A most priceless of knowledge: Aspects of Brahman

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>

> IV. Aspects of Brahman : Brahman is both the unmanifest and the

> manifest, the formless and the one with form. He is here and

> beyond. There are four grand aspects of Brahman, which are not

> known even to many Hindus. What are these aspects? Read this

> article to know.

>

> http://www.hinduwebsite.com/brahmanaspects.asp

>

>

 

Aspects of Brahman

 

Strictly speaking everything in the universe is a manifestation of

Brahman only. Innumerable are his forms and manifestation, but He is

One and Alone, without a beginning and without an end. He pervades

everything, is hidden in everything and enveloped by all that is

here and elsewhere. In the Upanishads we come across many verses on

Brahman extolling his universal dimensions and infinity. However at

the primal level of classification, we can say that the scriptures

speak of mainly two aspects of Brahman. On the one hand we have the

unmanifest Brahman and on the other we have the manifest Brahman.

The former is the pure state of Brahman without qualities and the

latter is the manifest state of Brahman with qualities. In the

manifest state we believe there are several planes of

consciousness, dimensions, time frames, worlds or planes of

existence and realities. There is the material universe that is

known to the senses and the transcendental universe known only to

the gods and beings of the highest planes. Brahman is remote and

mysterious, known only to few. No one truly knows why and how of

his manifestations, but attribute his actions and movements to some

kind of absorbed and blissful ideation. In each world he manifests

himself according to the need and the plan he works out. The

Upanishads try to explore this rather difficult subject of trying to

express the inexpressible play of Brahman by simplifying his

manifestations into the following four aspects or dimensions.

 

1. Non-Being

The pure Non-Being, or the unmanifest is the First principle.

Variously described as the Ancient and the one without a beginning

and without an end and the one without a second, very little indeed

is known about this Eternal, Imperishable, and the unchangeable

principle. The Upanishads are full of descriptions about It, but the

confusion they create in our minds is much more than the

clarifications they provide. The Upanishadic seers were content with

such description as " This " , " That " or " It " when they spoke of this

Eternal Principle, trying to make It comprehensible to the evolving

minds of their disciples.

 

We are told that It is beyond all. There the mind does not go, nor

the senses, nor our understanding. It is always infront of the

senses and intelligence. It is only through personal experience

perhaps one may grasp a little about It. But even about this we are

not sure.

 

It is doubtful whether any one can really experience something which

does not exist or which is simply non-existence or non-Being and

come back to us and describe it to us in the normal planes of

thought. " Non-existent does one become if a person knows Brahman as

Non-Being. " (Taittiriya Upanishad II.6.1).

 

Perhaps it was why the Buddha was silent about the existence of God

and why many schools of philosophical thought arose in ancient India

questioning the very existence of God as a central controlling

universal principle.

 

The problem is that the human mind which is accustomed to the

language of the words and symbols cannot grasp the Absolute Truth

that cannot really be compared to anything else. Even the devas and

the gods of still higher planes have little understanding of It, as

is evident from the descriptive accounts of gods encounter with It

in the Kena Upanishad.

 

We do not even know why in the first place He created all this. The

explanation that He created these worlds and beings for His delight

or Ananda is too simplistic an explanation to satisfy the

inquisitive curiosity of a well developed mind. If the Absolute

creates something out of something else, be it a cause, a purpose or

some reason, then that cause, purpose or reason, would be above Him

and He cannot be called the Absolute.

 

If the Absolute is eternal and timeless and is not subject to any

causative principle or the dimensions of time and space, how could

there be any gap between Him and His creation? He and His creation

must have happened simultaneously, without a second, without any

distinction or differentiation.

 

Surely the creative process must have begun without any reason,

without any motive, almost as if it was a spontaneous process,

without the intervention of Time and space or a process at the

Absolute level.

 

That the process of creation is spontaneous and without a cause

would perhaps rattle many religious minds, but we have no better

explanation to offer than this if we want to accept the First

Principle of the universe as the Absolute, Eternal, Infinite and

Truth Principle. (Brahman as infinite).

