- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary of Sanskrit Words
- Introduction
- