Category:God Is Brahman
Theme Analysis
The concept of Brahman is the foundational realization of the Absolute Truth. According to Śrīla Prabhupāda and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the one nondual Absolute Truth is realized from three angles of vision: first as the impersonal Brahman effulgence, then as the localized Paramātmā, and ultimately as Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahman is not the final word in spiritual realization; rather, it is a partial realization—the glowing, all-pervading spiritual effulgence emanating directly from the transcendental body of Kṛṣṇa, just as heat and light emanate from the sun.
The Vedānta-sūtra opens with the defining aphorism janmādy asya yataḥ, meaning that Brahman is the Absolute Truth from whom everything emanates, by whom everything is maintained, and into whom everything ultimately enters. Because the cosmic manifestation is an effect of the Lord's energy, everything within it rests upon Brahman. However, mundane philosophers often misunderstand this. The Māyāvādīs claim that Brahman has no form and that one must imagine a material form for worship. This is a severe misconception. The Upaniṣads confirm that although Brahman has no material limbs, He possesses transcendental limbs to accept offerings and walk. Furthermore, the Māyāvādīs often fall down from their artificial meditation on the formless Brahman because simply realizing one's identity as spirit soul is insufficient without engaging in the active service of Bhagavān.
The true purpose of the human form of life is to inquire about this Absolute Truth (athāto brahma jijñāsā). Unlike cats, dogs, or those trapped in a "hog civilization" working day and night simply for food and sex, an intelligent human being seeks to understand the origin of the cosmos. Whoever successfully understands Brahman is called a brāhmaṇa. However, even the realization of a brāhmaṇa is incomplete until he engages in the devotional service of the Lord, thereby becoming a pure Vaiṣṇava.
By recognizing that everything emanates from Brahman, a devotee can practically apply this knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For example, when a microphone or recording machine is used in the service of the Lord, it is understood to be Brahman because it is connected to the Supreme. Ultimately, to know Brahman perfectly means to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the origin, shelter, and ultimate goal of the all-pervading Brahman effulgence.
- The Three Features: The Absolute Truth is realized progressively as impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā, and ultimately as Bhagavān.
- The Source of Creation: As stated in the Vedānta-sūtra (janmādy asya yataḥ), Brahman is the original source from which everything emanates and is maintained.
- Refuting the Māyāvādīs: The impersonal Brahman is not a formless void; it is the bodily effulgence of the Supreme Person, who possesses eternal, transcendental limbs.
- The Goal of Human Life: Human life is specifically meant for inquiring about Brahman (athāto brahma jijñāsā), becoming a qualified brāhmaṇa, and ultimately serving as a Vaiṣṇava.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God Is Brahman - The All-Pervading Spiritual Effulgence of the Supreme.
Pages in category "God Is Brahman"
The following 99 pages are in this category, out of 99 total.
A
- A person in Krsna consciousness is above even the brahmanas, because a brahmana by quality is supposed to know about Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth. BG 1972 purports
- Absolute Truth, is observed from three angle of vision - Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan - but all of them are the same and one object. So simply by realization of Brahman, impersonal Brahman, is not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth
- According to Svetasvatara Upanisad, although Brahman has no material hands and legs, He nonetheless walks in a very stately way and accepts everything that is offered to Him. This suggests that He has transcendental limbs and is therefore not impersonal
- According to the injunction of the Upanisads ("the Supreme Absolute Truth is He from whom everything emanates"), it is understood that the whole cosmic manifestation emanated from Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth
- After many, many births understanding the Brahman . . . Brahman understanding is certainly transcendental, but because Brahman is only partial realization of the Absolute Truth, only the eternity
- Although Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan are the same and one absolute truth, still devotees like Kamsa or Sisupala could attain only to the Brahman effulgence. They could not have realization of Paramatma or Bhagavan. That is the distinction
- Although impersonal Brahman, Paramatma Brahman and Brahman as the Supreme Person are all on the same transcendental platform, the personal feature of the Supreme Brahman is the ultimate goal and last word in transcendence
