Brahman - The Essence of Existence

Divine Life Society Publication: Moksha Gita by Sri Swami Sivananda, Commentary by Swami Krishnananda

 The Guru said:

Salutation to Sat-Chit-Ananda Para-Brahman, that glorious first Preceptor, who is self-luminous, eternal, indivisible, pure, spotless, desireless, attributeless, timeless, spaceless, changeless,

beginningless and endless.

 The greatest and the First Preceptor is the Ocean of Satchidananda. It is the Inner Reality or the central Being of all. The promptings of the innermost Light of the Self alone are responsible for the spiritual progress of the individual. Even seeking a Preceptor will be impossible if the Permanent Self within does not throw the discriminative Consciousness upon the individual or the Jiva. The proper grasping of the truths of Vedanta and the rapt contemplation on the Reality are the effects of the spiritual consciousness already existing in the aspirant in a potential condition. If not, none could communicate knowledge to another individual. The transmission of knowledge from one person to another presupposes the background of a universal consciousness that keeps beings in unison. This permanent verity is Satchidananda or Existence-Knowledge-Bliss which is therefore the Guru of all gurus, the Source of Light, Wisdom, Power and Bliss.

Satchidananda is self-luminous, for it is the very existence of eternal Consciousness. It is undivided, Akhanda-Ekarasa, for it is homogeneous and is without internal or external differentiation. There is no Swagata, Swajatiya or Vijatiya Bheda in Brahman or Satchidananda. It is One Mass of Brilliance and unblemished Grandeur of Divine Existence. It is pure because it is untainted by thought or objectification. It is untouched by the diversifying Prakriti and is desireless, for it is the Height of all Perfection. It is Bhuma or the Fullness of Life. It is attributeless, for the positive and the negative natures react with one another and get fused in it. It is spaceless and timeless, for space is a special mode of particularization in Being and time is closely connected with space and Brahman or Satchidananda is without any particularization whatsoever. Space and Time are individualized objectifications which are born of the self-limitation of a center of consciousness. Hence the changeless Reality which is ever Self-satisfied is beginningless and endless, for Impartite Existence in the Wholeness of its character cannot have motion in Itself and is, therefore, an inexplicable Being which is hard even to imagine. That is the Truth of all truths, "Satyasya Satyam" or the Supreme Brahman of the Upanishads. That is the Goal of all quests. That is the object of Meditation. That is the Ideal to be attained by one and all. That is the Essence of Existence.

Brahman cannot be defined. To define Brahman is to deny Brahman.

The only adequate description of Brahman is a series of negatives.

That is the reason why the Upanishads declare "Neti-Neti" "not this, not this."

To define Brahman is to deny the essentiality of its all-inclusiveness. For, definition cannot but be partial. When it is said that Brahman is "something," it is simultaneously asserted thereby that something is "not" Brahman. But such a method of defining Brahman is incorrect, for there is not anything which is not Brahman. Brahman is everything that the mind can think of and which is even unthinkable. If Brahman is consciousness, the unconscious objects are excluded from it. If Brahman is Bliss, the individuals filled with grief are excluded from it. If Brahman is Being, it cannot be said what non-being is, though non-being is not. Hence all definitions center themselves in aspects which are accepted as pleasant to the individuals and all unpleasant experiences are cast off as not belonging to Brahman. Such a narrow conception of Truth may be valid with respect to individual happiness but not to Truth as it is. Truth or Brahman excludes none, none is dear to it, none is its enemy. There is nothing pleasant to it, nothing is unpleasant, nothing good to it, nothing bad. Such an inscrutable Being is Brahman. It cannot be defined by any positive characteristics. It can only be said what it is "not," but we cannot say that Brahman is "like this."

Hence, the only adequate description of the nature of Brahman that we have to resort to is a series of negatives, "not this, not this." After denying everything that is relational, what remains is Brahman. This is one of the methods of Vedantic Meditation, the negative method which arrives at Truth by denying the appearance of untruth. The positive method of Meditation conceives of Brahman as Satchidananda and asserts its absoluteness and tries to dissolve plurality, duality and individuality in that Glory of Eternity.

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