BRAHMAN (THE IMPERSONAL OR SUPRA-PERSONAL ABSOLUTE)

THE DIVINE

[Brahman (The Impersonal or Supra-personal Absolute)—Brahman and the reality of relative experiences— Personal Deity, known also as Isvara, Maya and Sakti— God in everything—The Divine both with and without form—Some Divine forms—Divine immanence—The Divine and mans moral responsibility]

BRAHMAN (THE IMPERSONAL OR SUPRA-PERSONAL ABSOLUTE)

835. What is the conception of Brahman ? It cannot be explained in words. If a man is called upon to give an idea of the ocean to one who has never seen it, he can •only say, "It is a vast sheet of water, a big expanse of water; it is water, water all around.

836. The Vedas, the Tantras, the Puranas and all the sacred scriptures of the world have become Uchchhishta as it were (i.e., defiled like the food thrown out of the mouth), because they have come out of, and have so often been repeated by, human mouths. But Brahman or the Absolute has never been so defiled, for no one has yet been able to express It by speech.

837. What is the nature of Brahman ? It is without ■attributes, without motion, immovable, unshakable, firm as the mount Mem.

838. Brahman is unattached to good or evil. It is like the flame of a lamp. You may read the Bhagavata (a holy scripture), or forge a document—you can do both with the help of the same light. Again, Brahman is like a serpent. What does it matter if it has poison in its fangs ? It is none the worse for it; the poison does not cause its death. It is poison only to other creatures whom it may happen to bite. Much in the same way, misery, sin and whatever other evil we find in this world, are just so only in relation to us. Brahman is above and beyond all these. Good and evil in creation are not so to Brahman. He is not to be judged by any human standard of good and evil.

839. Brahman is above and beyond both knowledge and ignorance, good and evil, Dharma and Adharma. It is indeed beyond all dual throngs.

840. Brahman is beyond mind and speech, beyond concentration and meditation (Dharana and Dhyana), beyond the knower, the known and knowledge, beyond even the conception of the real and the unreal. In shorty It is beyond all relativity.

841. The Absolute is like the air which carries odours, be they good or bad, but remains ever untainted by them.

842. The Absolute is beyond all attributes—beyond whatever is connected with Maya.