- Although Paramatma and Brahman are subordinate to Bhagavan, because Bhagavan is Purusottama or the Superperson, He is the source of the Supersoul also
- Although the Supreme Person is the original cause of all causes, His impersonal effulgence, known as Brahman, is the immediate cause of the material manifestation
- At the present moment everyone is a sudra, and no one is interested in understanding Brahman. People are simply interested in getting more money and going to the cinemas
- At the same time, He (The Supreme Personality of Godhead) is present everywhere by His all-pervasive feature of Brahman
B
- Being completely aware of Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, not a bogus. If you want to receive knowledge, then you must approach a guru who is brahma-nistham. That is the qualification of guru
- Bhagavan is Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is understood from three angles of vision: Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan
- Both the Mayavada-sampradaya and the Vaisnava-sampradaya have explained the Vedanta-sutra. Without understanding Vedanta-sutra, one cannot understand Brahman
- Both the son and the father (Sukadeva Gosvami and Vyasadeva) were completely cognizant of transcendental knowledge in Brahman, and afterwards both of them became absorbed in the personal features of the Supreme Lord
- Brahma means Vedic literature. Sabda-brahman. The information, the description of God is also Brahman. Brahman is absolute. There is no difference between Brahman and the literature which is describing Brahman
- Brahman is His transcendental bodily effulgence, and Paramatma is His partial representation. As such, Brahman or Paramatma realization of the Absolute Truth is but a partial realization
- Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is the original cause and that the living entities (jivas) and the cosmic manifestation are effects of this cause
E
- Either any yoga system, any spiritual life is called yoga. Yoga means to link. We are part and parcel of the supreme absolute, Brahman or Bhagavan, whatever you call, Paramatma, it doesn't matter. But yoga means linking
- Everything is preserved. Karya karanam, cause and effect. In the effect, the cause is there. Therefore Veda says, "Everything is Brahman" Because the cosmic manifestation is the effect of the cause, energy of God, therefore in the effect there is God
F
- For them (monist philosophers), nirguna Brahman means "the impersonal Absolute Truth without any material qualities" and saguna Brahman means "the Absolute Truth that accepts the contamination of material qualities"
- For them (who are not at the stage of loving devotional service) the gradual process of renunciation, knowledge, meditation and realization of the Supersoul and Brahman should be followed. BG 1972 purports
- From Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 11.3.34): O best of the brahmanas, please tell us of the position of Narayana, who is also known as Brahman and Paramatma
- From the beginning of creation, the three syllables om tat sat have been used to indicate the Supreme Absolute Truth (Brahman). They were uttered by brahmanas while chanting Vedic hymns and during sacrifices for the satisfaction of the Supreme
- From the Vedanta-sutra we understand that Brahman is by nature joyful. He cannot, therefore, change Himself into a body which is subject to so many painful conditions
- Full knowledge of Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan is revealed to the pure devotees. The Lord says in BG (10.11): Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance
G
- God is known as Paramatma, the Supersoul, Brahman the Supreme Absolute, Srstikarta the creator, Narayana the transcendental Lord, Rukminiramana the husband of Rukmini, Gopinatha the enjoyer of the gopis, and Krsna
- Gross materialists without any knowledge of Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan conclude material nature to be the ultimate cause of the material manifestation
H
- He (Jiva Gosvami) says that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of Brahman, for since He comprises everything material and spiritual, there cannot be anything greater than He
- Hog civilization is to work hard day and night to find out where is food, where is shelter, where is sex and where is defense. Wrong type of civilization. The human civilization means "Where is Brahman, the Absolute Truth?" Athato brahma jijnasa
I
- If we are philosophical minded, we inquire that, "How this world is created? Who has created?" And there are many different ways of answering. But the Vedanta-sutra answers whatever we are seeing, all this cosmic manifestation, the creator is God, Brahman
- In each of His (God's) three features - Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan - the Lord is present everywhere in the material world. Yet He remains aloof, busy with His transcendental pastimes in His supreme abode
- In spite of His being the shelter of both the Paramatma and Brahman, persons with a poor fund of knowledge are unable to understand Him as He is
