The Gnostic Divine Spark and the Atman in the Upanishads

 

Introduction
Gnostic teachings reveal that the Goddess / Aeon Sophia had taken it upon her to persuade her evil som, the Demiurge, to breathe life into his unmoving and lifeless creation of humans. The moment he did that, he exhaled the Divine Spark into each human, which he regretted immediately after realising, that actually was what he did. But it was too late; he was unable to undo it. The Divine Spark is the unpalpable divine essence that since that instant brought humans to life while simultaneously bestowing the with the blessing of divinity. From that moment forwards, the Demiurge and his 'army' of Archons, did anything within their power to obscure and silence the Divine Spark that is irremovably present inside every physical human body. According to Gnostic lore, the Archons are nefarious entities whose only task is to induce negative feelings and evil impulses into the human mind in order to cause mankind to be unaware of the Divine Spark that lives inside them.

What is the Divine Spark? It is a bridge over which mankind becomes able to communicate with the universe. With the Divine aspect that permeates everything, everything at all times. It is obvious that this is a danger to the Demiurge, who is also known in the Aramaic language as Saklas, which means fool, and Samael, which means blind god or god of the blind. In the bible's old testament Yahweh, that may be an phonetic derivation of Yaldabaoth, which is yet an other alias ascribed to the Demiurge (of whom it is also written in the bible that he goes by a thousand names), mentioning as well that he spoke to be a jealous and only god, that does not tolerate other gods to be worshiped besides him.

Sophia and the Divine Spark

How did the Demiurge come to existence? Gnostic teachings claim that Sophia in the Pleroma - the highest heaven or better indicated as pure consciousness above all - decided to bear a child without her consort / Syzygos Theletos, meaning Divine Will or Intention, which resulted in the birth of the Demiurge. Some Gnostic sects see her decision as a disastrous mistake, that culminated in the Demiurge creating the physical universe, but Sophia, which means Wisdom, would never have made such a mistake of which the consequences are too obvious for an entity, existing among the highest Gods. In addition Sophia descended from the Pleroma into the physical realm to experience all the deceit, pain and grief, that the Demiurge inflicts up his creation, believing he is the highest being of all. In a way Sophia's act included a self sacrifice, in which no evil perpetuated on living beings in this material universe has not affected and injured her. In other words: it was the hardest, most complex and painful decision she could make.

Why did Sophia decide to make such a mind bogglingly terrifying decision? What could compel her to do such a thing? Belonging to the highest circle of God, she could easily have decided to not suffer from deceit, betrayal, fear, grief and pain. But she did not. I strongly believe that the existence of an other God, named Abraxas contributed to her decision. The renown psychologist Karl Jung broke his brain about Abraxas his entire career, writing many articles and books in which he mentioned Abraxas. Abraxas is a god, who experiences all extremes - of love and evil - that exists and everything in between, but he never acts on it, in spite of his divine nature, which makes it possible for him to do so. Why? What he does, is preparing a mindset that totally encompasses every good and evil thought and deed, that could possibly have taken place in the immeasurable quantum field of the universe. His divine task is to prepare entities in this physical universe to build an endless database in their minds, to absolutely become aware of all good and evil. And once the necessary progress of mortal entities has included all that data, they are ready to venture into the realm of all encompassing, complete consciousness. Achieving this is the most difficult thing life can encounter. And it is the most difficult thing for a God to accomplish, alongside Sophia's intentional sacrifice.

The Upanishads with Atman or Divine Spark

Other, but similar perspectives

It is between 800 to 200 before the birth of Christ that the Upanishads began to emerge. The reason was that a group of enlightened thinkers, rebels actually, refused to accept the fact that priests in Hinduism and Buddhism positioned themselves as the intermediates between mortal followers of those religious beliefs and teachings and the Gods. Referring to what I wrote in the paragraphs above, the Divine Spark is a direct connection to the divine aspect of the universe, in which no biased and trained individuals are required to perform such a communication. Intermediates, as always is the case, insert their own interpretations in the messages that they convey to the illiterate mortals and as a result gain power over them, because they have made their position necessary in the minds of mortals. This basically is exactly similar to the structures that all religions induced into the minds of the followers of their gods.

These enlightened souls went into a forests and meditated on this crucial matter for decades and after that, others continued their work for two centuries. What their thinking arrived at most likely includes the essence of the Divine Spark that Sophia inserted into the human physique, but also contains the layers surrounding it inflicted by the Demiurge and his Archons in order to make it near impossible to discover the Diving Spark that the enlightened souls called the Atman. These layers are the following:

1. Annamaya Kosha (The Physical Sheath) 

Meaning: 'Anna' means food; it is the physical body. Characteristics: This is the outer shell made of matter, sustained by food, and perceived by the senses.

Characteristics: This is the outer shell made of matter, sustained by food, and perceived by the senses. 

2. Pranamaya Kosha (The Vital Energy Sheath)

Meaning: 'Prana' means life force or breath.

Characteristics: This layer flows through the body as vital energy. It controls respiration, circulation, and other autonomic bodily functions.

3. Manomaya Kosha (The Mental Sheath)

Meaning: 'Manas' means mind or thoughts.

Characteristics: This sheath represents the mind, emotions, and sensory processing. It is responsible for automatic thoughts, desires, and daily mental activity.

4. Vijnanamaya Kosha (The Wisdom or Intellect Sheath)

Meaning: 'Vijnana' means intellect, discernment, or higher knowledge.

Characteristics: This is the layer of higher consciousness, wisdom, and intuition. It governs willpower, decision-making, and the sense of ego ('I-ness').

 5. Anandamaya Kosha (The Bliss Sheath)

Meaning: 'Ananda' means absolute bliss or joy.

Characteristics: This is the subtlest layer and the closest to the Atman. It is experienced during deep, dreamless sleep or moments of profound spiritual joy, though it is still a layer and not the Atman itself.

Conclusion
The Atman itself, most likely is the Divine Spark - impalpable, invisible, but present and functioning beyond and above what is mortal human understanding and capacity, yet also part of the human physique and spirit. The Upanishads are part of the end of each Vedic text and the famous German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer with his brilliant mind deeply admired the Upanishads, calling them the solace of his life and death, for good reason. Through the extremely difficult and courageous decision of the Goddess Sophia and her consequent suffering, mankind was bestowed with the divine essence to reach an unprecedented elevated spiritual level. Her utmost logic and self sacrificing empathy know no bounds.