A Sanskrit compound word composed of karana (“causal”) and ATMAN (“Self”). In theosophical literature it refers to the “causal Self” or ultimate source of the Self (atman). Helena P. BLAVATSKY says of it, “The personal God is not the Monad, but indeed the prototype of the latter, what for want of a better term we call the manifested Karanatman (Causal Soul), one of the ‘seven’ and chief reservoirs of the human Monads or Egos (CWXIV:49). The term Karanatman should not be confused with Karana-Sarira or Causal Body, which is one of the principles of the human being, or Karanopadhi, which is identical with the Karana-Sarira, even if the latter is also sometimes called a ‘personal God.’”

See also KARANA-SARIRA.

P.S.H.

© Copyright by the Theosophical Publishing House, Manila