Para Brahman

Para Brahman (IAST IAST|para-brahmaṇ) (the Highest Brahman) - is a term often used by Vedantic philosophers as to the "attainment of the ultimate goal".cite journal
author = Sawai, Y.
year = 1987
title = The Nature of Faith in the Sankaran Vedanta Tradition
journal = Numen
volume = 34
issue = 1
pages = 18-44
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0029-5973(198706)34%3A1%3C18%3ATNOFIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L
accessdate = 2008-05-05] It is believed that all Vaishnava and other schools attribute Personhood to this concept, as in Svayam bhagavan.cite journal
author = Malkovsky, B.
year = 1997
title = The Personhood of Samkara's" Para Brahman"
journal = The Journal of Religion
volume = 77
issue = 4
pages = 541
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189(199710)77%3A4%3C541%3ATPOS%22B%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T
accessdate = 2008-05-05] Under terms of some schools of Vedanta, He has three modal aspects with a highest as Para Brahman or Krishna.cite journal
author = White, C.S.J.
year = 1970
title = Krsna as Divine Child
journal = History of Religions
volume = 10
issue = 2
pages = 156
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2710(197011)10%3A2%3C156%3AKADC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8
accessdate = 2008-05-05] This term is often quoted often used in relation to Krishna as the ultimate goal of Vedanta. Even Shankara in his commentaries on Yoga Sutras stated, "Through Om the Lord is met face to face", and "Om is the Name of the Supreme Lord", thus attributing qualities to Supreme Brahman as a Person. One of the most prominent of recent Hindu philosophers, Dr. Radhakrishnan, after his alleged conversion to Gaudiya Vaishnavism in early 1960s, confirmed that this term meant Supreme God as a Person, the Absolute Truth.cite journal
author = His Thought, I.S.
year = 1992
title = Radhakrishnan: His Philosophical Position
journal = Tagore and Radhakrishnan, a Study in Religious Perspective]

Conceptualization

ParaBrahman (Sanskrit) [from para beyond + Brahman (neuter) universal self or spirit] - That which is beyond Brahman. The self-enduring, eternal, self-sufficient cause of all causes, the essence of everything in the cosmos. In the Vedic style of writing, ParaBrahman is referred to as tat (that) as opposed to the manifest universe called idam (this). ParaBrahman means Supreme Brahman, or Supreme Cosmic Spirit, or Godhead. Although an ineffable entity, it could be said to be that which contains and pervades the universe. ParaBrahman, from beyond, encompasses the transcendent and immanent ultimate reality, Brahman. The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, so there is no qualitative difference. Terms like Parameshvara, Ishvara, Bhagavan, Brahman, Paramatma are held to be synonymous with ParaBrahman.

"kamasya nendriya-pritir labho jiveta yavata""jivasya tattva-jijnasa nartho yas ceha karmabhih"

Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan. (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.11) [http://vedabase.net/sb/1/2/11/en1]

"brahma-vid apnoti param, tad eshabhyukta, satyam jnanam anantam brahma"

Whoever realizes the Supreme Brahman attains to supreme felicity. That Supreme Brahman is Eternal Truth (satyam), Omniscient (jnanam), Infinite (anantam). (Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1)

Upanishads further mention often that the Supreme Brahman is Eternal, Conscious, and Blissful (sat-chit-ânanda). [Satcitananda]

"raso vai sa, rasam hy evayam labdhvanandi bhavati"

The One is Bliss. Whoever perceives the Blissful One, the reservoir of pleasure, becomes blissful forever. (Taittiriya Upanishad 2.7.1-2)

Verily know the Supreme One to be Bliss. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.9.28)

Vaishnavism

Vedic scriptures usually quoted by Vaishnavas to point out Krishna or Narayana as the Supreme Being:

"nityo nityanam chetanas chetananam eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman"

He is the prime eternal among all eternals. He is the supreme living entity of all living entities, and He alone is maintaining all life. (Katha Upanishad 2.2.13) [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=dSA3hsIq5dsC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=OM+as+parabrahman&source=web&ots=nX1EQdPG5m&sig=YrcXiI56EPGM494sP3qcadA05oc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA334,M1 Bhagavad-gītā as it is By A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, pg. 334-335] ]

"ete camsa-kalah pumsah krishnas tu bhagavan svayam indras vyakulam lokam mrdayanti yuge yuge"

All incarnations are either plenary portions or expansions of plenary portions appearing in various universes to protect the theists; but Lord Krishna is the original supreme lord and the source of all. (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.27-28) [http://vedabase.net/sb/1/3/en1]

