DESCRIPTION OF BRAHMAN

The Upanishads describe Brahman as Supreme Self, or Cosmic Self, or Ultimate Reality, or Absolute Existence, or the infinity of infinitude that is the sole cause and essence of all existence. It is Satyam-Jnanam-Anantam Brahma, or Truth-Knowledge-Infinity (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1; Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Tejobindu Upanishad, 3.11); and Vijnanam-Anandam-Brahma, or Knowledge-Bliss-Brahman (Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, 3.9.28(7).  That great, birthless Self is undecaying, immortal, undying, fearless and Brahman. Brahman is indeed fearless. He who knows It as such becomes the fearless Brahman (Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, 4.4.25). Brahman is also described as Nirakara (formless), Nirvisesa (impersonal), Nirguna (attributeless), Nirvikalpa (non-duality), Adrishta (invisible), Akarta (non-doer), Paramatma (Supreme Self), and various other descriptions indicating Its completeness, fullness, imperishability, infinity, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and witness-consciousness. It refers to a state of consciousness beyond duality, where the mind ceases to create separate concepts of knower, known, knowledge, thought and object, or subject and self. It describes a state of absolute freedom of consciousness, thoughtless awareness, and an ultimate peace that exists beyond the limitations of ordinary perception and intellect.  It is complete and full in every respect within and beyond the comprehension of sense organs.

 1. Outline 

 Brahman that is Self-caused, Self-effulgent, Self-luminous and outwith time, space and causation cannot be a subject of comprehension, description, ascription, or definition. He is the ultimate source and resting place of all that is manifest and unmanifest. Srimad Bhagavad Gita (BG 10.2) bluntly affirms this way:

na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣhayaḥ

aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣhīṇāṁ cha sarvaśhaḥ (BG 10.2)

Neither gods nor the great sages know of My origin. I am the source from which the gods and great seers come. Whatever description that comes out in scriptures are only through sages and seers of Self-knowledge, Self-realisation, and Self-experience.

Swami Sivananda in his book Dialogues from the Upanishads eloquently and precisely describes Brahman as the unseen Seer, the unthought Thinker, the unknown Knower, and the uncreated sustainer of the universe. Atman is the inner self or ruler, which is both within and without all beings and is the same as Brahman. He is the One who sees all, whom no one sees, who illuminates the intellect, among other things. That is Brahman. That is Atman. That is Shyam. That is Rama. That in which there is neither east nor west, neither light nor darkness, neither pleasure nor pain, neither hunger nor thirst, neither elation nor sorrow, nor gain nor loss is Brahman. He who dwells in this eye, who is within this eye, whom the eye does not know, whose body is the eye, who rules the eye from within is thy Self, inner Ruler, Immortal (Atma, Antaryamin, Amritam). He is the Eye of the eyes, Ear of the ears, Prana of Pranas, Mind of minds, Light of lights, Sun of suns, King of kings, and Emperor of emperors. Brahman or Atman is that which surpasses all gains, surpasses all knowledge, and surpasses all bliss. There is something dearer than wealth. There is something dearer than a son. There is something dearer than a wife. There is something dearer than Prana (life). This is Self, the Inner Ruler, the Immortal (Atma, Antaryamin, Amritam). Brahman is something like that.

Brahman is the Ultimate Reality—spaceless, timeless, and formless—and is the substratum of all existence, says sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda. He describes as both immanent and transcendent the pure Sat-Chit-Anand, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, that is the unchanging reality behind the changing universe. All existence is consciousness, and all consciousness is existence. If consciousness were different from existence, it would be non-existent, which would be the negation of consciousness itself. If existence is different from consciousness, then, again, consciousness would be non-existent. Furthermore, the value of existence would be negated because it is impossible to accept anything as existing without any relation to consciousness. Referring to our own selves, we find that we can never separate our consciousness from our existence, or our existence from our consciousness. The moment we think, we know we are, and to grant that we are is to imply that we know we are. That the world is means that it is known, and its knowledge, again, should be what exists. Existence and consciousness do not determine each other but mean one and the same thing. The two must be inseparable in order that either of them may be possible. Brahman, Swami Krishnananda asserts, is not an objective being but existence itself, and the realisation of Self is the realisation of Brahman.  Brahman is attributeless, non-dual, spaceless, timeless, ultimate Reality and Truth, and Existence Itself. The process of Truth-Realisation, Swami Krishnananda asserts, is the supreme state of the mind, the stoppage of all its modifications, where it takes the form of unlimited existence, spaceless and timeless. The ultimate goal is to move beyond the "spiritual eye" or the "thinking subject" to the "Absolute-Experience", where the thought process itself is transcended and identity with the Absolute is realised.

