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The soul is said to be the form of knowledge
The real meaning of the word Atman

 The word Atman not only means the self but also the body covering the self as per Amarakosha, the standard dictionary in Sanskrit language. The word Atman is derived from the verb ‘atati’, which means that, which extends or grows or pervades. The body occupies some space and grows in course of time pervading some more space. The soul is a specific form of ordinary inert energy. Actually, it is a specific form of work involving transfer of information from the senses with help of neurons and the receipt of the information by the brain in the form of impression is a subsequent step, which is also involved in this specific work. This step of receipt of the information by the brain is called knowledge or the process of knowing (jnaanam). Hence, the soul is said to be the form of knowledge.

 This specific work takes place in a specific system called nervous system. The soul also pervades all over the body through nerves since the soul is a form of inert energy. Since the inert energy is always in the form of waves occupying some space, the soul can be called as the Atman that pervades some space. Therefore, the word Atman means both the body and the soul. Therefore, the word Atman means totally a human being, which consists of two parts called body and soul. Body stands for matter and the soul stands for energy. Both matter and energy are like the two friendly classmates and none is a boss or a slave to the other. Rama and Krishna are two friends. You can call Rama as Krishna’s friend or Krishna as Rama’s friend. If you superimpose the ‘I’ on the soul, you will call the body as ‘My body’. If you superimpose the ‘I’ on body, you will call the soul as ‘My soul’. Neither body belongs to the soul nor does the soul belong to the body because both belong to God, the ultimate single owner.