Brahman

Brahman, the One, is a state of being. It is neither personal ("He") nor impersonal ("It"). It is that state which is when all subject/object disctictions are obliterated, ultimately a name for the experience of the timeless plenitude of being.

The word#

• First appears in the Rg Veda (ca. 1200 B.C.) in close connection with various ascared utterances that were thought to  have a special magical power - thus may have meant “spell” or “prayer”.
• Later in the Brahmanas, Brahman comes to signify that which stands behind the gods as their ground and source.
• In the Upanisads, generally becomes the unitary principle of all being, the knowledge of which liberates one from finitude.

By Advaitins, Brahman is designated as saccidananda (but not is since there cannot be a positivel limiting character given to it) - as “being” (sat) consciousness (cit) bliss (ananda). These are the temrs that express the apprehension of Brahman by man rather than qualifying attirbutes of Brahman. Saccidananda is a symbol of Brahman as formulated by the mind interpreting its Brahman-experience. In this type of designation (svarupalaksana, definition with reference to essence, there is an essential identification of sat, cit, ananda with Brahman, rather than an adjectival qualifying of Brahman - “definition with reference to accidents”, tatasthatlaksana).

• Being (sat) points to the ontological principle of unity, to the oneness not constituted of parts, to the existential substratum of all subjects and object. It alone truly “exists” - saying that its manner of being is not comparable to the supposed existence of anything else.
• Consciousness (cit) points to the principle of awareness which informs being and which is for the Advaitin and unchanging witness of our being.
• Bliss (ananda) points to the principle of value, to the fact that Brahman-experience is ecstatic and annuls all partial value in its incomparable splendor.

Hence Brahman is affirmed by the Advaitin as that fullness of being which enlightens and is joy. It has basis for him in experience ant not in mere speculation, and the experience which is enduring for one who attains it, is the goal of human life.

Via Negativa#

Human language has its source in phenomenal experience; hence, it is limited in its application to states of being that are beyond that experience; logic is grounded in the mind as it relates to the phenomenal order; hence, it is unable to affirm, without at the same time denying, what extends beyond that order.

Is human logic really based upon phenomenal experience? or is it the other way around?

Thus Advaita Vednata distinguishes two aspects or modes of Brahman,

• nirguna. Nirguna Brahman - Brahman without qualities - is just that transcendent indeterminate state of being about which ultimately nothing can be affirmed.
• saguna. Saguna Brahman - Brahman with qualities - is Brahman as interpreted and affirmed by the mind from this necessarily limited standpoint.