 

Perhaps there was a beginning to the process of creation but it

might never come to a permanent conclusion, as the Creative

Principle that manifested out of Him is also eternal and beyond

dissolution as we understand in the subsequent paragraphs.

 

2. Iswara

When God wakes up from His sleep He becomes Iswara ! In His awakened

state He exercises His creative will and sets in motion the creative

process. Thus Iswara is the creative Spirit, the Being, the awakened

Non-Being, the Saguna Brahman, the Brahman with qualities, who

exercising His will, His Power and His wisdom creates the worlds and

the world order (Rita)

 

He is the Truth Consciousness, the combination of knowledge and

will, the directing and causative aspect of the Universal Self. He

is the creative consciousness, who in the aspect of Purusha (the

Universal Male) joins with His other aspect Prakriti ( Divine

Energy) and brings forth the worlds and the beings. The word " Brah "

means 'to grow or to burst forth'. Thus Iswara is the Brahman who

bursts out of his own sleep (non-existence)

 

As the creator, sustainer and destroyer of the worlds, He is also

the Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesa. They are but one though they

appear differently to the mortal world. They are the three qualities

of His Primal Nature (Prakriti), and the three aspects of his Will

and consciousness (Purusha), in their pure and primordial states,

which wake up as He wakes up and regulate the creation.

 

In the Maitri Upanishad we are given an account of the conception of

the trinity, how darkness (tamas) represented by Siva, passion

(rajas) represented by Brahma and goodness (sattva) represented by

Vishnu got differentiated from the Highest. (Maitri Upanishad V.2)

 

While we have no idea of what the Non-Being or the Nirakar Brahman

truly is, we have the accounts of the Upanishadic seers who through

self-contemplation realized Iswara and described Him as Sat chit

Ananda, Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. This experience becomes

possible in human beings because in the individual being, Iswara is

verily Atman.

 

In the Katha Upanishad says Lord Yama to the young Nachiketa , " By

knowing through self-contemplation (adhyatma yoga) that Primal Being

who is difficult to be seen, who is very mysterious, who is hidden

in the cave (of ones heart) and who is situated deep (with in one

self), the wise men (dhira) leave behind both joy and sorrow.

 

It must be noted that there is no real distinction between Saguna

Brahman and Nirguna Brahman. They are the different states of the

Parameswara the One only Eternal Principle. When the Non-Being

awakens He becomes Iswara and when Iswara takes rest at the end of

creation He becomes Non-Being .

 

3. Hiranya Garbha

He is the World Soul (Mahan Atma), the Cosmic Egg, that arises out

of cosmic waters and engages Himself in the creation of forms and

beings. He is the First Born (prathamaja), who manifests forms that

are already contained in Him.

 

He is the Sutratman (the soul of a necklace) the thread on which all

beings and all the worlds (the world of the devas, of the ancestors,

of the humans, of the demons etc) are strung like beads in a

necklace.

 

While Iswara is the causative principle (karanabhutam),

Hiranyagarbha is the dynamic or the active principle (kriyabhutam or

karyabhutam). He is also called Brahma who as the creative and

dynamic principle uses the forms existing in Him and brings forth

the Beings.

 

The word " brah " means " bursting out or bringing forth " and " ahm "

means ego. Brahma is therefore he who brings forth many " ahms " or

egos or beings into this world using his divine power and matter and

pouring life (breath) into them. Hiranyagarbha is not an eternal

being, but comes into existence at the beginning of creation and

becomes dissolved in Iswara at the end of creation.

 

4. Viraj

Viraj is the manifest world, that which is created, or which is

brought forth. He is the result of the creative process set in

motion by Iswara and accomplished by Hiranyagarbha. He is the

manifested aspect of Iswara through the hands of the latter.

 

It is a world that is in perpetual motion and subject to illusion.

It is a reality that is different and distinct in nature from that

of Iswara or Hiranyagarbha since the interplay of the gunas, the

elements and the senses result in the formation of numerous

individual beings and ego forms (ahamkaras) who suffer from the

illusion of individuality and feelings of separateness. Viraj like

Hiranyagarbha is also subject to dissolution at the end of creation.

 

Aspects of Brahman

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/brahmanaspects.asp