   #copyright

Brahman

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Divinities

      Image:Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg This page contains Indic
              text. Without rendering support, you may see irregular vowel
                              positioning and a lack of conjuncts. More...

   Brahman ( Devanagari: ब्रह्म ) is the concept of the Godhead found in
   Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and
   transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all things in this
   universe. Though its nature is transpersonal it is sometimes considered
   anthropomorphically as Isvara, the Supreme Lord. In the Rig Veda,
   Brahman gives rise to the primordial being Hiranyagarbha that is
   equated with the creator God Brahmā. The trimurti can thus be
   considered a personification of hiranyagarbha as the active principle
   behind the phenomena of the universe. The seers who inspired the
   composition of the Upanisads asserted that the liberated soul (
   jivanmukta) has realized his identity with Brahman as his true self
   (see Atman).

   The word "Brahman" is derived from the verb brh (Sanskrit:to grow), and
   connotes greatness. The Mundaka Upanishad says:

     Om. That supreme Brahman is infinite, and this conditioned Brahman
     is infinite. The infinite proceeds from infinite. Then through
     knowledge, realizing the infinitude of the infinite, it remains as
     infinite alone.

Conceptualization

   This Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Absolute Reality called Brahman is said
   to be eternal, genderless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and
   ultimately indescribable in human language. It can be at best described
   as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss. Brahman
   is regarded as the source and essence of the material universe. It is
   pure being. Brahman manifests as Hiranyagarbha, the " world soul",
   which also can take many forms or manifestations of the thousands of
   gods. It was deemed a singular substrate from which all that is arises,
   and debuts with this verse:

     "Great indeed are the devas who have sprung out of Brahman." —
     Atharva Veda

   Originally, in the earliest mantras of the Vedic Samhitas, the word
   Brahman probably meant pious effigies coming out of the prayers in
   their fire-sacrifices, and hence the actual power behind the rituals.
   However, as the centuries passed and the first Upanishads (the primary
   Vedantic scriptures that putatively serve as commentaries on the
   original liturgical books of the Vedas) were written, the concept of
   Brahman fittingly grew in scope and complexity. Soon, the ancient
   writers of the Upanishads insisted that Brahman, in addition to being
   material, efficient, formal and final causes of the cosmos, was also
   utterly beyond all four senses of origin. Essentially, it is also
   beyond being and non-being alike, and thus does not quite fit with the
   usual connotations of the word God and even the concept of monism. For
   this reason, some authors use the word 'Godhead' for Brahman, to
   distinguish it from the usual usage of the word 'God'. It is said that
   Brahman cannot be known by material means, that we cannot be made
   conscious of it, because Brahman is our very consciousness.
   Brahman(Ryke) is also not restricted to the usual dimensional
   perspectives of being, and thus enlightenment, moksha, yoga, samadhi,
   nirvana, etc. do not merely mean to know Brahman, but to realise one's
   'brahman-hood', to actually realise that one is and always was of
   Brahman nature. Indeed, closely related to the Self concept of Brahman
   is the idea that it is synonymous with jiva-atma, or individual souls,
   our atman (or soul) being readily identifiable with the greater soul of
   Brahman.

   The Advaitic tradition rejects the above notion of an evolving
   definition of Brahman. It considers the Vedas to be eternal, timeless
   and contemporaneous with Brahman. In this tradition, the Vedas were
   handed down generations by vocal memorizations. Written texts of the
   Vedas are a relatively recent phenomenon.

   Connected with the ritual of pre-Vedantic Hinduism, Brahman signified
   the power to grow, the expansive and self-altering process of ritual
   and sacrifice, often visually realised in the sputtering of flames as
   they received the all important ghee (clarified butter) and rose in
   concert with the mantras of the Vedas. Brahmin came to refer to the
   highest of the four castes, the Brahmins, who by virtue of their purity
   and priesthood are held to have such powers.