2. Scriptures 

 The Scriptures describe the indescribable Brahman variously as 'Ultimate Truth', 'Absolute Existence', 'Supreme Self', 'Eternal', 'Infinity', 'Omniscient', 'Omnipotent', and 'Self-caused' in so many descriptions. Yoga-Vasistha (3.2.18-35) adeptly describes Brahman as actionless, detached, unborn, uncreated, and unbegotten. He is a pure vacuous being, and the privation of prior acts has made Him as nil as an ethereal arbour.  He has no prior deeds, nor does He perform any actions at present. He is neither led by predestination nor actuated by present efforts; instead, He continues to exist as a form of aeriform intelligence. He is His own causality and not guided by any extraneous causation whatsoever. He is thoughtless, motionless, and actionless. He meditates on it as inseparable from the Supreme Intelligence, like the images are from the painter and sculptor's mind. The self-born Brahman is as intimately connected with the objects of his thought as fluidity is associated with water and vacuity with the firmament. His soul is as immanent in the supreme as motion is inherent in the winds. It has neither the accumulated acts of past lives nor those of its present state. He is produced without the co-operation of accompanying causes, and being free from prior motives, He is not subjected to the vicissitudes concomitant with human life. He is Self-caused and Self-produced. This Brahman is a formless being because He disowns the material body. That's why the Upanishads describe Him as complete, full, desireless, eternal and imperishable.

oṃ | pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇātpūrṇamudacyate |

pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate ||

(Ishavasya Upanishad – Invocation)

Brahman is whole, full, and complete. It describes Brahman as full, the source of fullness, and full even when fullness is removed.

Brahman, or Supreme Self, is both transcendent as well as immanent, and Self-effulgent as well as Self-luminous, so declares Svetasvatara Upanishad (6.5-14). The Upanishad says the Great Lord is the beginning, the cause and beyond the three kinds of time (past, present and future).  He is the Supreme Lord of lords, the Supreme Deity of deities, the Ruler of rulers, and higher than the others. He has no master in the world, no ruler, nor is there even a sign of Him by which He can be inferred. He is the cause, the Lord of the lords of the organs, and He is without a progenitor or controller. He is the Eternal among the eternal and the Conscious among the conscious and, though non-dual, fulfils the desires of many. He who has known Him, the luminous Lord, the Great Cause, to be realised by knowledge and yoga, is freed from all fetters. The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightning less this fire. He shines; everything shines after Him. With his light, all this is lit. All these are corroborated by Mundaka Upanishad (2.2.10) and Srimad Bhagavad Gita (15.6 and 15.12). Srimad Bhagavad Gita (7.24-25) also says Brahman is all-encompassing, formless, birthless, changeless, limitless, infinite and imperishable. Nothing outside it, everything inside it. It is also known as Brahman or Purusha. Bhagavad Gita (8.3) further says that the Supreme Indestructible Entity is called Brahman; one’s own self is called adhyatma. Actions pertaining to the material personality of living beings and its development are called karma, or fruitive activities.  I (Sri Krishna) am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, the immortal and imperishable, of eternal dharma, and of unending divine bliss (Bhagavad Gita, 14.27). Adi Shankaracharya, in his Brahma Jnānavali Māla (verse 20), tersely declares:

brahma satyaṃ jaganmithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ

Brahman is real; the universe is Mithya (it cannot be categorised as either real or unreal). The jiva is Brahman Itself and It is not different. Unreal duality is temporarily superimposed on reality like a wave is superimposed on the ocean, a snake on a rope, and a body in the spirit!! Temporary superimposition is called Mithyā in Sanskrit. This verse leads us to discover that I am not this body but the limitless Spirit which I longed to be. This discovery is called Moksha in the Upanishads.

3. Remarks 

Brahman is infinite, eternal, and complete, surpassing the understanding of a finite, ephemeral, and incomplete entity. Transient and perishable beings have inherent limitations that prevent them from accurately describing the eternal and transcendental. However, one with Self-realisation, or Self-knowledge, or Self-awareness can attempt a description of Brahman. Whatever descriptions come to the world are only from scriptures, seers, and sages. They have the competence, experience, intuition and visualisation to involve themselves in such descriptions.

-Asutosh Satpathy