Talk:Nirguṇa Brahman – Parabrahman:The Transcendence of Nirguṇa Brahman in Śāstras
By Sri Vishal Agarwal
Śāstras describe Brahman as an entity that has an unfathomable nature which cannot be understood or perceived completely. Some passages from the Bhagavad Gītā and other scriptures are given below to describe Parabrahman:
"It is different from the known, and different from the unknown." — Sāmaveda, Kena Upaniṣad 1.4
"It is neither coarse, nor fine; neither short nor long." — Yajurveda, Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.15
"That heavenly person is without body, he is both without and within, not produced." — Atharvaveda, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.1.2
Brahman is that from which all speech, with the mind, turns away unable to reach it. — Yajurveda, Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.9
"That under which the year revolves with its days, the Bhagavāns worship that as the light of lights and as life immortal. That in which the people of all the five regions of the Earth and space are established, that alone I regard as the Soul; know that Immortal Brahman, I too am immortal (i.e., Divinely enlightened)." — Yajurveda, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.16–17
"He is not apprehended by the eye, not by speech nor by other senses, not by penance nor by good works." — Atharvaveda, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.8
"Of thousands of humans, hardly anyone strives for perfection. Even among those who strive and have become perfect, hardly anyone knows Me in truth." — ''Gītā 7.3 "I know the past and the present as also the future beings, but no one knows Me!" — Gītā 7.26 "This entire universe is pervaded by My unmanifested form. All beings reside in Me, but I do not abide in them (i.e., I am not exhausted by them)." — Gītā 9.4
A Vedāntic example given to explain the transcendent nature of Nirguṇa Brahman is that It is like the sun, which causes the day and night, but is itself beyond the night and also the day as we understand it conventionally. [1]
Śaṅkarācārya narrates a beautiful parable[2] from a lost Vedic scripture on how Nirguṇa Brahman is best described by silence:
Parable of Bāhva and Vāśkalin When Bāhva was questioned about Brahman by Vāśkalin, he explained it to him with silence. He said to him, “Learn about Brahman, my friend,” and became silent. Then, on being questioned about Brahman the second and third time too, he replied, “I am teaching you indeed, but you are not trying to understand. That Ātman is silence.”
All peoples worship Brahman as Parabrahman or at least acknowledge it as an aspect of Brahman. Most peoples following certain schools of Vedānta also believe that Brahman in its Parabrahman aspect is Supreme or superior to all the other aspects or levels of Brahman. However, a few peoples[3] believe that the Parabrahman aspect is subservient to the Īśvara aspect of Brahman.