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Brahman means the ultimate reality behind this universe and the gods. According to the Upanishads Brahman is “the eternal, conscious, irreducible, infinite, omnipresent, spiritual source of the universe of finiteness and change.” Brahman is the origin of all things, living or otherwise. Brahman is derived from the word- ‘Brah’ meaning ‘to expand’.
IshAvAsyam idam sarvam – All this IS Ishvara.
Omityetadaksharamidam sarvam – Om IS the whole of this universe.
sarvam khalvidam brahma – All this IS Brahman.
Every leaf, every drop of water, every cloud in the sky, every object, animate and inanimate, is all Brahman. Whatever you perceive at any time at any place is only Brahman and nothing but Brahman.
There are infinite forms of the Brahman- infinite power, infinite boundaries and manifestations. The following are the 12 important and basic manifestations of the Brahman as described in the Vedas-
UNKNOWN OR ASAT
Brahman is a huge infinite thing and hence we do not know everything about it. There are parts of the Brahman that are unknown as it is without any beginning or end. According to the Upanishads – if we think we know about the Brahman, we don’t know anything at all. There is no known boundary of the Brahman and hence there are portions that remain unknown and hidden. According to the Vedas, Brahman is both existence as well as non-existence. The once who believe in god believe in the existence of the Brahman, The atheists or the non-believers, believe in the non-existence of the Brahman and the Agnostics are unable to choose between the two and remain confused. This non-existence of the Brahman represents the unknown, the hidden, the unmanifested and the non being. According to the Bhagavad-Gita, only a small portion of the Brahman is manifested and known. The remaining large portion is unknown and mysterious.
KNOWN OR SAT
The known aspect of the Brahman is the one that is not hidden and is in existence. This aspect of Brahman is awake and manifested. It is described as the aspect that is in existence and is complete and everyway with truth, knowledge and power. Even in this state the Brahman shows duality i.e. the known and the unknown forms. Due to this it has a dual nature in every part- it has form as well as no form, it has modifications as well as no modifications, it is movable as well as immovable, it has qualities and no qualities at the same time, it is with materiality as well as without it. This dual aspect of the Brahman manifests itself into the nature. It acts as the protector and the creator (hence active) where as in its inactive stage it is the observer and the witness. This nature is the thing the Brahman creates and hence it is the supreme ruler of it.
UNIVERSAL LORD – ISHVARA
Ishvara means the lord of the universe. Hence Ishvara is the highest and most important manifestation of the Brahman. He is responsible for all kinds of creation and rules over everything in this universe. It has five basic forms- the creator- to create, the destroyer- to destroy, the concealer- to conceal, the revealer- to reveal and the protector- to protect. He is the weaver and the creator of time and space and he is the one who looks after everything he has created. He controls life and death. Without him, this world would not exist.
COSMIC SELF OR HIRANYAGARBHA
Hiranyagarbha or the cosmic self was born from Ishvara and is the first one to emerge from him. He is the gold egg who presides over the nature and its beings. He is the god of creation and is known as Brahma in the Vedas. All the worlds and the beings in it are his children or his projections. He presides over all of us and gives us knowledge and values through scriptures. He is the supreme teacher with ultimate knowledge. Without his presence this world would be in chaos. He brings stability and value.
COSMIC BODY – VIRAJ
Viraj was born from the cosmic body of Ishvara and his ego sense. He is also the body sense of Hiranyagarbha. He is the ruler of all material things in this world. According to the Upanishads, at the beginning of every creation Hiranyagarbha combines the five different elements .e. water, air, fire, earth and ether to create a body sense of Viraj. These elements are in their subtle form at first and later on change into their gross form. These elements are mixed by Hiranagarbha in different proportions to create diversity in the body sense for each other fourteen worlds. Hence, Viraj is the manifestation of the cosmic soul of Hiranyagarbha into a material form. He is the material manifestation of the Cosmic Lord.
COSMIC BEING- PURUSHA
Purusha is a cosmic being. It represents the awakened Brahman whose soul is Hiranyagarbha and body is Viraj. It is another name for Ishvara. Together all three of these form a trinity of the Brahman’s supreme manifestation which represents existence. Purusha represents the physical form of Brahman. Purusha creates through self-sacrifice. This means that he uses parts of his own body as an offering for creating anything- be it beings or worlds. This physical and awake aspect of the Brahman i.e. the Ishvara, Hiranyagarbha and Viraj together represent the three Christian entity i.e. the father, the Holy Ghost and the son respectively.
TIME OR KALA
Time represents the most basic as well as important aspect of duality in the existence. It is described as the opening and closing off the eyelids of Ishvara. Everyone even the Ishvara faces the duality of time. Even though his soul is timeless, his body is bound to time and prone to its effects. Similarly, in us human beings, our soul is not bound to time where as our body becomes old and dies as time passes. Also we have a sense of time when we are awake, but we are not aware of it while sleeping. Time eventually brings everything to an end. It is an endless circle that keeps on devouring anything in its path. Hence time is often associated with death. For death everything in this world is its food which it eats as time passes.
THE TRINITY OR TRIMURTIS
The Trimurti – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, are the manifestations of the awakened Brahman. In function they represent the trinity i.e. the Ishvara, Hiranyagarbha and Viraj respectively. Brahma is said to be the creator, Vishnu is the preserver and Shiva is the destroyer. In spite of their specific functions each other gods can perform all five functions i.e. creation, preservation, destruction, revelation and concealment. This is because they are manifestations of Brahman and hence the same as the Brahman.
SPACE- AKASHA
Brahman as space plays many roles-
- Carries the sounds of the Vedas to the Gods
- Calls upon the gods to accept the sacrifices presented for them by carrying the sacred sounds of the ritual to them.
- Acts as the Mediator between the god and humans. Brahman as space is responsible for carrying the sacred chants to the gods through its humnas.
- Carries the prayers as well as speech of the humans to different places and directions- from earth to mid-region, from mid region to Indra’s Heaven and from there to the higher heavens.
All of these help in maintain the balance and stability between the gods and humans. Also since space is infinite it also brings along existence and consciousness.
AUM OR PRANAVA
In sound form Brahman is the same as the Vedas. The Vedas represent the Brahman in the sound form. It contains all the five aspects of the Brahman i.e. creation, preservation, concealment, revelation and destruction. Using the various chants and mantras in the Vedas, one vcan release the power of all the five aspects for good or bad purpose. That’s why very few know about the Vedas. The Vedas get this power as they originate from the Brahman itself. Out of all the chants and rituals the sound ‘Aum’ is the most important form of the Brahman. The sound of Om purifies everything it touches and provides liberation to the devotees who say it with faith.
FOOD OR ANNAM
Brahman is the source of our nourishment. He is the one who provides us with the food we eat. He created the plants and animals as a way of nourishment for both the gods as well as the humans. Everything he creates comes from the sacrifice of his own being. This sacrifice manifests itself as our food. Before we eat it is important to first offer food to the gods. This is because the Brahman (in the form of the gods) purifies the food that we offer. So if we eat without offering, we eat sin or unpurified food.
INDIVIDUAL SELF OR ATMAN
Brahman manifests itself into all living beings as their soul or Atma. This soul is a micro small part of the Brahman itself, not bound by time and is indestructible, pure and all knowing. These souls are bounded to their bodies and are released once the body dies with time. Then it is bounded to a different body and this cycle keeps repeating. Even though the soul is eternal and knowledgeable, in the bounded form it becomes ignorant of the universal truth and lives in a delusion and suffers from both life and death.
