-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Concept of Brahman in Hinduism
- Thread starter sayak83
- Start date
Given the above from Kena Upanishad, will it be worthwhile to have a concept of Brahman?
WhyIsThatSo
Well-Known Member
Given the above from Kena Upanishad, will it be worthwhile to have a concept of Brahman?
That's why we have "Father/Mother"
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
Why do you consider yourself an atheist if you believe in Brahman?
paarsurrey
Veteran Member
Who first presented the concept of Brahman and one what basis, please? Did one investigate into it, please?
Regards
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
There are various ways people understand Brahman. For me, Brahman is the substrate which constitutes all things in the universe. My Brahman is not a God. My Brahman is 'physical energy' / spacetime. That is what we started with at the time of Big Bang. There was nothing other than that at that time.
WhyIsThatSo
Well-Known Member
If "Brahman" were the ultimate reality , he (IT) would be beyond any physical energy/spacetime. This is why I stated that this entity in Hinduism is comparable to the "Demiurge" in Gnosticism.
Basis was both rational reflection and meditative experience. The concept was first clearly articulated by sage Jagyavalka in the Brihad-Aranyaka upanisad which historians date to roughly 800 - 900 BCE.
WhyIsThatSo
Well-Known Member
Primarily meditative experience, which is always open to interpretation.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Why isThatSo, different Hindus give different definitions to Brahman, many take it as God, Supreme Soul, etc. Which is OK in Hinduism. Hinduism does not give an 'official' definition of Brahman. That allows me to create my own definition of Brahman - in which that it IS 'physical energy' / spacetime and not beyond that, therefore not the 'demiurge'. That is the definition given by Gaudapada perhaps in 2nd Century CE. The later definitions, that of Sankara, Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Madhva, Vallabha and Chaitanya (these are the respected philosophers in Hinduism from 800 CE to 1500 CE), who tend to take Brahman as God or Supreme Soul.
@Meerkat , you question is suitably answered by a story of Sankaracharya. It is said that he was pursued by a lion or an elephant in one of his wanderings. The story say that he ran to escape. So, his opponents said that if what constituted a lion or elephant and Sankara is the same, then why did he try to run? Sankara's reply was "Who Sankara? Which lion or elephant?". He was pursued by the lion or elephant in pragmatic reality and he did what pragmatic reality required him to do, i.e., to run. In 'absolute reality', Sankara, the lion or the elephant, all are illusions.
Last edited:
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Just to inform you that the Supreme Court of India has directed Indian Armed Forces to give women Command positions. Women were already given Command positions in 'para-military' forces. One lady whom we knew was the Director of Indo-Tibetan Border Police in the sensitive region of Ladakh.I would not deny that, but India has made great progress in that field. There is no field in which Indian women have not excelled. The current debate is whether they should be given full combat roles or not.
Last edited:
Given the above from Kena Upanishad, will it be worthwhile to have a concept of Brahman?
Further to what I could not say. It is stupendous. Brahman is stupendous. The realisation is sweet. When you enjoy and fall for red hot lust for a companion or when you sob listening to Camila Cabello sing First Man for her father or be awed with Beethoven’s Fifth, you know it is the ultimate reality, the love, the brahman, that is you. There is no jealousy and no tension. Just stupendous entertainment.
Ancient Soul
The Spiritual Universe
They don't believe in the strict God construct.
Ancient Soul
The Spiritual Universe
They don't believe in the strict God construct.
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
Then you believe in a deterministic universe?
I think it is a deep question. I will try to answer as per my understanding.
Rig Veda has a verse regarding this.
Rig Veda
1-10-181 1. VASIstHA mastered the Rathantara, took it from radiant Dhātar, Savitar, and Visnu,
portion of fourfold oblation, known by the names of Saprathas and Prathas.
2. These sages found what lay remote and hidden, the sacrifice's loftiest secret essence.
From radiant Dhātar, Savitar, and Visnu, from Agni, Bharadvāja brought the Brhat.
3 They found with mental eyes the earliest Yajus, a pathway to the Gods, that had descended.
From radiant Dhātar, Savitar, and Visnu, from Sūrya did these sages bring the Gharma.
...1-10-181 1. VASIstHA mastered the Rathantara, took it from radiant Dhātar, Savitar, and Visnu,
portion of fourfold oblation, known by the names of Saprathas and Prathas.
2. These sages found what lay remote and hidden, the sacrifice's loftiest secret essence.
From radiant Dhātar, Savitar, and Visnu, from Agni, Bharadvāja brought the Brhat.
3 They found with mental eyes the earliest Yajus, a pathway to the Gods, that had descended.
From radiant Dhātar, Savitar, and Visnu, from Sūrya did these sages bring the Gharma.
Primarily it is rsi Vasista, one of the seven rsis, who is the conveyor of Rig Veda to sages (another rsi is Bharadvaja) as Sruti-- that which is heard in meditation. Brahman is said to be intrinsically of the nature of Existence/Truth-Consciousness-Bliss. It is the lordly powers of Brahman, symbolised by the lordly deities: Dhātar, Savitar, and Visnu, that transmit the Rig to rsi Vasista.
The rsis are the eternal-timeless workers in all of us who enable functioning of mind-senses. For example, rsi Vasista is said to preside over our hearing. Probably, therefore, his name comes first in respect of the Vedas.
Brahman is Truth-Consciousness. But without the timeless-eternal Ishwara, there would be no mAyA creation, no guardian teacher and no knowledge of Brahman. Ishwara (Lord) is an integral aspect of Brahman. Only egotist fools assert the reality of self as ego (body-mind-intellect) but deny the Ishwara -- the very root of the ego.
...
Last edited:
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
With all the Chaos theory, probability and uncertainty, how much determinisitic the universe can be?
Chaos theory - Wikipedia, Probability theory - Wikipedia, Uncertainty principle - Wikipedia
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
You should not have said that. It is against the Hindu ethos. The very same RigVeda says that "Gods are later than the production of the universe." There will always be varying views in Hinduism. Hinduism is not an Abrahamic religion.Only egotist fools assert the reality of self as ego (body-mind-intellect) but deny the Ishwara -- the very root of the ego.
"Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation?
The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?"
Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 10: HYMN CXXIX. Creation. (Verse 6)
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
To strict materialism universe is deterministic. Chaos theory states randomness is only apparent.
"Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics focusing on the study of chaos—states of dynamical systems whose apparently-random states of disorder and irregularities are often governed by deterministic laws that are highly sensitive to initial conditions." (Wiki)