Anatman

The not-self — everything we mistakenly identify with but which is not the atman: body, mind, intellect, ego.

Overview

In Vedanta, the whole business of liberation depends on correctly distinguishing what we are from what we are not. The anatman is the “not” side of that distinction. It is not a philosophical denial of the body or the mind; it is the recognition that these, though real as experience, are objects of consciousness, not consciousness itself.

Krishna’s teaching in 02-13-15 works partly by describing how the anatman behaves — the body changes dramatically from childhood to old age, and finally gives way to another body; contact of senses with objects produces heat and cold, pleasure and pain in endless flow. All of that is the nature of the not-self. Noticing it as not-self is viveka; releasing identification with it is the first move of freedom.

Related concepts

• atman — its opposite, the real self
• jiva — the working mixture of atman and anatman
• sthula-sharira — the gross layer of anatman
• sukshma-sharira — the subtle layer of anatman
• viveka — the discrimination between atman and anatman

In the Gita

• 02-13-15 — anatman described through its changefulness
• 02-16 — anatman located as appearance rather than reality

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 4 [15:27]: Krishna has taught the nature of the real self; now appreciate the nature of the non-self — the body and mind, which change dramatically and are not you.