According to vedic revelation the living entity consists of the unity of gross and subtle body as well as the atma. The gross body is
made of flesh and bone, just what we normally name as the body. The mental parts like mind, intelligence, character, feeling, thinking is the
subtle body or mental body. That means that not only the body as we know it is something external but also something that personal and intimate
as ones own character. But, then what is our real identity?
Atma, the spiritual soul, is the vedic answer to that question, the definition of life. It is the answer on the question "Who am i?".
But what is the meaning of atma?
Atma is the term for the true self of every living entity. The vedic scriptures describe this topic not from the view of a human or this world but
from a devine standpoint, from a perspective beyond time and space. This makes the often asked question redundant, if the human has a soul
because it is not the human that lives but the soul which gives life to the human body. When the body looses its functionality the atma with the
subtle body remains and is forced to take a new gross body. The only exception to this are atmas who attained spiritual perfection.
Spiritual perfection does not only mean to theoretically accept but to perceive that the true identity is atma, a divine spark of consciousness -
eternal, individually conscious and full of bliss. Similarly perfection means, not only to know ones own nature as atma but also to perceive the
nature of ones origin, the nature of god. This nature is revealed according to the spiritual individuality of the atma, whose natural relation to the
origin blossoms into divine love.
