Brahman is the very Self of all beings. ... It is a unity of Truth

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" God is the term most often used in Western religious thought to

describe the Supreme Being or spiritual reality behind the universe.

The term God is originally a Germanic word and relates to the idea

of the good, the summum bonum, what is supremely beneficial in life.

God in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic sense stands for the

Creator of the universe, who has a personal nature, and is generally

conceived of as a father who resides in Heaven.

 

Sanatana Dharma teaches that there is an ultimate spiritual reality,

which one can call God, but that this reality transcends all names,

forms and actions. Its highest Truth is one of monism - not that

there is only One God but that there is nothing but God, who

includes all creatures within a greater Being. Such a Divine being

id not merely creator. He is the creation itself as well as the

Uncreate which transcends time, space and causation as pure

consciousness, called Brahman or the Absolute. All creatures and all

the universe are in essence God. Our soul is one with God and can

experience God in consciousness.

 

Brahman is the very Self of all beings. It is neither male nor

female. It is beyond emotion and expression. It has no only sons,

favorite prophets or chosen people. It transcends time, space and

person. All of creation consists of merely the surface waves on its

infinite sea. It is a unity of Truth, not of belief, and a Truth

that has many forms and functions in its manifestation.

 

Brahman is not apart from the world. It is the very being and

presence underlying all things. It is equally present in an ant as

well as in a human being. There is nothing apart from it. Yet it is

not tainted by anything. Like space it pervades everything but

assumes no form. While one can call Brahman God, one should realize

that Brahman is a universal principle of Being transcending both the

Creator and the creation and is not the same as the God of

monotheistic beliefs (which Hindus call Ishvara* or the Lord). "

 

http://www.hindubooks.org/david_frawley/hinduism/religion_spiritualit

y_and_modernworld/page2.htm

 

 

* In Hinduism, Ishvara ( " lord " , " ruler " ) is the name for the supreme

being, seen as the uncreated, eternal, and absolute god, especially

for Shiva. (www.pantheon.org)