Brahman is the central concept of the Upanishads — the ultimate reality that underlies and pervades all of existence. It is not a personal God (that is Ishvara), nor is it a thing among other things. Brahman is the ground of being itself — infinite, eternal, self-luminous awareness from which the entire universe arises and into which it returns.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the oldest and longest of the Upanishads, approaches Brahman through a series of remarkable dialogues. The sage Yajnavalkya describes Brahman as 'not this, not this' (neti, neti) — a method of negation that strips away every limited concept until only the unlimited remains. Brahman cannot be defined positively because any definition would make it a finite object; it is the subject that can never become an object.
The relationship between Brahman and the individual self (Atman) is the central question of Upanishadic philosophy. The Advaita Vedanta school, following Shankara, teaches that they are ultimately identical — 'Aham Brahmasmi' (I am Brahman). Other schools, like Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, teach a qualified non-dualism in which the individual self is real but inseparable from Brahman, like a wave is inseparable from the ocean.
The Upanishadic sages approached Brahman through two complementary methods: the via positiva, describing it as sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss), and the via negativa, the method of neti, neti — 'not this, not this' — stripping away every limited concept until only the unlimited remains. Both methods point to the same recognition: that Brahman is not an object of knowledge but the knowing itself — the awareness in which all objects, including the concept of Brahman, arise and pass away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brahman the same as God?
Brahman is not a personal God but the impersonal ground of all being — infinite, eternal awareness itself. The personal God (Ishvara) is, in Advaita Vedanta, Brahman as understood through the lens of maya.
What is the difference between Brahman and Atman?
Brahman is the ultimate reality of the cosmos; Atman is the ultimate reality of the individual self. The Upanishads' central teaching is that these two are, at the deepest level, one and the same.