Brahm, Atma and God
Brahm, Atma, universal consciousness, ultimate reality are all descriptions of God.
The Atma and Brahm are the same. When visualized as existing within the self it is called Atma. When visualized as external to the self it is called Brahm.
We return to the saying “The truth is one, the learned call it by many names”. The Atma and Brahm are the different statements of the same truth. Note the Brahm is also spelt as Brahma or Brahman. Some seers visualized the universal consciousness as existing within the self and called it Atma. Others visualized it external to the self, though including the self, and called it Brahm. Ultimately the concept made sense only if the Atma and Brahm were one and the same. However the context in which the universal consciousness is referred to continues to dictate the name used for it.
In the third chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad is given a sequence of reasoning to arrive at the nature of Brahm. This dialogue between Bhrigu and his father Varun is very similar to the dialogue on Atma between Indra and Prajapati in the Chandogya Upanishad. Bhrigu desires to know the nature of Brahm. Varun describes the requirements of Brahm and asks Bhrigu to meditate on the nature that would meet the requirements. Bhrigu one by one conceives of matter, life, consciousness and intelligence as the nature of Brahm but rejects them because they do not meet the requirements. He finally discovers that “ananda” or bliss is the nature of Brahm.
Shankaracharya, the greatest Hindu philosopher, contends that the Brahm is a state beyond bliss. That state is not verifiable, not describable and cannot be communicated. Trying to do so would be like trying to describe the beauty of the sunset to a person who is blind. However it is in the nature of humans to try and communicate. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan has summarized the state of bliss as outlined in the Upanishads. (2006, p.192). “In the mystic experience the soul finds itself in the presence of the highest. It is lost in awareness, contemplation and enjoyment of the Ultimate Reality. It does not know what it is when it reaches it. There is nothing higher than it. Other things are all in it. It then fears no evil, no untruth, but is completely blessed. This spiritual vision relieves us from all passion and suffering. The soul in its exaltation feels itself to be at one with what it sees.”
The Upanishads state that it is not possible to experience the state of bliss through intellectual reasoning alone. Intellectual reasoning takes one towards the state of bliss by clarifying what cannot be bliss. The last step towards the state of bliss has to be taken by spiritual means such as yoga, divine insight, or mystic intuition, which is only possible when one starts to lead a religious life. The theological understanding of Brahm and Atma, shorn of philosophical expression, is much simpler. Brahm is God and Atma is the individual soul. The aim of life is to reach the realization that God and our individual souls are one and the same.
Please check my course on Hindu Mythology
Please check my articles on Mythology from India
