A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism
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 
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In the early Vedic period brahman designated the mysterious power of mantras, sacrificial formulae and prayer, but gradually its meaning deepened, no doubt under the influence of the AV where it denoted the highest reality. In 
Advaita Vedānta brahman is asserted as the sole reality, while the multiplicity of the experienced manifested reality, including individual selves, is regarded as a product of illusion (māyā), born out of ignorance (avidyā).
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