The Universal Soul in The Parable of the Chariot, Katha...

The Universal Soul in The Parable of the Chariot, Katha Upanishad 3.3-3.12 The word â€Å"Atman† is translated into English as â€Å"soul† or â€Å"self.† Yet Atman in Hinduism has a much richer meaning than our standard western concept of soul. For example, Atman is understood as divine and equivalent to Brahman, the ultimate reality. Each person’s Atman is the same, and each is identical with Brahman. Therefore Atman could also be translated, â€Å"Universal Soul,† â€Å"Eternal Soul,† or â€Å"All-Soul.† The Katha Upanishad speaks at length about the nature of Atman, how one might attain to it and thereby attain to Brahman. Attainment to Atman is dependent on the control of those aspects of the person that are transitory and not eternal like Atman; these†¦show more content†¦In the same manner a chariot with no rider has neither purpose nor anyone to guide it. Therefore the soul and the body need each other, but the body is subordinate to the soul just as the chariot is subordinate to the rider. Yet surprisingly it is not the rider, not the soul, who actually drives the chariot and holds the reins, but yet another aspect of the person: â€Å"Know thou the intellect (buddhi) as the chariot-driver† (Katha Upanishad, 3.3). With the addition of intellect in this passage the simple relationship between the soul and body becomes more complex. For here we see that it is not soul who directly steers the course of the body, but the intellect. It seems that we are to understand the soul as some sort of royal passenger on this chariot who need not lift a finger in its operation. In the same sense the soul is completely detached from the body and all the apparatus required for the body to live. It is thus easy to see why the soul is so difficult to attain: it is not concerned with bodily life and the things that characterize bodily life. Still, there must be some connection between the soul and the intellect that the parable does not explain. For it seems to me that a chariot would continue to operate without its royal passenger, and that the chariot-driver would be the only one of the two necessary for its function. Yet the body surely cannot function without the soul. Therefore we