Editing Ātman (Hinduism) (section)

====''Katha Upanishad''====
Along with the ''Brihadāranyaka'', all the earliest and middle Upanishads discuss ''Ātman'' as they build their theories to answer how man can achieve liberation, freedom and bliss. The ''[[Katha Upanishad]]''  (5th to 1st century BCE) explains ''Atman'' as the imminent and transcendent innermost essence of each human being and living creature, that this is one, even though the external forms of living creatures manifest in different forms.  Hymn 2.2.9 states:
{{blockquote|As the one fire, after it has entered the world, though one, takes different forms according to whatever it burns, so does the internal Ātman of all living beings, though one, takes a form according to whatever He enters and is outside all forms.
|Katha Upanishad, 2.2.9<ref>Original Sanskrit: अग्निर्यथैको भुवनं प्रविष्टो, रूपं रूपं प्रतिरूपो बभूव । एकस्तथा सर्वभूतान्त'''रात्मा''', रूपं रूपं प्रतिरूपो बहिश्च ॥ ९ ॥;<br />'''English Translation 1''': Stephen Knapp (2005), The Heart of Hinduism, {{ISBN|978-0595350759}}, page 202-203;<br />'''English Translation 2''':[[s:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 15/Katha-upanishad|Katha Upanishad]] Max Müller (Translator), Fifth Valli, 9th verse</ref>}}

Katha Upanishad, in Book 1, hymns 3.3-3.4, describes the widely cited proto-Samkhya analogy of chariot for the relation of "Soul, Self" to body, mind and senses.<ref name=kathaup2>Sanskrit Original: आत्मानँ रथितं विद्धि शरीरँ रथमेव तु । बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च ॥ ३ ॥ इन्द्रियाणि हयानाहुर्विषयाँ स्तेषु गोचरान् । आत्मेन्द्रियमनोयुक्तं भोक्तेत्याहुर्मनीषिणः ॥ ४ ॥, [http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/कठोपनिषद् Katha Upanishad] Wikisource;<br />English Translation: Max Müller, [https://archive.org/stream/SacredBooksEastVariousOrientalScholarsWithIndex.50VolsMaxMuller/15.SacredBooksEast.VarOrSch.v15.Muller.Hindu.Mull.Upanishads.p2.KathMundTait..Mait.Oxf.1884.#page/n71/mode/2up Katha Upanishad] Third Valli, Verse 3 & 4 and through 15, pages 12-14</ref> Stephen Kaplan<ref name=stevekaplan>Stephen Kaplan (2011), The Routledge Companion to Religion and Science, (Editors: James W. Haag, Gregory R. Peterson, Michael L. Speziopage), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415492447}}, page 323</ref> translates these hymns as, "Know the Self as the rider in a chariot, and the body as simply the chariot. Know the intellect as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins. The senses, they say are the horses, and sense objects are the paths around them". The Katha Upanishad then declares that "when the Self [Ātman] understands this and is unified, integrated with body, senses and mind, is virtuous, mindful and pure, he reaches bliss, freedom and liberation".<ref name=kathaup2/>