Parabrahman

“ This entity then is the Parabrahmam of the Adwaitees. Even if there were to be a personal God with any thing like a material upadhi (physical basis of whatever form) , from the stand-point of an Adwaitee there will be as much reason to doubt his nominal existence as there would be in the case of any other object. In their opinion conscious god cannot be the origin of the universe, as his Ego would be the effect of a previous cause, if the word conscious conveys but its ordinary meaning. ”

“ Here you will notice that he again speaks of Parabrahmam as his abode.
Turn now to chapter ix, verses 4, 5 and 6:
⁠The whole of this Universe is pervaded by me in my unmanifested form (Avyakṭamūrṭi) . I am thus the support of all the manifested existence, but I am not supported by them. Look at my condition when manifested as Īshvara (Logos) : these phenomenal manifestations are not within me. My Āṭmā (however) is the foundation and the origin of manifested beings, though it does not exist in combination with them. ”

“ Similarly the Paramahamsa keeps silent except when his water of wisdom is poured out into the soul of the disciple. Thus he retains the ego of knowledge for the purpose of teaching others. Again, suppose a person digs a well. He is thirsty and drinks of the water of that well. Yet when his thirst is quenched it is not un- usual for such a person to keep the digging implements, — the hack, the shovel, the spade, — for the sake of others who may want them for the same purpose. ”

“ The Brahman, or Parabrahm, the absolute of the Vedantins, is neuter and unconscious, and has no connection with the masculine Brahma of the Hindu Triad, or Trimurti. Some Orientalists rightly believe the name derived from the verb "Brih," to grow or increase, and to be in this sense the universal expansive force of Nature, the vivifying and spiritual principle or power spread throughout the universe, and which, in its collectivity, is the one Absoluteness, the one Life and the only Reality. ”

“ The Brahman said—"You are a neat-herd, and your intellect is that of a neat-herd. What man can enter into such a small phial?" "If you cannot enter," said the neat-herd king, "then you are not the rightful owner. What do you say, sir, to this?" turning to the ghost-Brahman and addressing him. "If you can enter into the phial, then the house and the wife and the mother become yours." ”

“ As our great Shankaracharya truly observes at the close of his commentary on the 23rd Sutra of the above-mentioned Pada, "Parabrahmam is Karta (Purusha) , as there is no other Adhishtatha,* [11] and Parabrahmam is Prakriti there being no other Upadanam." This sentence clearly, indicates the relation between "the One Life" and "the One Element" of the Arhat philosophers. After asking us this question, and quoting the doctrines of the Adwaita philosophy against the assumption that matter is not spirit, the learned Swami proceeds to show on his own authority that matter is not Spirit, in fact. ”

“ The need felt by Kabîr for both these ways of describing Reality is a proof of the richness and balance of his spiritual experience; which neither cosmic nor anthropomorphic symbols, taken alone, could express. More absolute than the Absolute, more personal than the human mind, Brahma therefore exceeds whilst He includes all the concepts of philosophy, all the passionate intuitions of the heart. He is the Great Affirmation, the font of energy, the source of life and love, the unique satisfaction of desire. ”

“ That which is the Absolute (Nirguna) , impersonal beyond all attributes, is also the same Brahman im-personal and personal. as Personal God who is with all attributes and blessed qualities. The Absolute Brahman again is inseparable from the Divine energy (Sakti) . The term "Brahman" refers to that aspect of Divinity which is impersonal and which is beyond all activity. But when we think of Him as creating, preserving and destroying all phenomena, then we call Him the Personal God, Divine Mother or Kali. ”

“ The father then exclaimed: “My dear child, thou hast approached the realization of the Brahman. Thy silence is a better answer than the recitation of a hundred texts of the Vedas, for Brahman is indescribable by words. It is indeed the Absolute Silence.” The knowledge of the Absolute Brahman is attained in the state of Samâdhi. In that superconscious state Brahman is realized. Then all thoughts cease to rise and perfect silence prevails in the soul. Even the power of speech remains unmanifested. How can one describe Brahman by words of mouth? Man thinks that he has known the Absolute Brahman. ”

