Brahman (the Absolute)
The one boundless reality on which all worlds depend — but is it a person, or beyond all persons?
Brahman is the Sanskrit word for ultimate reality: the single, boundless ground out of which everything arises and on which everything rests. The Vedānta schools agree that Brahman is real and supreme but divide sharply over what it is like — whether it is a pure attributeless awareness beyond all description, or the personal Lord with infinite good qualities. Almost every other idea in Hindu philosophy is, in some way, a question about Brahman.
How it traveled
- Chāndogya UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -700explains
- Bṛhadāraṇyaka UpaniṣadMithilā (kingdom of Videha) · -700explains
- Kaṭha UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -500explains
- Praśna UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -450explains
- Śvetāśvatara UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -400explains
- Bhagavad-gītāKuru-Pañcāla region · -150explains
- UpadeśasāhasrīKālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710explains
- ParamārthasāraŚrīnagara (Srinagar), Kashmir · 1000explains
- VivekacūḍāmaṇiŚṛṅgeri (Sringeri) · 1400explains
- Aṣṭāvakra-gītāKāśī (Varanasi) · 1450explains
Key passages(20)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)