One ātmā manifest as everything

The next mantra tells that ātmā is not just the master of this body, but it dwells in all bodies.

hamsaḥ śuciṣad vasurantarikṣasad hotā vediṣadatithirduroṇasat |

nṛṣad varasadṛtasad vyomasadabjā gojā ṛtajā adrijā ṛtam bṛhat ||2.2.2||

This all-pervasive truth dwells in heaven as the sun; in the interspace as air; on the earth as fire; in the house as a guest; in human beings; in the gods; in ritual; and in the sky. It is born in the waters, is born on the earth, is born as the accessories of ritual, and emerges from the mountains as rivers.

In this mantra, śruti says that jīvātmā that pervades this body also pervades all other bodies. This is the next stage of understanding. Some schools of philosophy, such as sāṅkhya, claim that ātmā are many. This verse negates it. Śruti emphasizes that there is only one all-pervading consciousness, which manifests as living and non-living beings. To convey this, śruti gives a list of manifestations to represent the entire universe.

hamsaḥ śuciṣad - ātmā is residing in the sky in the form of the sun. vasurantarikṣasad - ātmā dwells in the intermediate space in the form of air. hotā vediṣad - ātmā dwells on the earth in the form of fire. atithirduroṇasat - ātmā is in the house as a guest. nṛṣad – ātmā dwells in every human being. varasad - ātmā dwells in devata which is superior to human beings. ṛtasad - ātmā dwells in vedic rituals. vyomasad - ātmā dwells in all pervading the space. abjā - ātmā was born in water as aquatic animals. gojāḥ - ātmā was born as rice, barley, etc. on the earth. ṛtajāḥ - ātmā manifests as accessories for rituals. adrijāḥ - ātmā manifests as rivers emerge out from the mountain.

Being a particular object, it is negated as another object. Since everything is ātmā alone, therefore ātmā is of the nature of un-negatable - ṛtam. Therefore, ātmā is bṛhat - big, infinitely big. Since bigness is relative, depending on what it is compared with, and there is nothing but ātmā alone, therefore ātmā is infinitely big. This mantra wants to convey that there is only one ātmā, despite different names and forms.

In mantra 1 and 2, we see ātmā manifests as both the individual and the total. From this presentation, we can derive the understanding of ātmā in four stages:

- First, I am able to separate consciousness ātmā, who is the master of the body, from the body-mind-sense-complex. This stage is called ātma-anātma-vivekaḥ.

- Second, I must learn to shift the identification from the body-mind-sense-complex to consciousness. Replacing the thought of: “I am the body with consciousness”, with “I am consciousness with an incidental body.” The function of the body is only to conduct transactions in this world.

- Third, I, consciousness operating through this body, but is not confined to this body. Just like one undivided space pervades and appears as different spaces, in the same way I consciousness pervades all bodies, appears as individual name and form, yet they are not separate from me.

- The fourth stage is the pinnacle of advaitam: there is only ātmā, there is no anātmā exists apart from me. Just like my own dream. I do not create any new thing in my dream; I manifest the entire dream world with its content by my knowledge alone. I transact with other dream objects, which are my own manifestation. The duality dream world is real until I wake up to the waking state, then I understand there is only me. This is to be extended to the waking world, while the entire transactional world, with its activities, is nothing but manifestation of one consciousness alone. That consciousness is me.