Question:
The BG’s glossary defines Brahman as having four aspects:
1. The individual soul
2. The impersonal all-pervasive aspect of the Supreme
3. The Supreme Personality of Godhead (SPOG)
4. Maha-tattva, or total material substance
- In BG 18.54, Krishna states that the Supreme Brahman is realized when one is transcendentally situated. How does this tie in with the definitions in the glossary – namely that of Brahman being both impersonal and the SPOG?
- Is the term Brahman used interchangeably for the four items stated above?
- If Brahman is the impersonal feature of the Lord, then how can it also be the SPOG?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
a. Of the four aspects of Brahman listed above, only # 2 and # 3 are aspects of the Supreme Brahman. See SB 1.2.11, below. Both the Brahman and the Bhagavän features are of the same Absolute and Transcendental nature.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaà yaj jïänam advayam
brahmeti paramätmeti
bhagavän iti çabdyate
Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramätmä or Bhagavän.
To realize both the Brahman and the Bhagavän features of the Supreme, one must have attained the transcendental platform.
b. No. Both #1 and #4 are NOT in the same category as Brahman and Bhagavän.
* The jiva is part and parcel of the Supreme; while qualitatively one, the tiny jiva is not interchangeable with the jiva’s ultimate source, the Supreme.
* In Bhagavad-gétä (14.3), the statement mama yonir mahad brahma indicates that everything in the material world is a manifestation of Brahman; although the effects are differently manifested, in one sense ultimately the effect (the material manifestation) has an aspect of nondifference from the cause – thus “mahad brahma.”
In addition, the above reply expresses that both Brahman and Bhagavän are aspect of the Absolute Truth, but not exactly interchangeable.
c. This is addressed in SB 1.2.11, cited above.
Reference: 4 Different Contextual Meanings of Brahman in Bhagavad Gita
