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BRAHMAN
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BRAHMAN , a See also:Sanskrit noun-See also:stem which, differently accented, yields in the two nominatives Brahmd (neut.) and Brahma (masc.), the names of two deities which occupy prominent places in the orthodox See also:system of See also:Hindu belief. Brahma (n.) is the designation generally applied to the Supreme Soul (paramatman), or impersonal, all-embracing divine essence, the See also:original source and ultimate See also:goal of all that exists; Brahma (m.), on the other See also:hand, is only one of the three hypostases of that divinity whose creative activity he represents, as distinguished from its preservative and destructive aspects, ever apparent in See also:life and nature, and represented by the gods See also:Vishnu and diva respectively. The See also:history of the two cognate names reflects in some measure the development of See also:Indian religious See also:speculation generally. The neuter See also:term brahmd is used in the Rigveda both in the abstract sense of " devotion, See also:worship," and in the See also:concrete sense of " devotional rite, See also:prayer, hymn." The spirit of Vedic worship is pervaded by a devout belief in the efficacy of invocation and sacrificial offering. The See also:earnest and well-expressed prayer or hymn of praise cannot fail to draw the divine See also:power to the worshipper and make it yield to his supplication; whilst offerings, so far from being See also:mere acts of devotion calculated to give pleasureto the See also:god, constitute the very See also:food and drink which render him vigorous and capable of battling with the enemies of his mortal friend. It is this See also:intrinsic power of fervent invocation and worship which found an See also:early expression in the term brahmd; and its See also:independent existence as an active moral principle in shaping the destinies of See also:man became recognized in the Vedic See also:pantheon in the conception of a god See also:Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, " See also:lord of prayer or devotion," the divine See also:priest and the - See also:guardian of the pious worshipper. By a natural See also:extension of the original meaning, the term brahmd, in the sense of sacred utterance, was subsequently likewise applied to the whole See also:body of sacred See also:writ, the tri-vidya or " triple See also:lore " of the Veda; whilst it also came to be commonly used as the abstract designation of the priestly See also:function and the Brahmanical See also:order generally, in the same way as the term kshatra, " sway, See also:rule," came to denote the aggregate of functions and individuals of the Kshatriyas or Rajanyas, the See also:nobility or military class. The universal belief in the efficacy of invocation as an indispensable See also:adjunct to sacrifices and religious See also:rites generally, could not fail to engender and maintain in the minds of the See also:people feelings of profound esteem and reverence towards those who possessed the divine See also:gift of inspired utterance, as well as for those who had acquired an intimate knowledge of the approved forms of See also:ritual worship. A See also:common designation of the priest is brahman (nom. brahma), originally denoting, it would seem, " one who prays, a worshipper," perhaps also " the composer of a hymn " (brahman, n.); and the same term came subsequently to be used not only for one of the sacerdotal order generally, but also, and more commonly, as the designation of a See also:special class of priests who officiated as superintendents during sacrificial performances, the complicated nature of which required the co-operation of a whole See also:staff of priests, and who accordingly were expected to possess a competent knowledge of the entire course of ritual See also:procedure, including the correct See also:form and mystic import of the sacred texts to be repeated or chanted by the several priests. The Brahman priest (brahma) being thus the recognized See also:head of the sacerdotal order (brahnul), which itself is the visible embodiment of sacred writ and the devotional spirit pervading it (brahmd), the See also:complete realization of theocratic aspirations required but a single step, which was indeed taken in the theosophic speculations of the later Vedic poets and the authors of the Brahmanas (q.v.), viz. the recognition of this abstract notion of the Brahma as the highest See also:cosmic principle and its See also:identification with the pantheistic conception of an all-pervading, self-existent spiritual substance, the See also:primary source of the universe; and subsequently coupled therewith the personification of its creative See also:energy in the form of Brahma, the divine representative of the earthly priest, who was made to take the See also:place of the earlier conception of Prajapati, " the lord of creatures" (see BRAHHMANISM). By this means the very name of this god expressed the essential oneness of hiS nature with that of the divine spirit as whose manifestation he was to be considered. In the later Vedic writings, especially the Brahmanas, however, Prajapati still maintains throughout his position as the See also:paramount See also:personal deity; and Brahma, in his divine capacity, is rather identified with Brihaspati, the priest of the gods. Moreover, the exact relationship between Prajapati and the Brahma (n.) is hardly as yet defined with sufficient precision; it is rather one of See also:simple identification: in the beginning the Brahma was the All, and Prajapati is the Brahma. It is only in the institutes of Manu, where we find the system of castes propounded in its complete development, that Brahma has his definite place assigned to him in the See also:cosmogony. According to this See also:work, the universe, before undiscerned, was made discernible in the beginning by the See also:sole, self-existent lord Brahma (n.). He, desirous of producing different beings from his own self, created the See also:waters by his own thought, and placed in them a See also:seed which See also:developed into a See also:golden See also:egg; therein was See also:born Brahma (m.), the See also:parent of all the worlds; and thus " that which is the undiscrete Cause, eternal, which is and is not, from it issued that male who is called in the See also:world Brahma." Having dwelt in that egg for a See also:year, that lord spontaneously by his own thought split that egg in two; and from the two halves he fashioned the See also:heaven and the See also:earth, and in the See also:middle,the See also:sky,and the eight regions (the points of the See also:compass), and the perpetual place of the waters. This theory of Brahma being born from a golden egg is, however, a mere See also:adaptation of the Vedic conception of Hiranya-garbha (" golden embryo "), who is represented as the supreme god in a hymn of the tenth (and last) See also:book of the Rigveda. Another still later myth, which occurs in the epic poems, makes Brahma be born from a See also:lotus which See also:grew out of the See also:navel of the god Vishnu whilst floating on the primordial waters. In See also:artistic representations, Brahma usually appears as a bearded man of red See also:colour with four heads crowned with a pointed, See also:tiara-like head-See also:dress, and four hands holding his See also:sceptre, or a sacrificial See also:spoon, a bundle of leaves representing the Veda, a See also:bottle of See also:water of the See also:Ganges, and a See also:string of beads or his See also:bow Parivita. His vehicle (vahana) is a See also:goose or See also:swan (hamsa), whence he is also called Hamsavdhana; and his See also:consort is Sarasvati, the goddess of learning. One could hardly expect that a colourless deity of this description, so completely the product of priestly speculation, could ever have found a place in the See also:hearts of the people generally. And indeed, whilst in theoretic See also:theology Brahma has retained his traditional place and function down to our own days, his See also:practical cult has at all times remained extremely limited, the only See also:temple dedicated to the worship of this god being found at See also:Pushkar (Pokhar) near Ajmir in See also:Rajputana. On the other hand, his divine substratum, the impersonal Brahma, the world-spirit, the one and only reality, remains to this See also:day the ultimate See also:element of the religious belief of intelligent See also:India of whatever See also:sect. Being devoid of all attributes, it can be the See also:object only of meditation, not of practical devotional rites; and See also:philosophy can only See also:attempt to characterize it in See also:general and vague terms, as in the favourite See also:formula which makes it to be sachchidananda, i.e. being (sat), thinking (chit), and See also:bliss (See also:ananda).. (J. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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