   It is the first instance of monism in organized religion. Hinduism
   remains the only religion with this concept. To call this concept 'God'
   would be imprecise. The closest interpretation of the term can be found
   in the Taittariya Upanishad (II.1) where Brahman is described in the
   following manner: satyam jnanam anantam brahman - "Brahman is of the
   nature of truth, knowledge and infinity". Thus, Brahman is the origin
   and end of all things, material or otherwise. Brahman is the root
   source and Divine Ground of everything that exists, and does not exist
   in Hinduism. It is defined as unknowable and Satchidananda
   (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss). Since it is eternal and infinite, it
   comprises the only truth. The goal of Hinduism, through the various
   yogas, is to realize that the soul ( Atman) is actually nothing but
   Brahman. The Hindu pantheon of gods is said, in the Vedas and
   Upanishads, to be only higher manifestations of Brahman. For this
   reason, "ekam sat" (all is one), and all is Brahman. This explains the
   Hindu view that "All paths lead to the one Brahman, though many sages
   [and religions] call him different things." at nakita ni chunkee c puto

Etymology

   Brahman or brahma, and similar words, have various meanings, mostly
   related to Hinduism. In the correct Indian pronunciation, the first a
   is long or short as indicated, and the h is pronounced as a voiced
   consonant.

   These words come from a Sanskrit root bŗh = " to swell, grow, enlarge",
   cognate with many English words such as "bulge". They all derive from
   the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel-, meaning "to swell" or "to grow" .
   The Latin verb flāre = "to blow" also comes from the same root. Some,
   including Georges Dumézil, have said that the Latin word flāmen (=
   "priest") may also be cognate to brahman. A possible connection with
   the Semitic root br' ברא "create, opening" has also been suggested, but
   this is refuted by most linguists.

Semantics and pronunciation

          Here the underlined vowels carry the Vedic Sanskrit udātta pitch
          accent. It is usual to use an acute accent symbol for this
          purpose.

   In Vedic Sanskrit:-
     * brahma (ब्रह्म) (nominative singular), brahman (ब्रह्मन्)
       (stem)(neuter gender) means "growth", "development", "swelling";
       and then "pious utterance", "worship", perhaps via the idea of
       saying during prayers and ceremonies that God or the deities are
       great. Later it came to mean the Supreme Cosmic Spirit.
     * brahmā (nom.sg.), brahman (stem) ( masculine gender) means "priest"
       (compare Latin flamen = "priest"). But in this sense, the neuter
       form's plural Brahmāņi was also used.

   In later Sanskrit usage:-
     * brahma (nominative singular), brahman (stem) (neuter gender) means
       the concept of the Supreme transcendent and immanent Reality or the
       One Godhead or Cosmic Spirit in Hinduism; this is discussed below.
       Also note that the word Brahman in this sense is exceptionally
       treated as masculine (see the Merrill-Webster Sanskrit Dictionary).
       It is called "the Brahman" in English.
     * Brahmā (ब्रह्मा) (nom.sg.), Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) (stem) ( masculine
       gender), means the deity or deva Prajāpati Brahmā. He is one of the
       members of the Hindu trinity and associated with creation, but does
       not have a cult in present day India.

   One must not confuse these with:
     * brāhmaņa (ब्राह्मण, masc., pronounced as /brα:h mə Ņə/ - the N
       being retroflex, which literally means "pertaining to prayer")
       meant a prosaic commentary on the Vedic mantras—an integral part of
       the Vedic literature.
     * brāhmaņa (masc., same pronunciation as above), meaning one of the
       Hindu priestly caste; in this usage the word is usually rendered in
       English as " Brahmin". This usage is also found in the Atharva
       Veda.
     * Ishvara, or the Supreme God (lit., Supreme Lord), which may be
       completely identified with the Supreme Truth Brahman, as by the
       Dvaita philosophy, or partially as a worldly manifestation of the
       Brahman having (positive) attributes.
     * Devas, the celestial beings of Hinduism, which maybe regarded as
       deities, demi-gods, spirits or angels. In Vedic Hinduism, there
       were 33 devas, which later became exaggerated to 330 million devas.
       In fact, all the devas are themselves regarded as more mundane
       manifestations of the One and the Supreme Brahman, for devotional
       worship. The Hindus do not literally worship 330 million separate
       gods. The Sanskrit word for "ten million" also means "group", and
       "330 million devas" originally meant "33 types of divine
       manifestation".

   Brahm is sometimes found as a variant form of Brahma or Brahman. In
   Hindi, one might find Brahma as being pronounced as /brəm hə/, and
   consequesntly BrāhmaNa as /brα:m həN/.