- In Srimad-Bhagavatam, Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are all taken together as the Absolute Truth
- In the human form of life one should become a brahmana, which means that one should understand the constitutional position of the Absolute Truth, Brahman, and then engage in His service as a Vaisnava
- In the smrti-mantra, the same is confirmed. It is said that the source from which everything emanates at the beginning of Brahma's millennium and the reservoir to which everything ultimately enters, is the Absolute Truth or Brahman
- In the spiritual world there are five kinds of liberation. Sayujya-mukti is a form of liberation in which one merges into the impersonal existence of the Supreme Lord, called Brahman
- In the sruti-mantra it is stated that the absolute whole, or Brahman, is the ultimate source of everything. Everything emanates from Him, everything is maintained by Him, and at the end everything enters into Him again. That is the law of nature
- It is clearly stated here (in BG 8.13) that om, Brahman, and Lord Krsna are not different. The impersonal sound of Krsna is om, but the sound Hare Krsna contains om. BG 1972 purports
- It is said that the Absolute Truth is one, but is manifested in different features as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan
K
- Krsna says that "By all Vedic knowledge, ultimately one must come to the point of knowing God." Therefore another name of God is Brahman, Para-brahman. So brahmana, brahmana means one who knows Brahman. That is called brahmana
- Krsna states in Bhagavad-gita "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me." The same conclusion is also given in Vedanta-sutra, wherein it is stated, janmady asya yatah - Brahman is He from whom everything emanates
O
- O my lord, being changelessly situated in your own abode, you expand your universal form within this cosmic manifestation, thus appearing to taste the material world. You are Brahman, the Supersoul, the oldest, the Personality of Godhead
- On this planet (Janaloka), great sages and saintly persons live, and they once discussed the same point regarding the understanding of Brahman and His real identity
- One must qualitatively become one with Brahman
- One who has full knowledge in the Vedas and firmly fixed up in Brahman, God, you put your faith there. Otherwise there will be disaster
- One who realizes the Supreme Personality realizes the other features, namely the Paramatma feature and the Brahman feature, and that total realization is brahma-siddhi
P
S
- Self-realization is realizing that one is the eternal servant of Krsna and that one's duty is to serve Him. Self-realization is not thinking aham brahmasmi, - I have become Brahman, Bhagavan
- Similarly, originally God is person, and then, when He expands, all-pervasive, that is Paramatma. And when He expands by His energy, that is Brahman. This is understanding
- Simply by Brahman realization, you cannot stay on the platform of understanding that, "I am not this body." You'll fall down again. You'll fall down again and accept this body, - Yes, I am this body
- Simply realizing Brahman, realizing one's identity as spirit soul, is insufficient. We must realize that Bhagavan is everywhere
- Since the Lord is the origin of both Paramatma and Brahman, He is the origin of all living entities and all else that exists. One who knows this engages himself at once in the devotional service of the Lord
- So it is poor fund of knowledge only that these conclude that ultimate Absolute Truth is impersonal. No. Because Vedanta-sutra says, janmady asya yatah. The Supreme Absolute Truth, or Brahman, is that from whom everything generates, everything is born
- Sometimes, when there is a scarcity of living entities to take charge of Brahma’s post, Maha-Visnu expands Himself as Lord Brahma. This Brahma is not considered to be a living entity; He is an expansion of Visnu
T
- That Brahman into which the whole cosmic manifestation merges is in the locative case - yat or yasmin
- The Absolute Truth from which the cosmic manifestation has emanated, is in the ablative case; that Brahman by which this universal creation is maintained is in the instrumental case - yena
- The Absolute Truth is always to be understood from three angles of vision as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. Unlike the objects of the material world, however, the Absolute Truth is always one and always the same
- The Absolute Truth is explained as Brahman, the all-pervading spiritual effulgence; as Paramatma, the localized Supersoul; or as Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord. Understanding these is what Vedanta-sutra means when it says, athato brahma jijnasa
- The Absolute Truth is one, but is perceived in three features, known as Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan
- The Absolute Truth is realized in three features - impersonal Brahman, localized Paramatma and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan. The word apavarga means "liberation." pavarga means "material existence."
