Liberation in Indian Philosophy The concept of liberation presupposes someone's state of bondage and anticipates the possibility of his or her release into a state of freedom. From the philosophical perspective bondage marks the human...

Brahman The origin and meaning of the term brahman are shrouded in mystery. Using the verbal root √bṛh , Western Indological scholars derive such meanings as "sacred magical power" (Hermann Oldenberg), "form,...

Causation in Indian Philosophy Indian philosophical theories, from their earliest speculative cosmologies and explorations of the nature of human existence—in the Vedas and Upanisads, whose compositions were completed by roughly the first half...

BRAHMAN. In the Vedic hymns the neuter noun bráhman denotes the cosmic principle or power contained in the priestly or inspired utterance. As such, it came to be viewed as embodied in the Veda when the latter was fixed in a body of texts. The...

Meditation in Indian Philosophy Meditation as a distinct practice in Indian philosophy appears in a variety of texts from the third century before the common era as well as in sculptural depictions that date from 3500 BCE. The quintessential manual on...

Brahman (Brahmin) refers to the priestly category of Hindus. Though only a small minority of the Indian population, Brahmans hold the highest position in the caste system because of their extreme purity and sacerdotal profession. Some also live outside...

the transcendental divine source and at the same time the innermost essence of all reality, identical to ātman, first fully defined in this way in the . In the early Vedic period brahman designated the mysterious power of mantras, sacrificial...

(Sanskrit neuter noun) Originally this word designated the Vedic magic incantation or sacred formula; then it came to mean the power inherent in the utterance, the power which enables the gods to perform their mythic functions and which enables the...

In the Upanishads, the eternal, infinite, and omnipresent spiritual source of the finite and changing universe. The schools of Vedanta differ in interpreting Brahman. The Advaita school defines Brahman as categorically different from any phenomenon,...

brahman with attributes, the divine source of reality when conceived as the first manifested entity, usually as Brahma the creator or the highest God such as Śiva or in the sectarian...

‘all this is verily brahman’ (CU 3, 14, 1), one of the four ‘Great Sayings’ (mahāvākyas) of the expressing the Vedāntic philosophy of oneness, widely popularized as a basic Hindu...

priest; a member of the first of the four hereditary...

This page deals with the Hindu concept of The Supreme Reality. For other uses of this word and similar words, see Brahman (disambiguation). For the Hindu priestly Varna, see Brahmin. Brahman (nominative brahma बà¥à¤°à¤¹à¥à¤®) is the concept of the...