Brahman and Atman

   Philosopher mystics of the Upanishads identify Brahman, the world soul,
   with Atman, the inner essence of the human being also known as
   "MICROSOULSPARK of BRAHMAN; ATMAN is what we call as individual's or
   the human soul. The Ultimate Truth is expressed as Nirguna Brahman, or
   LORD Or BOSS of all "GODS". NIRGUNA means formless, attributeless,
   MEGASOUL aka "SPIRIT" only. While Advaita philosophy considers Brahman
   to be without any form, qualities, or attributes, Dvaita philosophy
   understands nir- guna as without material form or without bad
   qualities.

   In Dvaita, Vishnu is Brahman since the followers stress a personal God.
   Advaita, on the other hand, considers all personal forms of God
   including Vishnu and Shiva as different aspects of God in personal form
   or God with attributes, Saguna Brahman.

   According to some, God's energy is personified as Devi, the Divine
   Mother. For Vaishnavites who follow Ramunjacharaya's philosophy, Devi
   is Lakshmi, who is the Mother of all and who pleads with Vishnu for
   mankind who is entrenched in sin. For Gaudiya Vaishnavas she is Radha.
   For Shaivites, Devi is Parvati. For Shaktas, who worship Devi, Devi is
   the personal form of God to attain the impersonal Absolute, God. For
   them, Shiva is personified as God without attributes. See this Hinduism
   Today article.

   The phrase that is seen to be the only possible (and still thoroughly
   inadequate) description of Brahman that humans, with limited minds and
   being, can entertain is the Sanskrit word Sacchidānanda, which is
   combined from sat-chit-ānanda, meaning "being - consciousness - bliss".

Enlightenment and Brahman

   While Brahman lies behind the sum total of the objective universe, some
   human minds boggle at any attempt to explain it with only the tools
   provided by reason. Brahman is beyond the senses, beyond the mind,
   beyond intelligence, beyond imagination. Indeed, the highest idea is
   that Brahman is beyond both existence and non-existence, transcending
   and including time, causation and space, and thus can never be known in
   the same material sense as one traditionally 'understands' a given
   concept or object.

   Imagine a person who is blind from birth and has not seen anything. Is
   it possible for us to explain to him the meaning of the colour red. Is
   any amount of thinking or reasoning on his part ever going to make him
   understand the sensation of the colour red? In a similar fashion the
   idea of Brahman cannot be explained or understood through material
   reasoning or any form of human communication. Brahman is like the
   colour red; those who can sense it cannot explain or argue with those
   who have never sensed it.

   Brahman is considered the all pervading consciousness which is the
   basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (brahmano
   hi pratisthaham, Bhagavad Gita 14.27)

Advaita concept

   The universe is not just conscious, but it is consciousness, and this
   consciousness is Brahman. Human consciousness has forgotten its
   identity, that of Brahman, as if a drop of water from a vast ocean
   thought itself separate, and that the only path to merge back into that
   Brahman or supreme consciousness is through the paths of devotion,
   moral living, following the eight-fold path of Ashtanga Yoga
   meditation, often expressed in various systems of spiritual practices
   known as yogas.

   If one seeks Brahman via true knowledge, Atman seeks truth and accepts
   it no matter what it is. Atman accepts all truths of the self/ego, and
   thus is able to accept the fact that it is not separate from its
   surroundings. Then Atman is permanently absorbed into Brahman and
   become one and the same with it. This is how one forever escapes
   rebirth.

   In Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is without attributes and strictly
   impersonal. It can be best described as infinite Being, infinite
   Consciousness and infinite Bliss. It is pure knowledge itself, similar
   to a source of infinite radiance. Since the Advaitins regard Brahman to
   be the Ultimate Truth, so in comparison to Brahman, every other thing,
   including the material world, its distinctness, the individuality of
   the living creatures and even Ishvara (the Supreme Lord) itself are all
   untrue. Brahman is the effulgent cause of everything that exists and
   can possibly exist. Since it is beyond human comprehension, it is
   without any attributes, for assigning attributes to it would be
   distorting the true nature of Brahman. Advaitins believe in the
   existence of both Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman, however they
   consider Nirguna Brahman to be the absolute supreme truth.

