The Nature of God

The Formless Brahman

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

The Vedic culture existed at a time when there were no religions. The Sanatana Dharma was never meant to be a religion. It is actually “a way of life” as given in the Vedas. By following this way of life, one is automatically taken to union with the divine. Hence, it is much more than a religion, if by religion you mean a set of rules and regulations given by some human being that have to be followed arbitrarily by one who wants to attain salvation after death. If religion has a purpose, it should provide us with the technique of life by following which we will automatically attain the highest goal of life. The Sanatana Dharma promises a good life on this earth by following certain basic rules of living. These rules are applicable to every human being who has a body, mind, and intellect. It is not meant exclusively for Hindus. All those who want to have a good and contented life on this earth can follow it. All human beings need this. All of us want to live a good life on earth, not just because we think that we will get a free ticket to heaven, but because this is the only world we know, and we have a duty to ourselves and to our fellow human beings to make this world a beautiful place where both humans and animals can live a peaceful life in harmony with nature. We believe that everyone has a right to live a good life according to their desires and not because some authority has decreed it.

So, what is the concept of God according to Sanatana Dharma? The Vedas are the foundation of this dharma. The Vedas are sound waves that were heard by the rishis, and they were the ones who translated these into meaningful words for us. So, we owe our whole culture to the rishis who were spiritual scientists that discovered the meaning of "Life" and taught it to us in simple language, giving us this way of life called Sanatana Dharma. Like all scientists, the rishis wanted to find out the essence of this world. Instead of going outside and dissecting the various aspects of the earth as western scientists do, they asked the question of who was the "I" that wanted to know. They realized that if they did not know the "I," they would never know the external world either. Thus, they delved into the depths of their minds and discovered that there was a center of consciousness in us which was actually the basic foundation of our entire life. By using various yogic practices like meditation, they were able to experience this essence, which was indeed bliss. Armed with this discovery of their true selves, they started investigating the external world and discovered, to their surprise, that the essence of the external world was exactly the same as what they experienced in their internal world. This experience of the unity of the internal person and the external phenomenon was a major breakthrough in their understanding of the mysteries of the universe.

They concluded that there is only one power or energy in this world, which they called the Brahman. This is the ultimate, non-dual reality in Hinduism. It is the immutable foundation and support of the whole cosmos of movable and immovable things. The Brahman is formless. It has no qualities or functions. It is beyond the range of space, time, and causality (desa, kaala, and nimitta). Words cannot describe the Brahman, which lies beyond the range of the mind, but the rishis gave a small clue, using common language and said that it is “sat-chid-ananda.” “Sat” is “existence”, “chid” is “consciousness,” and “Ananda” is “bliss.” It is “pure existence,” so everything else exists because the Brahman exists. It is “pure consciousness,” so all of us are “conscious” of everything only because it is conscious! It is also “Ananda” or bliss. This means that every source of joy in the world comes only from it!

Because it is “formless,” it can take on any form. Thus, every form that we can see in the universe is only a form of the Brahman. Of course, it exists in us also. The Brahman that is inside us they named the “atman.” This is our true “Self,” which never dies with the death of the body. Thus, the final goal of the Sanatana Dharma is “moksha” or liberation, which is the union of the atman with the Brahman. Actually, there is no “union” as such since they were never separated. But the “jivatma” or embodied soul thinks itself to be different from the Brahman. This ignorance of its true identity is the reason for all our sorrows in this world. It is the guru who comes and removes this ignorance and discloses to us the truth of our identity.

This Brahman pervades the whole cosmos, and nothing is there beyond it. Therefore, the word “God” as used in other religions cannot be applied to it. This transcendental reality of the Brahman cannot be grasped by the human mind. Therefore, we find that the rishis gave us many “gods” with forms that would help us to realize that all forms are only the “one form” of the Brahman. In order to make us realize that this Brahman is not limited to the human form alone but pervades the entire universe of forms, the rishis gave us different types of forms to worship. So, we worship a cow, a monkey, an elephant, a river, a tree, the sun, moon, and so on. This is to make us understand that the Brahman pervades everything. It is both transcendent and immanent. We can worship anything and make it into a “god” if we have this understanding that all forms are but forms of that Infinite Formless Brahman! Without this basic understanding, if we worship other gods, it will only give rise to fundamentalism, which, unfortunately, is what is happening in the world today.

This is why Hindus tolerated every other religion and gave asylum to all religions that came to Bharat. They knew that all forms are forms of that “formless”. This is why Hindus have never tried to fight with other countries under the name of religion and have never tried to convert anyone to their own faith! Since everything in the world of forms comes under the banner of that formless Brahman, everyone is free to worship any form of his or her own choice. If this philosophy is understood by everyone, there would be no bickering and arguments about “which god is better!”

No human being has the authority to say that his god alone is the only god. That is a blasphemous statement. You are actually limiting that “limitless One” to one miserable form and set of qualities. The reason why other religions are fundamentalists is because of this narrow concept of the divine!

Hinduism believes in the “Vaasudeva Kudumbakam”. This means that the whole world belongs to the family of Vaasudeva, which is another name for the supreme divine. All of us belong to this one family. We have no right to encroach on the rights of others to live as they want to live. We have a duty to each one and should help everyone in this divine family since we are all related. Not only are we related to all human beings, but to the whole cosmos since that Brahman pervades and permeates the entire universe. Every particle of sand and every star in the firmament exists and throbs with the power of that Brahman.

Our weeklies are an attempt to inculcate this idea of a universal family of like-minded people so that the world will become the Utopia of our dreams.

Hari Aum Tat Sat!

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