"isvara paramah krishna sac-cid-ananda vigrahah anadir adir govindah sarva karana karanam"

Lord Krishna is the supreme absolute controller, whose form comprises immortality, omniscience, and bliss. He is without beginning, the origin of all, the cause of all causes and the source of the Vedas. (Brahma Samhita 5.1) [http://vedabase.net/bs/5/1/en]

"namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca jagad dhitaya krsnaya govindaya namo namah"

Let me offer my humble obeisance unto Lord Krishna, who is the worshipable deity for all brahminical people, who is the well-wisher of the cows and brahmanas and who is always benedicting all the universes. (Vishnu Purana 1.19.65) [http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Articles/sriguru.html]

Krishna Himself confirms this in the Bhagavad-Gita:

"mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya mayi sarvam idam protam sutre mani-gana iva"

There is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread. (Bhagavad Gita 7.7) [http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/articles/389/1/Bhagavad-Gita-77/Page1.html]

"arjuna uvaca, param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan""purusham sasvatam divyam adi-devam ajam vibhum"

Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original Person, the unborn, the greatest. (Bhagavad Gita 10.12) [http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/categories/The-Gita:-Chapter-10/]

"bhajagovindam bhajagovindam govindam bhajamuudhamate naamasmaranaadanyamupaayam nahi pashyaamo bhavatarane"

Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda, Oh fool! Other than chanting the Lord's names, there is no other way to cross the life's ocean. (Bhaja Govindam, composed by Adi Shankaracharya) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaja_Govindam]

"naaraayana paro jyotir-aatmaa naarayana para, naarayanam param brahma tatvam naarayanam para, naarayana paro dhyaata dhyaanam naaraayana para"

Narayana is, Para Jyoti, the greatest light, Para Atma, the super soul (Paramatman), Para Tatvam, the best of essences, Para Dhyata, the greatest meditator, Para Dhyanam, the best of meditations. (Narayana Sukta verse 4)

In Vaishnavism, ParaBrahman is the source of the Brahman effulgence [ [http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Parabrahma/id/172697 Parabrahma: Bhakti Yoga Dictionary on Parabrahma] ] and Vishnu or Krishna is established as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna,_the_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead] ] .

"yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti-kotishv asesha-vasudhadi vibhuti-bhinnam""tad brahma nishkalam anantam asesha-bhutamgovindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami"

Govinda, is the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upanishads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth. (Brahma Samhita 5.40) [http://vedabase.net/bs/5/40/en1]

ParaBrahman as Narayana or Krishna is also the highest among the five eternal entities within Swaminarayana sect of Hinduism. [ [http://www.swaminarayan.org/glossary/p.htm Satsang Glossary - P ] ]

Other uses

Om is the Supreme Brahman. (Svetasvatara Upanishad 1:7) [ [http://www.atmajyoti.org/med_om_in_upanishads.asp Om in the Upanishads] ]

Other sects like Shaivism and Shaktism have a similar concept of Parasiva or Parashakti symbolic of ParaBrahman. However, in contrast with Vaishnavism where ParaBrahman denotes Saguna Brahman as Hari or Vishnu, either Saguna Brahman or the impersonal Nirguna Brahman may be connotated by other sects. It is also customary that followers of a particular sect view other personal forms of God as expansions or aspects of the Supreme Being.

"The Primordial Power and the Supreme Brahman are identical. You can never think of the one without the other. They are like the gem and its brilliance. One cannot think of the brilliance without the gem, or of the gem without its brilliance. Again, it is like snake and its wriggling motion. One cannot think of the wriggling motion without the snake, or of the snake without its wriggling motion. These are two aspects of Reality: Purusha and Prakriti. He who is the Purusha is also Prakriti. Both are the embodiment of Bliss." -- Sri Aurobindo

Also the name of an Upanishad, the "Para-Brahma Upanishad". [ [http://www.geocities.com/advaitavedant/parabrahma.htm Para-Brahma Upanishad ] ] [ [http://www.astrojyoti.com/ParaBrahmaUpanishad.htm Para Brahma Upanishad ] ] It is one of the 23 Sannyāsa Upanishads.

ee also

* Achintya Bheda Abheda
* Brahman
* Paramatma
* Svayam Bhagavan
* Vedanta

References and Notes

Links

cite web
url=http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/vedicsystem.htm
title=VEDA - Vedas and Vedic Knowledge Online - Vedic Encyclopedia
publisher=www.veda.harekrsna.cz
accessdate=
last=
first=