Brahman

Brahman er i hinduismen den uforanderlige, uendelige, immanente og transcendente virkelighed, som er den guddommelige skaber af al materie, energi, tid, rum, alt der er i universet. Det er den øverste, universelle ånd.^[1] Brahman omtales undertiden som den absolutte eller Guddommen,^[2] som er den guddommelige skaber^[3] af alle væsner.

Upanishaderne fortæller, at brahman er den ultimative essens af materielle fænomener (herunder den oprindelige identitet af det menneskelige selv), der ikke kan ses eller høres, men hvis natur kan erkendes gennem doktrinen om selverkendelse (Atma jnana).^[4] Ifølge Advaita vedanta har et befriet menneske (jivanmukta) indset, at brahman er vedkommendes eget sande selv (se Atman).

Kilder/henvisninger

^ The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, ed. John Bowker, OUP, 1997
^ Both terms are used by Radhakrishnan
^ The phrase 'Divine Ground' was in modern times coined by Aldous Huxley in his widely read comparative study of mysticism The Perennial Philosophy. Divine Ground (Paul Tillich popularized the expression 'Ground of Being' to refer to God) is a neutral term to express the common experience of mystics in diverse religious traditions of an Absolute Ground in which phenomena appear to have their root and origin. Theistic religions refer to this ground as God or Godhead whereas Eastern transtheistic religions use terms such as Tao, Dharmakaya or Clear Light. Among modern authors who use the expression 'Ground' is Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche (see his book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying)
^ pp.77, Radhakrishnan, S, The Principal Upanisads, HarperCollins India, 1994

[1] The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, ed. John Bowker, OUP, 1997

[2] Both terms are used by Radhakrishnan

[3] The phrase 'Divine Ground' was in modern times coined by Aldous Huxley in his widely read comparative study of mysticism The Perennial Philosophy. Divine Ground (Paul Tillich popularized the expression 'Ground of Being' to refer to God) is a neutral term to express the common experience of mystics in diverse religious traditions of an Absolute Ground in which phenomena appear to have their root and origin. Theistic religions refer to this ground as God or Godhead whereas Eastern transtheistic religions use terms such as Tao, Dharmakaya or Clear Light. Among modern authors who use the expression 'Ground' is Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche (see his book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying)

[4] .77, Radhakrishnan, S, The Principal Upanisads, HarperCollins India, 1994

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