   When man tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind, under
   the influence of an illusionary power of Brahman called Maya, Brahman
   becomes God ( Ishvara). God is Brahman under Maya. The material world
   also appears as such due to Maya. God is Saguna Brahman, or Brahman
   with attributes. He is omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal,
   independent, Creator of the world, its ruler and also destroyer. He is
   eternal and unchangeable. He is both immanent and transcedent, as well
   as full of love and justice. He may be even regarded to have a
   personality. He is the subject of worship. He is the basis of morality
   and giver of the fruits of one's Karma. He rules the world with his
   Maya. However, while God is the Lord of Maya and she (ie, Maya) is
   always under his control, living beings (jīva, in the sense of humans)
   are the servants of Maya (in the form of ignorance). This ignorance is
   the cause of all material experiences in the mortal world. While God is
   Infinite Bliss, humans, under the influence of Maya consider themselves
   limited by the body and the material, observable world. This
   misperception of Brahman as the observed Universe results in human
   emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear. The Ultimate
   reality remains Brahman and nothing else. The Advaita equation is
   simple. It is due to Maya that the one single Atman (the individial
   soul) appears to the people as many Atmans, each in a single body. Once
   the curtain of maya is lifted, the Atman is exactly equal to the
   Brahman. Thus, due to true knowledge, an individual loses the sense of
   ego (Aham-kara) and achieves liberation, or Moksha. Also see Advaita
   Vedanta.

VisishtAdvaita

   The concept of Brahman in VisishtAdvaita consists of an inseparable
   triad of Ishwara-Chit-Achit. Ishwara, the Supreme Self (ParamAtman)is
   the indwelling spirit (Antaryami) in all. Both the Chit (sentient
   objects) and Achit (insentient object) entities are pervaded and
   permeated by Ishwara.

   The key identifier of Brahman in VisishtAdvaita is as the Antaryami
   (i.e. the In-dwelling spirit in all there is). The relationship between
   Ishwara-Chit-Achit is understood by two ideas.

   1. The Sarira-Sariri Concept

   Ishwara has the Chit (JIvAtman) and Achit (Prakriti, Jagat) entities
   for his body and being the Supreme Self, exercises complete control
   over it.

   2. Substance-Attribute Concept

   Ishwara is the substance and the Jiva and Prakriti are his modes (or)
   attributes. An attribute cannot have an existence independent of an
   underlying substance. The substance-attribute idea establishes an
   uninterrupted, non-reciprocal relationship between Ishwara and two
   modes

Dvaita

   Vedanta Sutra 3.2.23 states, "The form of Brahman is unmanifest, so the
   scriptures say" (tat avyaktam aha). The next sutra adds, "But even the
   form of Brahman becomes directly visible to one who worships devoutly -
   so teach the scriptures" (api samradhane pratyaksa anumanabhyam) .

   Dvaita schools argue against the Advaita idea that upon attaining
   liberation one realizes that God is formless since this idea is
   contradicted by Vedanta Sutra 3.2.16: "The scriptures declare that the
   form of the Supreme consists of the very essence of His Self" (aha ca
   tanmatram). And furthermore Vedanta Sutra 3.3.36 asserts that within
   the realm of Brahman the devotees see other divine manifestations which
   appear even as physical objects in a city (antara bhuta gramavat
   svatmanah) .

   They identify the personal form of God indicated here as the
   transcendental form of Vishnu or Krishna (see Vaishnavism). The
   brahma-pura (city within Brahman) is identified as the divine realm of
   Vishnu known as Vaikuntha. This conclusion is corroborated by the
   Bhagavata Purana, written by Vyasa as his own "natural commentary" on
   Vedanta-sutra. The first verse of Bhagavata Purana begins with the
   phrase "I offer my respectful obeisances to Bhagavan Vasudeva, the
   source of everything" (om namo bhagavate vasudevaya janmadyasya yatah).
   Vyasa employs the words "janmadyasya yatah", which comprise the second
   sutra of the Vedanta Sutra, in the first verse of the Bhagavata Purana
   to establish that Krishna is Brahman, the Absolute Truth. This is clear
   testimony of the author's own conclusion about the ultimate goal of all
   Vedic knowledge.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
