Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Hinduism</strong>: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan 206<br />
Hence any attempt to describe Brahman will be futile. Nirguna according<br />
to Sankara is being beyond the three attributes (guna traya) of nature<br />
(Prakriti).viz. Satva (goodness), Rajas (passion) and Tamas (ignorance).<br />
Thus Brahman is beyond the three attributes or Brahman is Triguna-<br />
Ateeta. But then such a God is of no consequence. According to Sankara,<br />
Brahman is the only reality. The Brahman is unborn and uncreated. He<br />
does not create; He does not cause. Yet from the the 'Vyahavaric'<br />
(pragmatic) standpoint, Sankara postulates a Saguna Brahman, Iswara<br />
(God). But this Iswara is an illusion of the beholder.<br />
How can a propertyless Brahman cause a Vyahavaric dimension is not<br />
clear. Attributelessness implies homogenity within the dimension of<br />
Brahman. Only when this homogenity is transformed into inhomogenity<br />
can guna arise. Advaitic Nirguna Brahman therefore is a myth incapable<br />
of creation as long as there is nothing outside of the Brahman. But if<br />
there is an outside of Brahman, then Brhaman receives a property in<br />
relation to this outside. A pure Monistic Advata is a misnomer since a<br />
relative standpoint cannot be established on it.<br />
If Brahman is to be a reality capable of creation, there has to be an<br />
inhomogenity within it. Then we can attribute Sat, Chit and Ananda to<br />
the Brahman. We can attribute a purpose of Goodness, and Happiness<br />
which is possible only if Brahman is a personality with dimensions<br />
within.<br />
This Brahman can then transform and emanate and create. The Saguna<br />
Brahman has to be a transform of Nirguna Brahman.<br />
The Hindu Saguna Brahman being a transform of a homgeneous<br />
Brahman causes both good and evil. But what defines good and evil is<br />
not really defined. This theme runs through the puranic schemes of<br />
creation stories etc in the form of churning of milky way and the like,<br />
where polarisation is produced within the creation, bringing in good and<br />
evil, producing both Amrit (elixir of life) and Visham (Poison or death)<br />
This appearance of Saguna Brahman is Iswara - the person of God. Here<br />
again I have come across conflicting descriptions of Ishwara. To some
Change language