Article XVIII: Becoming Brahman Brahman is supreme Bliss beyond the mind and sensory pleasure. The mind can be used as a tool to approach Brahman, but the mind and its logic are ultimately transcended to become Brahman. Meditation on Om allows one to remove the maya of name and form from the components of the world. Without name and form, pure Consciousness, Existence, and Bliss remains. Everything in the world has a name and a form like a wave in the ocean has the name, wave, in the physical form of a wave. However, when the wave subsides in the ocean, there is no name and form of the wave and no name and form of the ocean. There is simply water. The relationship of the wave and the ocean to water is analogous to relationship between the components and people of the world to Brahman. The people and substance of the world are nothing but Brahman given name and form. Removing this maya of name and form, allows one to realize that "I am Brahman" and become Brahman. Become Brahman, which is beyond space, time, and causation. Become beyond space, infinite and unlimited in all directions. Become beyond time, eternal, with no beginning and no end. Become beyond causation, unaffected by actions of the past, present, or future. (The analogy of the wave and ocean is adapted from descriptions of Swami Vivekananda. "I am Brahman" is one of the Mahavakyas, or Great Sayings, of the Upanishads.) |