According to the Vedantas (the end of the Vedas), Brahman is the ‘impersonal’ God, the Universal Soul, the Supreme Being, and the Absolute Truth. The philosophy of ‘Advaita Vedanta’ (Advaita means monism or non-dualism) - based on the interpretation of the Vedantas by Adi Shankaracharya, who explained the theory of oneness of all creation - sums up the idea of ‘Brahman’ in three short statements: “Brahma Satyam; Jagan Mithya; Jeevo Brahmaiva Na Parah” - This translates roughly as follows: “God alone is real; The world is unreal; The individual is none other than God”.
This means that there is only one supreme reality, a reality called Brahman, the Supreme Being. Brahman is infinite and omnipresent, therefore nothing can be added to it and furthermore, there cannot be a place where he is not. Therefore, Brahman being non-dual in nature, there is no place for the world or man or any creature outside Brahman. It transcends all pairs of opposites and descriptions.
The Soul (Atman) is not a product like mind, body or sugar-candy. Eternal intelligence constitutes its very nature. The individual soul is identical with the Highest Self (Brahman). Atman (Highest Self) is always the witnessing subject in all cognition, because it is infinite and self-luminous. It is not manifested either by itself or by anything else. It is known or revealed through direct perception or immediate intuitional knowledge.
The intellect can conceive of Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda. That is the reason why these attributes are ascribed to Him. But Brahman is different from Satchidananda also. This does not mean that Brahman is non-entity or zero, a negative concept or metaphysical abstraction. He is the only Reality or living truth. He is being. He is essence. Mind always runs after pleasure because it is born of Ananda (Brahman). You love a mango because it affords you pleasure.
Amongst all things, you love your own Self most. This love of the Self gives the clue to the fact that Ananda or Bliss must be the nature of the Self. That secondless Supreme Being who resides in the chambers of your hearts as Antaryamini or Inner Ruler or Controller or Sutradhara, Antaratma (Inner Self) who has no beginning, middle or end, who is the source for this world, Vedas, body, mind, indriyas, who is all-pervading, who is unchanging, who is one homogeneous essence, who exists in the past, present and future, who is Self-existent, who is Swatantra (Independent) and who is self-luminous (Swayam Jyothi) is God or Atman or Brahman or Chaithanya or Purushothama.
Our true nature is pure existence, knowledge and bliss. We have this knowledge deep within us and therefore we cannot settle for being mortal or experience any type of limitation to our existence, we have an infinite thirst for knowledge and constant yearning to experience joy.
Perceiving God - The Snake & Rope Analogy: A man, let us call him Gopal, walks at night on a dark path. All of a sudden, a snake bites him on the leg. The snake is lying on the ground just a few feet from him.
Lying on the floor, he weeps in pain, knowing that his life is most likely over. He can feel the poison travelling in his bloodstream and he cries for help.
The nearby farmer hears him, and comes with a flashlight and points it to the snake. He found that the snake turns out to be nothing more than a rope!
This analogy illustrates the concept of superimposition. Gopal, due to his fear of snakes, superimposed a snake upon the rope. He had been touched by a branch, and the sight of the rope was enough to create the imaginary presence of the snake and pain of the venom. Now the question is - during the incident, was the snake real or unreal? The answer is that, subjectively, the snake was very real to Gopal.
However, objectively, the presence of the snake was all illusory and created by Gopal’s mind. Similarly, this world has its own subjective reality, but upon dawning of the knowledge of Brahman, this relative reality subsides and only the absolute reality of Brahman remains.
In the story, the snake existed only at the time of the incident (the present), while the rope existed in the past (before the incident), the present, as well as the future (after the incident). Thus, Brahman is unborn, undying, changeless, bodiless, immortal and fearless. He has neither name nor form.
He has neither contraction nor expansion, neither beauty nor ugliness. Verily, Brahman is fearless. He who knows Brahman becomes immortal and fearless. Look within. Within is the fountain of bliss. That is the real life.
This article is an ‘Ashirvachana’ given by His Holiness Sri Balagangadaranatha Mahaswamiji, 71st Pontiff of Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahas stana Math