Brahman

[SabrinaMBowen]

The cosmos comes forth from Brahman and moves in him.
With his power it reverberates, like thunder crashing in the sky. Those who realize him pass beyond the sway of death.

Most Hindus venerate one or more deities, but regard these as manifestations of Ultimate Reality. The Ultimate Reality that is behind the universe and all the gods is called by different names, but most commonly Brahman (not to be confused with the creator god Brahma or the priestly class of Brahmans).

In the Rig Veda, Ultimate Reality is referred to as "the One." In the Purushasukta, it is "Purusha," and in the Upanishads it is called "Brahman," "the One," and several other names. Most modern Hindus refer to the Ultimate Reality as Brahman.

The Upanishads describe Brahman as "the eternal, conscious, irreducible, infinite, omnipresent, spiritual source of the universe of finiteness and change." Brahman is the source of all things and is in all things; it is the Self (atman) of all living beings.

Brahman is impersonal Being in itself, but it can be known through the many gods and goddesses that are manifestations of Brahman.