A Simple Explanation of the Concept of Brahman

Brahman, Brahma, Parabrahma, Paramatma — they all denote the same concept.

Brahmaa is different.
Brahmaa is the creator god among the Trimurthis, with a limited mandate to create the universe.

One of the easiest and most straightforward ways to understand the concept is that of waves in the ocean.

The ocean is calm and quiet at the beginning.
Then waves rise up.
A number of waves — a huge number of waves — of various sizes and shapes, they come, they go.
They move, they merge into each other, they hit against each other.
When they merge, they compound.
Sometimes they dash against each other, they destroy each other.

Here, the ocean which is at the base is similar to Brahman.
The waves are the living beings and non-living objects that we see all around us — including us — which we call the universe.

Can there be waves without the ocean?
No.
Is there anything in the waves other than what is there in the ocean?
No.

This is the relationship between the world and Brahman, between the universe and Brahman.

Brahman is something that is capable of expanding or growing.
From the state similar to the calm ocean, Brahman can expand or grow into the state where it becomes a collection of a large number of waves.
But that is at the surface — down below, it is still calm and quiet.

When Brahman wants to create — create means he wants to create the universe which is non-existent — Brahman converts into two parts: amrita and martya.

द्वे वाव ब्रह्मणो रूपे मूर्तं चैवामूर्तं च मर्त्यं चामृतं च

The whole ocean does not convert itself into waves.
A large part of it down below is still calm and quiet and hasn't changed a bit.
It will remain like that forever.
This is the amrita part — that which doesn’t die.
The other part which has converted itself into waves will not remain like that forever.
It will fall back into the base below and disappear in some time.
This part is called martya or mortal.
It has to die because it came into existence.
Anything that comes into existence has to die after some time.

Let's say the volume of the ocean is 1000 litres.
Out of that, 10 litres have become the waves.
They remain as waves for some time, and after some time, they fall back into the 990 litres at the base and disappear.

Can the waves be there without the ocean?
Obviously, no.
But the immortality of the ocean below is also dependent on the mortality of the waves — because it is a concept.

अन्तरं मृत्योरमृतं मृत्यावमृतमाहितम्

There cannot be white without black.
There cannot be rich without the poor.
Because they are relative to each other.
I can call myself rich only in comparison to the poor.
Immortality exists only with reference to the concept of death.
If there is no death, then there is no immortality also.
If there is no immortality, there is no death also.

This is a very, very important concept in Sanatana Dharma.

This Brahman has infinite potential to manifest into anything because the nature of this Brahman is knowledge — knowledge itself.
Without knowledge you can't do anything.
Even small things such as sharpening a pencil or drawing water from a well — you cannot do it without the knowledge of doing it.

Even to make a rose plant grow in your garden, you need knowledge.
In the universe, trillions and trillions of beings are constantly being created, made to stay, eliminated — trillions and trillions of actions are going on throughout.
They are not arbitrary or random.
They follow specific rules and processes.
They all require knowledge.

This knowledge is Brahman, which is immortal.
This knowledge doesn’t ever change.

Knowledge never changes.
If you want to make chapathi, the procedure is always the same.
You may use different tools, but flour, kneading of flour — all that is always the same.
If you use rice flour instead of wheat flour, then it will have a different name — it is not the original chapathi anymore.

So knowledge never changes.
Knowledge is immortal and immutable.

But action is not like that — every action has a beginning and an end.
So actions are martya, mortal.

But even here, they are mutually dependent.
Action cannot occur without knowledge.
With every knowledge, an action is associated.
It can be a physical action, mental action.
So no matter how independent Brahman may look like — what Brahman contains, or all that Brahman contains — should have use in the real world, the practical world.

A book may have 1000 pages.
You may need knowledge from only 10 pages at any point in time.
But knowledge in all the other 990 pages is also meant to be put to use — if not now, some time later.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi