Concept of Nirguna Brahman and Saguna

Brahman
Facilitator: Rev.Dr.Kailash Kumar Chatry
Submitted by
Benny John

The concept of Absolute Reality or Brahman is a central concept in Hinduism. The idea of
Brahman is that once an individual understands Brahman, they will be considered a Self-
realized being, or liberated while alive. Most Hindu’s spend their lives trying to attain this
liberation. There are two qualities or gunas of Brahman which are typically discussed by Hindu
philosophers:
Nirguna, meaning without qualities, and Saguna, meaning with qualities.
Nirguna and Saguna are used to describe the Brahman or the ultimate reality referring to its
transcendent as well as immanent character, and as such, involve neither negation nor exclusion
of each other. However, there are different interpretations on whether Brahman is intrinsically
Nirguna or Saguna. Two key individuals who strive to explain these notions are the Hindu
philosophers Sankara, and Ramanuja.
Concept of Brahman
1. In Hinduism, the concept of Brahman and Atman (Self) go hand in hand. Brahman
seems to be to stand for some ultimate wholeness, which can integrate all existence.
However, there are two different ways to view Brahman. One way is to describe
Brahman would be that it is the source of all things and that all things will eventually
go back to this source. Another way to describe Brahman is as a principle of experience
as that which the essence of the seeker’s being is, that onto which the self of the seeker
can be mapped. The Upanishads are texts which somewhat ambiguously describe
Brahman; Brahman is sometimes the cause, sometimes the creator and there are both
personal and impersonal explanations of Brahman. As a result, it is important to
understand all concepts of Brahman to fully grasp its true nature.

2. Another important concept of Brahman is Atman (the individual self) and the
relationship between the two. Some individuals consider Brahman and Atman to be one
and the same, whereas others regard it as distinct from the self. The Upanishads texts
further describe Brahman as a kind of creator as well as supporter of all things in the
universe. Once an individual understands the connection between Brahman and the Self
(Atman), the individual then experiences moksa.

What is Moksa?
Moksa is the liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Haridas Chaudhuri describes
the realization of the true nature of Brahman as infinite being-consciousness-joy. There are no

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words to accurately describe Brahman, but the sacred utterance Aum is said to be both a symbol
of Brahman, and a manifestation of Brahman in sound. Although there are hundreds of gods
that individuals worship in Hinduism. Brahman encompasses everything.
Sankara concept of Brahaman.
Sankara was born in Kerala around the 8th century, Sankara was a leader of one of four mathas
groups, the Sankaracaryas. Sankara is considered one of the most important Hindu
philosophers, known especially for his interpretations of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita,
and the Brahma Sutra. He created the Advaita Vedanta philosophy which claims like other
aspects of Hinduism, that the only thing in existence is Brahman. The difference however, is
that the concept of Brahman in Advaita Vedanta is that Brahman is not made up of parts,
therefore Atman is Brahman, and Brahman is Atman. They are not two different attributes like
other schools of thought maintain. Atman couldn’t be a quality or an attribute of Brahman,
because Brahman is not made up of separate parts. This notion suggests that Brahman is
Nirguna, beyond, or without attributes.
Nirguna Brahman
A part of Sankara’s philosophy describes Nirguna Brahman as being an “unqualified reality, is
the origin of the world of experience and can also be described as silence. This is a state of
Brahman in which the individual is at peace and still. There is not anything that needs to be
changed. The difficulty with assigning Brahman as Nirguna is that even trying to describe
Brahman is saying that Brahman has qualities that can be described, and therefore one is
describing a Saguna Brahman. The qualities, or gunas, that appear to make up Brahman are
attributed to Maya, the creative side of Brahman.
Maya is the creative power through which Brahman, like a great magician, conjures up
the world of seeming multiplicity and separate selves. An illustration that Sankara uses to
explain this philosophy is the analogy of a rope and a snake. Walking along, one might think
that they see a snake in their path. By seeing this snake, many emotions can overcome the
individual, but once the illusion is penetrated, the illusory snake vanishes, revealing the
substrate upon which it was superimpose. Therefore, maya is superimposed on Brahman. Since
Brahman is everything, maya deludes everything one sees until moksa, or liberation, is
attained. At this point, the individual becomes one with Brahman, and the individual is not
fooled by maya any longer. Until this occurs, the world even including Isvara (the Lord), is not
ultimately true or real, but that ultimate reality belongs only to the infinite, eternal, unchanging,
pure bliss consciousness that is Brahman.
Saguna Brahaman
The second aspect of Brahman is the concept of Saguna Brahman. Although it is an equal part
of understanding Brahman, it is drastically different from Nirguna Brahman. Saguna Brahman
is Ultimate Reality assigned with attributes. Chaudhuri describes Saguna Brahman as “the
Supreme Spirit conceived as the universal principle endowed with such cosmic functions as
creation, maintenance, and dissolution”. As stated above, Chaudhuri describes Brahman as
being a concept of creative joy, and in that case, Saguna Brahman would be the “supreme artist
of the world”.

