The most important word used in the Vedas and the Upanishad is the word “ Brahman.” Most of us think that the word is a synonym for God. It is wrong to equate Brahman to a God with a name and form. All the Upanishads proclaims the glory of Brahman in various ways which is really astonishing. In fact, one of the definitions of the Upanishads is that it is what is called ”Brahma Vidya”-“ Upanishaditi Brahma Vidya.” The Upanishads describe the nature of Brahman in various terms. It is interesting to see that every Upanishad explains the importance and nature of the Brahman in its own inimitable language. What exactly is this concept of Brahman? All the Upanishads stress again and again that the word Brahman cannot be explained in words. It is like a person describing the ocean to one who has never seen it and who can say that it is a vast sheet of water, a big expanse of water, water, water all around. Vedas, Puranas, Itihasas, and other scriptures have been repeated a thousand times but no one has yet been able to express Brahman by speech! The Upanishad says, “ Satyam Jnana manantam Brahma.”Brahman is Truth; It is Knowledge; It is eternal, has no end. It is immutable Truth. It is the only Knowledge to be gained by a person. There is no other worthy knowledge. It is everlasting and has no end.
Brahman is unattached and indifferent to good or evil. Brahman is above and beyond all these. Brahman cannot be judged by any human standard of good and evil. Brahman is above and beyond both knowledge and ignorance, good and evil, Dharma and Adharma. It transcends all these dual throngs. Brahman is beyond mind and speech. The Taittiriya Upanishad proclaims: “ yato vacho nivartante aprapya manasa saha. Anandam Brahmano vidwan..” He who knows the bliss of that Brahman from which all speech, with the mind, turns away unable to reach it—he does not fear anything from anywhere. Brahman is above all concentration and meditation—(Dharana and Dhyana). It is also beyond the knower, the known and knowledge. It is also beyond the real and the unreal and relativity. Brahman is similar to air carrying good and bad odours. But It is totally untainted by them. Brahman, otherwise called the Absolute is above all attributes and beyond all things connected with Maya. When the Supreme Being is without action- not involved in creation, protection and destruction It is called Brahma or Purusha. But when It is actively involved in those, It is called Sakthi or Maya or Prakriti.
Are Brahman and dynamic Sakthi different? No they are one and the same. Brahman is potential energy while Sakthi is kinetic energy, mobile and carrying out all activities. Both are embodiments of Existence- Intelligence- Bliss. Brahman is not different from personal God. A belief in the one implies a belief in the other. Fire cannot be imagined apart from its burning power. Thus absolute Brahman is always associated with the idea of God with attributes or Personal God. Brahman can be sometimes with attributes and at other times without. When He is with attributes He is called Saguna Brahman in combination with Sakthi or Energy. He is called, then, Iswara or Personal God. God is formless as well as with attributes and form. For the sake of his devotees who love Him he manifests Himself in various forms. No limitation binds Him in taking any form or manifestation. Supreme Brahman is a vast incomprehensible ocean where one struggles and sinks. But Personal God grants peace like a sinking man being gently carried ashore. The Bhaktha visualizes God in different form while the realized Jnani sees Him in Samadhi without attributes.
“ God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why they suffer. Every object is Narayana. All things are His diverse forms and manifestations of His glory. Says God,” I am the snake that bites and the charmer that heals; I am the judge that condemns and the servant that inflicts the punishment.” Says Sri RamaKrishna. I give below a few quotations from different Upanishads on the nature and quality of Brahman or the Self or the Atman.
Isavasya- Upanishad: “ The Self is unmoving, indivisible; it is swifter than thought. The senses never reach it, as it is ever ahead of them. Though standing still, it outstrips those who run. And in it does the moving Spirit support the activities of man. It moves and it moves not; It is far and likewise near . It is inside of all this, and it is outside of all this.”
Kenopanishad: “That which is not seen by the eye, but that by which the eyes are made to see--- know that as the Brahman, and not what people worship here. That which is not inhaled by breath, but that by which breath is made to inhale—know that as Brahman and not what people worship here.”
Kathopanishad: “This syllable is indeed Brahman (OM) this syllable is indeed the highest; he who knows this syllable—whatever he desires will be his. The knowing Self is never born, nor does it die. It sprang from nothing, and nothing sprang from it. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain. (Bhagavadgita” nainam chindanti sasthrani nainam dahati pavakaha…..) Smaller than the small and greater than the great, the Self is hidden in the heart of every creature… The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings. How then could this fire? When He shines, everything shines after Him; by His light all this is lighted.”
Mundakopanishad: “ Even as the spider sends forth and draws in (its thread), even as plants spring out of the earth and hairs from the head and the body of a living man—even so does the whole creation arise out of the Imperishable.
Taittriya Upanishad: “Having performed penance he understood that perfect bliss was Brahman. For it is from bliss that these beings are born. It is by bliss that, when born, they live, and it is bliss that they enter on passing away.
Aitareyopanishad: “ In the beginning all this was Atman----one only. There was nothing active. He thought himself, “ Let me now create the worlds.” He created these worlds.
Chandogyopanishad: “ Verily, all this is Brahman. Let a man meditate on it in tranquility as that from which he came forth, to which he shall return and in which he breathes. The Self is a bank, a boundary that preserves these worlds. Day and night do not reach that bank---neither old age nor death, neither grief, not good not evil deeds. From it all evils turn back, for the world of Brahman is one where sin is vanquished.”
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: “ The Self is dearer than a son, dearer than wealth, dearer than all else and is the innermost. Verily it is not for the sake of the husband that a husband is dear, but for the sake of the Self is a husband dear. The Brahman rejects one who takes him to be different from the Self. An ocean is that one seer, without any duality. This is the world. Thus Brahman, O King. Thus did YAJNAVALKYA teach him. This is the highest goal, this is the highest treasure; this is the highest world; this is his highest bliss. All other creatures live on a fragment of this very bliss.” The heavenly voice of thunder repeats the same--- Da, Da, Da, that is, control yourselves, give to others, and be compassionate. Therefore one should practice the same triad—self control, charity, and compassion.
Swetaswatara Upanishad: “The Self which pervades all things, as butter is contained in milk, and which has its roots in self knowledge and penance---that is Brahman. That is the highest Upanishad. That which is beyond the world is without form and without suffering. Those who know it become Im mortal, but others suffer only misery. Know that Nature is Maya and that the wielder of Maya is the Great Lord. This whole world is filled with beings that are parts of Him. He is of the size of a thumb, but brilliant like the sun. He is endowed with a will and self consciousness. With the qualities of mind and qualities of the body he is seen small like the point of a goad”
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