Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 56

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rigid and absolute, all-aggreeable statements on what precisely Brahman is, are not to be had in the Upanisads. Actually all these varied statements hold equal authority according to tradition.
Similar is the varied thinking that we come across with regard to the question 'Brahman and Atman'. Brahman and Atman are the cosmic and psychical principles that are held to be identical. Experience or realisation of the identiry of the two is said to be the final aim of the Sadhana of man in several references. This is the basic doctrine on the question, though we many add that even with regard to this identity, there can be varied views. Radhakrishnan rightly states:
"This identity of subject and object is not a vague hypothesis, but the necessary implication of all relevant thinking, feeling and willing. The human self cannot think, conquer and love nature, were it unthinkable, unconquerable and unlovable."16
With all this Kadhakrishnan concedes that af Tattvamasi is difficult to understand but also difficult to deny. It is clear that here, as in all else, Radhakrishnan derives what he thinks to be the highest speculation in the Upanisads.
But there are varied conceptions of Brahman corresponding to the different ideas on Atman. He lists the most important ones as follows:
(1) The highest Brahman, which is änanda, is just Atman realised in the turiya state.
(2) Brahman is self-conscious Isvara, with a force opposed to him.
(3) Brahman is Hiranyagarbha or the cosmic soul or sutratman coming between isvara and the soul of man.
(4) Brahman is cosmos or Virät when Atman is identified with the body.
(5) Supreme Self beyond cause and effect is Brahman.
(6) Aum' is Sabdabrahman in concrete character. It is the symbol of concreteness and completeness standing as it does for the three principal qualities of the Supreme.
(7) The ultimate reality is sat, chit and ananda, spirit personified as Brahma, Viṣṇu and Siva in later literature.
The Upanisads narrate and support all these varied conceptions of Brahman and Atman. It may here be added that the two words. "Brahman' and 'Atman' are used in senses interchangeable, they are often synonymous. The conceptions are described in the Upanisads not for