parabrahma itself, shining in all jīvas, and that its oneness with Brahman is the teaching of the Upanishads.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa names the pratyagātmā in Śuka‘s teaching on yoga, in the stutis, and in the teaching of Śrī Kṛshṇa.
Parabrahma within. Śuka tells Parīkshit that the form of Parabrahma is a mass of consciousness, untouched by doership or enjoyership, and that it shines in all jīvas as the pratyagātmā, one essence of consciousness (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 6). Having made the bodies of beings out of the five bhūtas, the Paramātmā entered into them as the pratyagātmā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 3). Sanatkumāra tells Pṛthu that in the heart of all beings Bhagavān Vishṇu shines as the witness of the kshetra, as the antaryāmī who governs all and as the pratyagātmā, and that one should know him as “I am He” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 22).
The way to it. The yogī leaving the body dissolves the mind into the buddhi, the buddhi into the drashṭā (the one who sees), the drashṭā into the pratyagātmā and that into Parabrahman; then he rests in the bliss of the ātmā and all effort ceases. Seekers reject everything as “not the real thing” and embrace Śrī Hari as satya, jñāna and ananta; the pratyagātmā, the limit of all negation, is the parama-pada of the Vaishṇavas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 2). Kapila tells Devahūti that with bhakti, the discernment of Prakṛti and Purusha, vairāgya and a buddhi made one-pointed by yoga, one should see Parameśvara in this very body as the pratyagātmā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 26). Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that beyond the three upādhis, the brahmāṇḍa, the mahat-tattva and the avyakta, is Sat-cit-ānanda, the pratyagātmā beyond waking, dream and deep sleep (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 15).
Śrī Kṛshṇa and Balarāma. At Dvārakā Śrī Kṛshṇa rose at the end of the night, washed his feet, did ācamana and with serene senses meditated on the pratyagātmā beyond prakṛti. That pratyagātmā, though called Brahma, is not other than the meditator; it is second-less and imperishable, and the faults of avidyā never touch it (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 70). When Balarāma drew Hastināpura towards the Gaṅgā, the Kauravas praised him: “You alone, as the inner Self in all beings, uphold all powers” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 68).
At the close of the Purāṇa, Sūta says that the Upanishads teach the oneness of Brahman and the pratyagātmā, and that the Bhāgavata is devoted to that non-dual truth; its one purpose is moksha (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 13).
Related terms: Ātmā · Paramātmā · Antaryāmī · Kshetrajña · Turīya · Brahman
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapters 2, 6; Skandha 3, Chapter 26; Skandha 4, Chapter 22; Skandha 10, Chapters 68, 70; Skandha 11, Chapters 3, 15; Skandha 12, Chapter 13