A Sanskrit term encountered in Vedāntism and theosophical texts. It is derived from sūtra meaning a thread and ātman meaning the spiritual “self.” In theosophical writings it is used as a term similar to the monad.

Helena P. BLAVATSKY, in The Secret Doctrine, defines it “the luminous thread of immortal impersonal Monadship, on which our earthly lives or evanescent Egos are strung as so many beads — according to the beautiful expression of Vedāntic philosophy” (SD II:513). She also says, “In each of us that golden thread of continuous life — periodically broken into active and passive cycles of sensuous existence on Earth, and super-sensuous in Devachan — is from the beginning of our appearance upon this earth” (idem).

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