[A subtle warning and/or disclaimer: every once in a while I find it important to return to the Vedic texts and check our alignment with what is written there. In so doing I can have a tendency to be obtuse, didactic and pedantic. If you are not one who enjoys these qualities in another, you may wish to skip straight down to the final three paragraphs which I am assured by my editor are pleasant, simple and much easier to digest.]
The Indo-Aryan thinkers [rishis], as early as the times of the Rig-Veda, recognized the eternal Unity of Existence which "holds in Its embrace all that has come to be." This Unity pervades the universe and yet remains beyond it. All objects, animate and inanimate, are included in It. Gods, men, and subhuman beings are parts of It. As the unchanging Reality behind the universe, It was called Brahman by the Hindu philosophers.
Discussion of Brahman in the Upanishads,
from The Upanishads, Volume One,
by Swami Nikhilananda
Brahman is the name used to describe the oneness of which the Veda speaks. The concept is discussed at great length in the Upanishads, that grouping of Vedic texts which make up Vedanta. (Veda-anta: Veda=knowledge, anta=end, Vedanta, the end or conclusion of knowledge.)
In the Upanishads, we are told 'All is, indeed, Brahman'; 'The soul is Brahman'; 'Brahman is Consciousness and Bliss'; 'There is no multiplicity whatsoever.' These statements are fairly straightforward and without equivocation. There is only one thing. This one thing is Consciousness and Bliss. I am that one thing.
We may use the word 'Totality' as synonymous with Brahman. This helps to solve a few issues. There are a few places where Brahman is spoken of as 'underlying all things,' or 'behind all things.' In fact, though, if Brahman is Totality, then there is nothing behind which Brahman may stand which itself is not Brahman. When we say Totality, we may be able more easily to remind ourselves that Totality is made up of everything: the manifest universe, all this that we can see, as well as the unmanifest universe, that which indeed does underly all things.
The word Totality also keeps at bay the confusion that can arise to the western ear and eye when we are confronted with the similarities of the terms Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin. Brahman, as we have said, is Totality. Brahma is the Hindu god of creation. Brahmin (also Brahmana) refers to one of the four castes in traditional Hindu society, that of the priestly class.
The concept of Totality, however, can seem quite impersonal. The advantage to using the term Brahman is that, if one so desires, there is the possibility of having a personal relationship with this thing. Vedanta says Brahman is conceived as personal, impersonal and supreme. The personal is there, as well as all that is beyond the personal.
What is the advantage of a personal relationship? It is one thing to have as a concept that I am part of the oneness. It is another, though, to know ourselves as that one thing on a daily basis. When we begin meditation, most of us are by and large constrained to the experience of self as a series of thoughts, feelings, ideas and opinions. Individuality. Ego self. Then as we meditate, as we dip into the place of bliss and unboundedness, we begin, bit by bit, to know ourselves as the transcendent Self, this thing that is beyond the relative world, transcendent of our thoughts and our feelings. Slowly we find ourselves able to access the experience of unboundedness, of the larger Self beyond the relative, even here in our eyes-open state. Though we may become overwhelmed with feelings in our human experience, we find ourselves able to take a step back and know ourselves as something deeper than the feelings. We are not at the mercy of the feelings.
But then there are times in our life when, regardless of how much we've been meditating or how spiritually advanced we think we have become, we may get pulled full-on into ego identification. We are our thoughts and feelings, and no matter how much we may tell ourselves otherwise, the experience persists. We are this anger. We are this fear. We are this sorrow and despair. It is at times such as this it can be helpful to have something to call upon other than myself. Something to lean on. It is not as if Brahman is a personage. But It is a consciousness. It is a Being, in a sense of that word. It certainly is something that is greater than I am. It is something that has access to all knowledge, that indeed is all knowledge. It is something that encompasses all of the past, all of the present and all of every possible future. At those times when I cannot know myself as this thing, it can help to know this thing is, regardless; and because It is omnipresent--every place and every time--all I have to do is whisper for It, perhaps ask It for a bit of support, or for a sign. For a reminder that I am part of nature, that nature is benign and loving, that nature wants nothing other than the best for me.
Or perhaps in my mind's eye I just want to lean back into a pair of loving arms. Not that Brahman has loving arms, per se, but if It is Everything, then loving arms indeed must be within Its range of possible expressions.
Today I will find a concept of nature that allows me a moment of rest and respite. And I will use it.
Muir Woods, Marin County, CA
