Brahman:
This Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Absolute Reality called Brahman is said
to be eternal, genderless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent,
and ultimately indescribable in human language. It can be at best
described as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss.
Brahman is regarded as the source and essence of the material
universe. It is pure being. Brahman manifests as Hiranyagarbha, the
"world soul", which also can take many forms or manifestations of the
thousands of gods. It was deemed a singular substrate from which all
that is arises, and debuts with this verse:
"Great indeed are the devas who have sprung out of Brahman." —
Atharva Veda
The Atman or Atma is a philosophical term used within Hinduism and
Vedanta to identify the soul. It is one's true self (hence generally
translated into English as 'Self') beyond identification with the
phenomenal reality of worldly existence.
Means to achieve Moksha
In Hinduism, self-realization (atma siddhi) is the key to obtaining
Moksha. The Hindu is one who practices karma and bhakti, known that
God exists in many forms for the achievement of Moksha. There are
however, other ways in addition to this.
There are believed to be four yogas (disciplines) or margas (paths) for
the attainment of Moksha. They are the ways of selfless work (Karma
Yoga), of self-dissolving love (Bhakti Yoga), of absolute discernment
(Jnana Yoga), and of 'royal' meditative immersion (Raja Yoga). Different
schools of Hinduism place varying emphasis on one path or other,
some of the most famous being the tantric and yogic practices
developed in Hinduism. Today, the two major schools of thought are
Advaita Vedanta and Bhakti branches.
1. Bhakti sees the Self as God, most often a personified
monotheistic conception of Vishnu, Shiva or Devi (the Mother
Goddess). Unlike in Abrahamic traditions, this monotheism does
not prevent a Hindu from worship of other aspects of God, beings
or teachers, as they are all seen as rays from a single source.
However, it is worthy of note that the Bhagavad Gita condemns
worship of demigods, as it does not lead to Moksha. The concept
is essentially of self-dissolution in love, since the ideal nature of
being is seen as that of harmony, euphony, its manifest essence
being love. By immersing oneself in the love of God, one's
Karmas (good or bad, regardless) slough off, one's illusions about
beings decay and 'truth' is soon known and lived.
2. Vedanta finds itself split threefold, though the dualist and
modified non-dualist schools are primarily associated with the
foregoing thought of Bhakti. The most famous today is Advaita
Vedanta, a non-dual (i.e. no separation between the individual
and reality/God/etc.) perspective which often played the role of
Hindu foil to contemporary Buddhist philosophy. In general, it
focused on intense meditation and moral realignment, its
bedrock being the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and the teachings
of its putative founder, Adi Shankara. Through discernment of
the real and the unreal, as a peeling of the layers of an onion,
the sadhak (practitioner) would unravel the maya (illusion) of
being and the cosmos to find nothing within, a nothingness which
was paradoxically being, and transcendentally beyond both such
inadequate descriptions. This was Moksha, this was atman and
Brahman realized as the substance and void of existential
duality.
Moksha in the sacred Hindu temple dance, as in the classical Indian
dance too, is symbolized by Shiva raising his right leg, as if freeing
himself from the gravitation of the material world.
One must achieve Moksha on his or her own. An Arhant or a Siddha
may inspire, but does not intervene.
Components of Moksha
Within Moksha or Mukti, there lies the ultimate peace (Shanti), the
ultimate knowledge (Videh), the ultimate enlightenment (kaivalya) and
the ultimate paradise (Swarga.) One who achieves Moksha is beyond
the conception of any being other than God but these are some of the
known components of the stage of union.