“ When after the conquest of India the violent measures for the conversion of the Hindus to Mohammedanism had ceased, and Mohammedans and Brahmans lived together in the enjoyment of perfect equality, the result was a purified Mohammedanism, and a purified Brahmanism.12 The worshippers of Vishṇu, Śiva, and other deities became ashamed of these mythological gods, and were led to admit that there was, either over and above these individual deities, or instead of them, a higher divine power (the Para-Brahma) , the true source of all being, the only and almighty ruler of the world. ”

“ I shall point out what position each of these principles occupies in the evolution of nature, and in passing from the First Cause to the organised human being of the present day, I shall give you the basis of the fourfold classification that I have promised to adopt.
The first principle, or rather the first postulate, which I have to lay down is the existence of what is called Parabrahmam. Of course there is hardly a system of philosophy which has ever denied the existence of the First Cause. Even the so-called atheists have never denied it. ”

“ It is generally believed, at any rate by a certain class of philosophers, that Krshna himself is Parabrahmam— that he is the personal God who is Parabrahmam— but the words used by Krshna in speaking of Parabrahmam, and the way in which he deals with the subject, clearly show that he draws a distinction between himself and Parabrahmam. ”

“ The Paraiyas imbibe freely, and toddy is the drink most scrupulously prescribed for those who are under a vow. Like the Pulayas, the Paraiyas work in the rice fields and cocoanut gardens, and are employed in hill cultivation, and the manufacture of wicker baskets. The sun god is their principal deity, and in his name all solemn oaths are uttered. It is believed that the Brāhman who originally became a Paraiya cursed Brahma. To remove the evil effects of the curse, the sun gave to his descendants as objects of worship forty-eight thousand gods and eight special deities. ”

“ One evening, when I came home late, having been out nearly all day, I found on my doorstep a messenger who had been waiting for me, with the inexhaustible patience of an Oriental, for many hours. The plague had remembered my old Brahman at last, and he had sent to ask me to come and see him, 'on business of importance.' I went off accordingly to a segregate camp, whither he had been removed, and, much to my relief, arrived in time to find him conscious: for he was a fine old gentleman, and when a Brahman is a gentleman, he is a striking type of humanity. ”

“ The religion of Brahma, under all its various sects and forms, is peculiarly distinguished by sublimity, and even the utmost extravagance of its apparent polytheism is resolvable into the unity of deity; while the mythological fables it offers to the credence of the multitude are splendid and poetical, like the forms and ceremonies of its religious duties. Of those you will be able to judge to-morrow, as the Guru of Cashmire enters Lahore, to perform the ceremony of the Upaseyda, in the Pagoda of Crishna ”

“ Brahma, creator of the universe, though all powerful, could not revoke a promise once made. For this reason, Ravana, the demon god of Ceylon, stood on his head in the midst of five fires for ten thousand years, and at the end of that time boldly demanded of Brahma as a reward that he should not be slain by gods, demons, or genii. ”

“ Roughly, I forced the Brahman to swing himself out of the den and into the temple. I followed.
“Look!” I said, pointing at the idol of Shiva Natarajah, straddling the door; and the Brahman turned as pale as a sheet. “You are not afraid of death,” I went on, “and that’s the truth. But you are afraid of losing caste; you are afraid of losing your priestly influence, aren’t you?” He did not reply, just stood there, staring dumbly, despairingly at the statue, and I continued: “You see, I discovered how you work your little miracles, and I worked them myself—every last one of them. ”

“ I know thee well, and thy power is great and dreadful; for in the midst of the shrines of the Gods I worship, thy image only fixed my eye; and when Brahma spoke by the lips of his Guru, thy voice only left its accents on my ear. Ere thou didst speak, I took thee for the tenth avatar, which is yet to come; and when I listened to thee, I deemed thee one of the Genii of the Arab’s faith, whose words are false though sweet. But they say thou art a Christian, and a sorcerer; and punishment, with a black aspect and a red eye, waits on the souls of them who listen to, and who believe thee. ”

