Peribadi manusia itu selalunya dirujuk dalam sastera falsafah India sebagai atman yang bermaksud diri, jiwa atau nafsu, semangat dalaman, diri sebenar seseorang, atau peribadi dalaman kita.
The human person is often referred to as ātman, (soul), meaning ‘the self’, the ‘inner spirit’, the person’s true self or the inner person, in Indian philosophical literature. The perception of the human person is one of the most principal concepts in the Indian philosophical traditions. Acknowledging that there have been many and varied philosophical constructions concerning the notion of the human person, I present a selection of them, which several Indian scholars have identified as considerably influential in Indian thought. One of the ways to enter into the discussion about the concept of the human person is by exploring the theories of the origins of the universe according to the Indian philosophical traditions. The description of the origins of the universe as depicted in Chandogyopanisad, part of the Vedic philosophy, one of the earliest known philosophical traditions in India, is a typical example:
In the beginning there was Existence alone – One only, without a second. He, the One [Brahman; Sanskrit word to represent ‘the ultimate reality underlying all phenomena’, often translated as ‘God’], thought to himself: ‘Let me be many, let me grow forth.’ Thus out of himself he projected the universe, and having projected out of himself the universe, he entered into every being. All that is has its self in Him alone. Of all things He is the subtle essence. He is the truth. He is the Self. And that … THAT ART THOU! (Chandogya Upanishad VI cited in Gupta, 2002, p. 45)
This description of Vedic cosmology, in common with other Indian philosophical traditions, conveys a number of prepositions regarding the concept of the human person. I identify two of them that I consider are relevant for the understanding of spirituality at the end of life: firstly, that the human person, ātman, soul is directly connected with the ultimate reality, God, just as every other being in the universe is, because everything came to existence from God, the ‘eternal Existence’. Vedic philosophy thus presents the notion of ‘the reality of cosmic unity’, originating from one and the same Reality, where one is constantly interconnected with everything and everyone else, which are all of the same substance, originating from Brahman (Supreme Divinity).
Krishnanda explained the connectedness of the individual human person to the rest of the universe using an illustration from the Upanishads, of the ocean and its waves. Individuals are like waves in an ocean forming the crest of the body of the ocean, which is the rest of the cosmic order:
The fact of the organic connection of the individual with the Vaishvanara (Universal or Cosmic Self) implies that there are cosmical aspects operating even in the individual, just as everything that is in the ocean is also in the wave, notwithstanding the difference between the crest called the wave and the body which is the ocean. (Krishnananda, 1977, p. 75)
Secondly, the Vedic philosophy, as well as most Indian traditions hold that the human spirit, ātman, is eternal (Monier-Williams, 1974). Because the soul is from the Eternal One, the human soul also takes the characteristic of being eternal – they exist before they take the form of a human person and after, because the human spirit is part of the Eternal one, Brahman:
Ātman, the spirit of vision, is never born and never dies … the Eternal in man cannot die. (Gupta, 2002, p. 50)
The following quote from Bhavad Gita, further illustrate the belief that the human soul is part of the divine and because it is part of the Divine, it is also eternal:
An eternal portion of Myself [God] having become a living soul in the world of life, draws to itself the five senses with the mind for the sixth, abiding in Nature – (The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 7 in Śankarāchārya, 1983, p. 497)
These prepositions clearly indicate that the predominant discussion about the human person in Indian philosophy is about the ātman, the soul of the human person. Another significant notion in Indian thought regarding the human person is that Ātman, the soul, is central to the understanding of epistemology: Indian philosophers hold that the soul, ātman, as ‘the spirit of vision’ represents the capacity of the ‘self’ of cognition or awareness, to ‘see and to know’ (Chakrabarti, 1999). The possibility of ‘knowing’ is given to the human person thorough the self, the soul.
The deliberations of the Indian philosophical traditions on the relationship between the body and the soul further demonstrate the significance of the soul in the understanding of the human person in Indian philosophical thinking. Many traditions have laid much emphasis on the relationship between the soul and the body as the ‘embodied self’. Buddhist philosophers give the analogy of a chariot to describe this relationship. They explain that just as neither the different parts of a chariot, nor combination of them make a chariot, the ‘self’ cannot be perceived independent of the body and the cosmos in which it lives (Conze, 1959). In this view, the body and the soul are seen as part of each other making the whole – the person. The view of most Indian philosophical traditions on the human person is that of an ‘embodied self’, where the body is understood as the part of the person that makes ‘experiencing’ possible and the ‘self’ making sense of that experience. Philosophers from one of the oldest Indian traditions, the Sā Khya School, explain this using the analogy of the chariot and the charioteer:
Just as a chariot requires a charioteer, co-ordination of our experiences reveals a consciousness which makes that co-ordination possible (Mahalingam, 2002, p. 146)
Indian philosophers have dedicated much discussion on the role of the body and the embodied nature of the human person in achieving mukti, the eternal liberation. Upanishad, an important Hindu scripture emphasises the thought that this eternal liberation is the union of the soul with its true nature, the Divine and that this union is possible only after the soul has departed from this earthly life, form the body:
The Soul of mine within the heart, this is Brahma. Into him I shall enter on departing hence. – Chandogya Upanishad, 3.14: 2–4 (Cited in Adiswarananda, 2007, p. 206–207)
The concept of ‘the embodied nature of the human person’ follows that the body, through the experiences of ‘ignorance’ (of the soul’s true, divine essence and nature), pain and suffering, persist as a hindrance for the soul to attain mukti or nirvana, the ultimate liberation from the bondage of the body to the possibility of the union with the soul’s true nature, the Eternal one, God (Hiriyanna, 1995; King, 1999).
Contrary to the notion that the embodied status of the human person is a hindrance to attaining union with the divine, Dravidian philosophical traditions from south India reveal a positive view on the body. For example, the Siddar philosophy considered the human body as ‘the dwelling place’ of the Divine in the form of the spirit, the soul of the person. According to this school of thought the body is not an obstacle, but a facilitator. The body is considered the vehicle of spiritual evolution towards achieving moksha, the realisation of the Divine within (Ganapathy, 1993). Philosophers from this tradition also believed that this realisation can be achieved while still being in this embodied self and not after the death of the body. Ascertaining the positive view of the body, Avvaiyar, a Tamil poet and philosopher who lived in the sangam period (1 – second-century CE), articulated that the only use of this embodiment for the soul is to realise the Divine within the body (Ārumuganāvalar, 1987). In another poem she suggested that by achieving immaculate principles of life in one’s mind, the inner self, his/her body will manifest the Divine, thus offering a view of the body that facilitates the transcendence to expressing divine virtues (Ārumuganāvalar, 1987).
It is, therefore, evident that the notion of the human person is expressed as the ‘self’, the indwelling spirit, which is from and of the Divine. It is this ‘self’, the soul, that is capable of cognition that makes experience possible through being embodied in this world. Despite the differences in their approach to the body, the various schools of thought maintain that the soul is at the centre of all the deliberations about the human person. They also hold that because the ‘self’ is immortal and a portion of the divine, the ultimate liberation for the soul is to be united with the Divine. This ultimate liberation is considered the purpose of human life.