- The Absolute Truth, Brahman, is the original ingredient, and the other manifestations are transformations of this ingredient
- The brahmanah pathi is the path of transcendental realization through knowing oneself to be spiritual in essence, part and parcel of the Supreme Lord who is manifested as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. BG 1972 purports
- The four sages Sanat-kumara, Sanatana, Sanandana & Sanaka are described as actually sincere devotees. Although they had heard from their father, Brahma, about the personal feature of the Lord, only the impersonal feature - Brahman - was revealed to them
- The impersonalists do not accept spiritual varieties of life. They want to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord in His Brahman feature (the brahmajyoti). The devotees, however, desire to take part in the transcendental activities of the Lord
- The Mayavadi philosophers say that, for the benefit or for the facility of the neophyte progressing in the spiritual knowledge, we have to imagine some form of the Brahma. That is not the fact. We do not find these things in the Vedic literature
- The Mayavadi philosophers think that the living entity is identical with the Supreme Soul, Brahman
- The Mayavadis say that Brahman has no rupa, no form, and they suggest that we imagine some form. This is not the case with Krsna. Krsna is present in His original form, and He is described in Vedic literatures. We have recounted these descriptions before
- The SPG is Brahman or Parambrahman, the chief of all living entities. Both the Supreme Brahman, or the Personality of Godhead, and the living entities are persons, but the Supreme Brahman is the predominator, whereas the living entities are predominated
- The Srimad-Bhagavatam explains that the Supreme Absolute Truth is known as Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. In addition, the living entity, individual soul, is also called Brahman. BG 1972 purports
- The statement of the Bhagavad-gita, yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama, is also confirmed herewith. Param means transcendental Brahman. Therefore, the abode of the Lord is also Brahman, nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- The sun’s heat and light are nondifferent from the sun. In the same way, the unlimited potencies of Govinda are nondifferent from Govinda Himself. Therefore the all-pervasive Brahman is the all-pervasive Govinda
- The Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman, is immutable, and when we find a by-product - the living entity or this cosmic manifestation - it is a transformation of the Supreme's energies, or a by-product of the Supreme
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the last word in understanding the Absolute Truth, Brahman
- The third feature of the Absolute Truth is Brahman, the all-pervading impersonal effulgence of the Absolute
- The two words tasyai kasthayai are very significant. Everywhere, in every direction, in every heart and in every atom, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated in His features as Brahman and Paramatma
- The Vedanta philosophy mentions that Brahman is the fountainhead of all creation, maintenance and destruction, and Srimad-Bhagavatam, the natural commentation on the Vedanta philosophy, says, janmady asya yato 'nvayad itaratas carthesv abhijnah svarat
- The Vedic literature confirms that Brahman is concentrated transcendental knowledge. BG 1972 purports
- The word adyah in this verse (SB 4.30.7) is very significant. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin even of Paramatma and Brahman
- The word guru means "heavy," heavy with knowledge. And what is that knowledge? Tad-vijnana. That heaviness is brahma-nistha - attachment to Brahman and to Para-brahman, Bhagavan. That is the guru's qualification
- The words sthane sthitah mean "remaining in the varnasrama-dharma." Even a sudra can understand what is Brahman, and in that case he becomes a brahmana automatically. It is necessary that one hear attentively. That is all
- These terms (jiva, mind and ego) identify these Deities (Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha), just as the terms ‘sky’ and ‘light’ sometimes identify the Absolute Brahman
- They (mayavadis) say jagad mithya, and take sannyasa, and for some days they remain meditation or aloof from any worldly affairs, but later on, when they do not find Brahman, they come again to this maya to open hospitals, schools, as sannyasi
- Things are contemplated on the ephemeral or external platform, but actually this is not the truth. The actual protector and shelter of everyone is Brahman, the Supreme, not the king
- This human form of life is meant for understanding what is Absolute Truth. Athato brahma jijnasa. The cats and dogs cannot inquire about what is Brahman. That is not possible
- This statement by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 1.2.11): Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan
- Those who are aware of the Absolute Truth, they say that Absolute Truth is one, but He's realized in three angle of vision, namely, Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan
- Those who are not as perfect as the pure devotees-namely, those who have realized only the Brahman or Paramatma features of the Lord-cannot appreciate the activities of the perfect devotees
- Through the principles of religion, one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Brahman (the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord) and Paramatma (the localized aspect of the Lord)
- To inquire about Brahman and to understand Brahman by proper inquiry and by proper answer from the proper source, the cultivation of this knowledge is the business of human being
- To understand that Brahman, the Supreme, is conscious is not sufficient. One must know how He consciously acts through His different energies
W
- We are now dictating into a microphone and recording on a dictating machine, and thus we are finding how the machine can be connected to the Supreme Brahman. Since we are using this machine in the service of the Lord, it is Brahman
- We should come to the Brahman consciousness, then you'll be jubilant. And when you come to that platform of understanding Brahman, then there is question of sama, samata
- Whoever understands Brahman is called a brahmana, and when a brahmana engages in the Lord's devotional service, he is called a Vaisnava