“ In those leisurely days I discovered in myself a strange inclination, nay! as the verse says, ‘I maddened and afflicted myself’ for a boy in the camp-bazar, his very name, Bāburī, fitting in. Up till then I had had no inclination for any-one, indeed of love and desire, either by hear-say or experience, I had not heard, I had not talked. At that time I composed Persian couplets, one or two at a time; this is one of the them:—
May none be as I, humbled and wretched and love-sick ”

“ We mould our character according to the company we keep; and we keep such company Character and associations. as is in harmony with our character. For this reason the Paramahamsas (perfected souls) like to keep the company of innocent children because their minds are pure, simple and unstained by worldliness. As Sri Ramakrishna was speaking these words, a worthy Brahmin entered the room and bowed down at His feet. The Bhagavan had known him before and loved him because he was sin-cere and simple. He had studied Vedanta in Benares, the seat of great learning. ”

“ I understood everything—the walls and floor and ceiling of solid metal, the trees, the Brahman’s question if I feared tree, and the Brahman’s oath!
The Brahman had given a solemn oath, nor would he break it. He had lured me into this room, me and the girl, and he had set some machinery into motion which would kill us, slowly, mercilessly—crushing us, doubtless as sacrifices, human sacrifices, to his bestial, blood-stained gods. Yes, he had kept his oath, for to him death spelled peace and safety and final release from earthly worries ”

“ The gods, they said, were of superior caste to mortals; but the Brahmini easily rose to the occasion, and her feminine wit supplied her with a crushing answer to them. She coolly assured her guests that the origin of herself and her husband was as divine as they themselves claimed, for all Brahmins, she reminded them with a smile of superior wisdom, were the offspring of Brahma, the Sirdar of the gods. Putting into the hands of Haro a copy of the sacred writings, she asked him to refresh his memory. ”

“ A man of lower caste, in his upward transmigrations towards union with God or absorption into Deity, should pass through an existence as a brahman. In the chapter on Transmigration we found that the upward steps of the ladder up to the brahman caste had been clearly stated in an authoritative Hindu text-book. The word brāhman, the name of the highest caste, is itself in fact a synonym for Deity. But as a matter of fact, men of any caste, moved by the spirit, are found devoting themselves to the jogi life. ”

“ The knight asks "What is brahma, the Supreme Spirit, the supreme being, the supreme sacrifice?" The Deity: "The supreme, the indestructible, is called brahma. Its personal existence is Supreme Spirit (self) . Destructible existence is supreme being (all except [=a] tm [=a] ) . The Person is the supreme godhead. I myself am the supreme sacrifice in this body."
Then follow statements like those in the Upanishads and in Manu, describing a day of brahma as a thousand ages; worlds are renewed; they that go to the gods find an end of their happiness with the end of their world ”

“ Yet doubtless the latter soon prevailed; for following upon the devoted life-offerings to the Divine Friend, came propitiatory rites to appease divine anger or gain divine favor. Then came in the natural human self-seeking of the sacerdotal class, for the multiplication of sacrifices tended to exalt the priesthood, and thus to perpetuate caste.
Again, the Brahmans, if practising austerities to weaken sensual desires, like the monks of Syria and Upper Egypt, were meditative and intellectual; they evolved out of their brains whatever was lofty in their system of religion and philosophy. ”

“ In the present day they are connected with the worship of the gods, and might be called the vestals of their religion, if its rules, whilst forbidding them to marry, did not place them entirely at the mercy and in the hands of the Brahmins. In a word, they are a species of religious harem of which the priests of Brahma are the Sultans. ”

“ To their infinite surprise next morning they found themselves to be not only alive, but young and vigorous. Their neighbours could scarcely recognise them—they had become so changed. The old Brahman had become handsome and vigorous, no grey hairs, no wrinkles on his cheeks; and as for his wife, she had become as beautiful as any lady in the king’s household. The king, hearing of this wonderful change, sent for the old Brahman, who told him all the circumstances. ”