The Metaphysics of The Atman is Brahman Idea
The Metaphysics of “The Atman is Brahman”
“The Atman is Brahman.”
This little quote and longstanding idea is as powerful and profound as it is simple. It has provided inspiration and pondering for the individuals of Asia, the proverbial Atman, the world over for millennia. The phrase is actually a derivative of The Four Great Sayings, the Mahavakyas, from The Upanishads. There are more accurately four ways to express and interpret the idea that the spark is the fire, the wave is the ocean, Atman is Brahman, as in the illustration.
Atman is Brahman can literally and most basically be translated to ‘you are that.’ More esoterically it uses the lesson of Correspondence, the rule that the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, to specifically note that the individual initiate is made up of and reflects god and the universe in general, or whatever one conceptualizes as God - The All, The Tao, The Universe and the Universal Principles – the ultimate reality.
The Atman is Brahman idea aligns with the exoteric science that the atomic is the cosmic as well as esoteric lessons. You are the universe and more specifically you, the initiate, are becoming as the God Brahman. Brahman embodies the idea that atomic is the cosmic.
Brahman is the ancient Hindu creator god of the Hindu trinity. The word also is related to the verb to grow and to solidify and infers becoming. The noun brahmana describes a priest. More profoundly and esoterically the idea of brahman suggest the idea that the devotee is solidifying and developing to connection and similarity to God or The All.
A priest might be devoted to their own development/solidification and their comprehension of The Universe and The Universal Principles so as to advance individuals as a teacher. Or a priest might be predominantly an institutional representative. There has always been exoteric priests and esoteric priests. The difference of course is detectable in their attitude not their dress, of course.
The God Brahman is depicted with four heads and four arms. He is the creator god of the trinity which includes Vishnu and Shiva. Brahman is partnered with Hamsa as his vehicle, the bar-headed Goose. This goose is one of the highest-flying birds. Twice a year on its migration, it flies over The Himalayas. Only the common crane and a type of vulture venture higher. The soaring bird symbolically relates to the ascended quality of Brahman as well as the capability to travel to entirety, from the highest mountain peak to the lowest valley pond.
Brahman is one of the few gods to not have numerous temples associated with his direct worship. He is the self-venerated, self-actualized creator. He is the creator of physical mass and more importantly he is the creator of the intangible spiritual dimension, for inspiration for individual ascension.
Brahman’s four heads are said to depict the four Vedas, foundational texts of Hinduism, and knowledge. His four arms are symbolic for being of totality of the four directions of physical reality and his four heads compliment the idea pertaining to knowledge. The four-direction relationship is referenced across space and time among the symbology of many, if not all, peoples. The four directions can esoterically refer to the four dimensions of mind. Brahman’s four arms and four heads are said symbolic of the four directions, and four dimensions, of physicality and spirituality.
Brahman with his four heads and four arms represents the conscious creator of both the physical and the spiritual, the exoteric and the esoteric, and the conscious comprehension of totality. This idea represented by Brahman the Hindu creator god of four heads and four arms for the higher world and the lower world, or exoteric and esoteric, corresponds with the Ancient Egyptian practice of mirroring messages twice, one for the physical and one for the metaphysical, one for the exoteric and one for the esoteric. In most Egyptian sacred sites the sacred texts are shared on two opposing walls representative of this foundational idea.
Brahman is the creator in between Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer in the Hindu trinity. Brahman creates and comprehends the entire upper world and lower world, the spiritual and the material. His four heads represent this complete understanding of the higher and his four arms and hands represent complete understanding of the lower material world.
“The All is mind.” ~The Kybalion
“One of the old hermetic masters wrote, long ages ago, ‘He who grasps the truth of the mental universe is well advanced on the path to mastery.’” ~The Kybalion
The three word phrase from The Kybalion is essentially a direct comparison and contrast to similar sentiment ‘Atman is Brahman.’ And within this contrast is the idea that to compare actually examines and reveals for just as the Atman is Brahman, Brahman is Atman, or The All is mind. And to simplify a main lesson of each of these ideas as of sides of a coin, the individual is capable of becoming the result of the universal, and the universal is a result of the individual’s perspective.
“To the pure all things are pure, to the base all things are base.” ~The Kybalion
The infinite brahman is within the finite atman. The layers of interpretation to this simple and profound idea are innumerable. One layer implies development in correspondence with higher ideas and greater energies as your essence, just as the individuation character behind Brahman in his self-actualized tone and in the symbolism of the four heads and four arms equating to completion of totality of spiritual and physical worlds. A simple meditation tool is to embody higher ideas in such symbolism.
A profound and related idea to the four dimensions Brahman depicts is the set of four called the Purashartha, the purpose of human being. This set of four provides an outline so to speak for completion of aspiration and provides a balanced containment of what otherwise be illminded pursuits beyond such. The idea represents the essence of human endeavors, and it is at essence of Hinduism. Such ideas are outlines for individuals toward enhanced individuation, the inititation of life, and are not dogmatic authoritarian rules for the collective towards some restraining predicament.
There is Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. The most important, of course, is Dharma. There are many meanings to this ancient word, but Dharma pertains to learning valuable universal lessons. There are innumerable aspects to learning but comprehension of Universal Law is a primary among the most important Dharma lessons. Of the four aspects to human being, Purashartha, The Dharma is the most important.
This set of four is its own initiatory practice, its own yoga, of individual unity with the flow of the universal energy, its own ‘Atman is Brahman’ ideation and initiation. The Purashartha corresponds with the four Ashrama, a more simple, more exoteric set of four stages of life – that of student, householder, retirement, and renunciation.
Operating at your highest level for your true purpose is paradoxically dependent on balancing oneself in relation to universal flowing energies and principles. When we can operate in balance with the flowing of energy, the greater cosmic occurrences unfolding with or without us, the better opportunity we have to meditate like the priestly Brahman and the more opportunity and drive we have to be creative like Brahman.