Brahman (Hinduism)

While Hinduism is often classified as a polytheistic faith with many different gods, it may be more accurate to view it as a religion with one supreme deity that occupies the highest place among many other divinities. This supreme god is known as Brahman, who is expressed as a divine, elemental force present in all things.

Brahman, also known as the Ultimate Reality, has three principal aspects known collectively as the TrimurtiBrahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma, a god with four heads and four arms, is the creator god responsible for the genesis of the universe. Vishnu, with four arms and an avatar, is the preserver god that maintains Brahma's creation. Shiva, the destroyer god who governs the cycle of destruction and re-creation, has four arms and is usually seen with a drum, flames, and a cobra snake necklace. In this sense, Brahman can be likened to the Christian concept of the supreme Holy Trinity, which is composed of three parts: God (the father), Jesus Christ (the son), and the Holy Spirit.

Most Hindus do not worship Brahman directly. Rather, they pay homage to the various associated deities, including Trimurti and many other divine beings. These lesser gods are considered expressions or manifestations of Brahman, who can take an unlimited number of forms.

Background

The word Brahman is derived from an ancient Sanskrit term usually translated as "the great," "the supreme," or simply as "God." Brahman is the foundational facet of the Hindu faith and forms the basis of the religion's belief system and view of the universe.

Hinduism is said to be the world's oldest surviving organized faith tradition. It has approximately 1.1 billion followers, over 95 percent of whom live in India. Many Indian adherents think of Hinduism not as a religion, but rather as a way of life. As a distinct faith tradition, Hinduism emerged around 1500 BCE in the Indus Valley region, which is located primarily in modern-day Pakistan. It evolved from a highly varied set of related beliefs practiced by thousands of distinct religious groups, each with its own creeds and practices. This is a major part of the reason Hinduism resists easy definition and has historically been one of the world's most tolerant religious traditions. It has no single recognized founder and no single holy book. However, the Vedas, a set of four ancient sacred texts called Rig Veda, Sama Veda, YajurVeda, and Atharva Veda, are widely accepted as the faith's canonical scriptures. The Vedas are held to be authorless writings of divine origin, revealed to humankind through wise, devout sages.

According to the Hindu view of the universe, earthly existence is part of an endless cycle of creation, destruction, and rebirth. This cycle is governed by a force known as karma, a principle related to the relative morality of actions and deeds. Put simply, virtuous deeds bring positive karma, while immoral deeds bring negative karma. Hindus believe that individual souls live many lives in many different forms, including plants, insects, animals, and humans. Souls are reborn repeatedly into new forms. A soul that built up positive karma during its last life will be elevated to a higher form in its next life, while a soul that built up negative karma during its last life will be relegated to a lower form in its next life. Brahman is held to be the divine force and shaping hand behind this ongoing cycle of life, death, and renewal.

Overview

The concept of Brahman can be expressed in many ways, but it is most commonly described as the indestructible, eternal supreme god or divine force of the Hindu faith. Brahman is the power that repeatedly creates, preserves, and destroys the universe, and all things in it. Most Hindus conceive of the many other deities in the faith as individual manifestations of specific aspects of Brahman, who can take a limitless number of forms. Hindus also generally believe that everyone connects with Brahman differently, which is why individual Hindus are drawn to different deities. Each deity is a different expression of Brahman; therefore, no matter which Hindu god an individual worships, it is not inaccurate to say that they are, in actuality, indirectly worshiping Brahman.

The three gods in the Trimurti offer an illustrative example. One who worships Brahma pays homage to the divine force behind the creation of the universe. Conversely, one who worships Vishnu forges a spiritual connection with the power that sustains and perpetuates the universe, while one who worships Shiva affirms the sacred nature of death and destruction as a necessary path to rebirth and renewal. Yet, all three are inseparable aspects of Brahman; therefore, to worship one or more of these deities is essentially the same as worshiping Brahman.

The nature of the relationship between human beings and Brahman is viewed differently in the various schools of Hinduism. Some schools view Brahman as an essential part of the self and the soul, while others hold that Brahman exists outside the self.

For example, the orthodox Vedanta school of Hinduism, which is often cited as the faith's most philosophical branch, views the soul as an inseparable part of Brahman. In essence, the soul is Brahman. Adherents of the Vedanta school thus believe that the ultimate purpose of human life is to recognize Brahman within the soul, and strive to reunite the soul with Brahman by living a virtuous life and accumulating positive karma. Hindus believe that a soul is able to escape the perpetual cycle of life, death, and reincarnation once it achieves a balanced state of karma, at which time it is able to pass into the afterlife, where it returns to Brahman.

Alternately, the Dvaita school of Hinduism, which is defined by its dualist principles, holds that the soul and Brahman are distinct entities that exist simultaneously but separately from one another. According to the Dvaita view of the universe, Brahman is a definite being with its own form, temperament, and nature. It is the creator of souls, which then proceed through various incarnations until they return to it. This conception of Brahman is similar to notions of the soul found in the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam that hold that the soul is a creation of the divine, but distinct from the divine itself.

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