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Sankara takes his views on how maya is superimposed onto Brahman, and says that
since maya is superimposed onto everything, the things one sees through maya have qualities,
and therefore those qualities mean that Brahman is Saguna. Sankara also explains that the
understanding of the world that one sees through maya is called Isvara (The Lord).
The three qualities of Saguna Brahman that are most prevalent are sat, cit, and ananda. Sat is
the being or existence of Brahman, cit is the consciousness Brahman, and ananda is bliss.
These qualities of Brahman are viewed through maya’s illusions and once these qualities are
stripped away, Sankara’s theory is that one is left with the pure essence of Brahman, which is
Nirguna, or without attributes. Ananta and Ramadhan explains this complex relationship by
simply stating that “Isvara is related to the world and defined through that relationship, whereas
nirguna Brahman is brahman-in-itself and beyond all definitions”.
Ramanuja Concept on Brahman
Another important Hindu philosopher is Ramanuja. Ramanuja was born in the 11th or
12th century in Chennai. Before he created his own philosophy, he studied Sankara’s Advaita
Vedanta philosophy. Ramanuja would go on to join the Sri-Vaisnava tradition, which focused
on the influences of the Alvars, who were very influenced by bhakti which is defined as
“devotional worship through action”. His own philosophy, however, is called Visistadvaita
(qualified non-dualism). Ramanujan’s philosophy is similar to Sankara’s philosophy of
Advaita Vedanta in that they both believe that Brahman is the Ultimate Reality, and that
Brahman encompasses everything. Unlike Sankara, Ramanuja also believes that it has gunas,
or qualities, and therefore is Saguna.
The concept of Brahman is so important in Hinduism that it is not difficult to imagine the
different forms of opinions surrounding the two notions of Nirguna and Saguna Brahman. Two
important Hindu philosophers, Sankara and Ramanuja, both had different opinions and
philosophies on these two notions. Sankara believed that Brahman is Nirguna, or having no
qualities or attributes, and that everything one sees is not Brahman, but maya, or the power of
illusion. Ramanuja believes that Brahman is Saguna, or with qualities, due to the fact that even
trying to describe the notion of a Nirguna Brahman is assigning attributes, making Brahman
Saguna. There are many other philosophers who attempt to explain the two different notions
of Brahman, but Sankara and Ramanujan’s philosophies are the primary philosophies.

Nirguna Brahman Saguna Brahman

Hindus think of Brahman is as Nirguna
Brahman. This is the idea that Ultimate
Reality (God) has no shape or form
Nirguna Brahman is represented is by the
Hindu aum or om symbol, which is used
in meditation
Hindus believe that aum is the sound that
began the universe
Brahman has a form and qualities that can be
understood, Hindus think of Brahman is as
Saguna Brahman
The thousands of gods and goddesses that are
worshipped by Hindus across the world are
seen as manifestations of Brahman
Worshipping the forms of Brahman, they can
begin to understand Brahman and gain
spiritual insight into the nature of Ultimate
Reality.

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References

Betty, Stafford (2010) “Dvaita, Advaita, and Visistadvaita: Contrasting Views of

Moksa.” Asian Philosophy, Vol. 20, No. 2: 215-224.
Carr, Brian (1999) “Sankara and the principle of material causation.” Religious Studies, Vol.
35, No. 4: 425-439.
Chakravarthi, Ram-Prasad “Brahman.” Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Online:
http://0 referenceworks.brillonline.com.darius.uleth.ca/entries/brill-s-encyclopedia-
of hinduism/brahman-COM_2050070.