Brahman (the Absolute)
The one boundless reality on which all worlds depend — but is it a person, or beyond all persons?
Brahman is the Sanskrit word for ultimate reality: the single, boundless ground out of which everything arises and on which everything rests. The Vedānta schools agree that Brahman is real and supreme but divide sharply over what it is like — whether it is a pure attributeless awareness beyond all description, or the personal Lord with infinite good qualities. Almost every other idea in Hindu philosophy is, in some way, a question about Brahman.
How it traveled
- Chāndogya UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -700explains
- Bṛhadāraṇyaka UpaniṣadMithilā (kingdom of Videha) · -700explains
- Kaṭha UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -500explains
- Praśna UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -450explains
- Śvetāśvatara UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -400explains
- Bhagavad-gītāKuru-Pañcāla region · -150explains
- UpadeśasāhasrīKālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710explains
- ParamārthasāraŚrīnagara (Srinagar), Kashmir · 1000explains
- VivekacūḍāmaṇiŚṛṅgeri (Sringeri) · 1400explains
- Aṣṭāvakra-gītāKāśī (Varanasi) · 1450explains
Key passages(20)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Thou art the Imperishable, the Supreme Being, the one thing to be known. Thou art the great Refuge of this universe;. Thou art the undying Guardian of the Eternal Dharma, Thou art the Ancient. Purusha
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I shall describe that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to immortality, the beginningless Supreme Brahman. It is called neither being nor non-being.
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
Verily in the beginning this was Brahman, that Brahman knew (its) Self only, saying, 'I am Brahman.' From it all this sprang. Thus, whatever Deva was awakened (so as to know Brahman), he indeed became
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
This (heart) indeed is even that, it was indeed the true (Brahman). And whosoever knows this great glorious first-born as the true Brahman, he conquers these worlds, and conquered likewise may that (
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All this is Brahman (n.) Let a man meditate on that (visible world) as beginning, ending, and breathing in it (the Brahman). Now man is a creature of will. According to what his will is in this world,
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'Now that which is that subtile essence (the root of all), in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.' 'Please, Sir, inform me still more,' said
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"There is that ancient tree, whose roots grow upward and whose branches grow downward; — that indeed is called the Bright that is called Brahman, that alone is called the Immortal. All worlds are cont
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But what is praised (in the Upanishads) is the [paragraph continues] Highest Brahman, and in it there is the triad . The Highest Brahman is the safe support, it is imperishable. The Brahma-students ,
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That (imperishable) syllable means Brahman, that syllable means the highest (Brahman); he who knows that syllable, whatever he desires,is his.
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