Atman and brahman in the principal Upanishads

Abstract

This article complexifies the common understanding of the identification of atman as the self of the individual and brahman as the ground of the universe, by close reading of different groups of the principal Upanishads: early prose; verse; personalising; systematising. Exploring the Upanishads' own use of questioning as a device, I show how these Upanishads work intra- and inter-textually to provide pedagogic means of coming to an understanding of personhood and liberation.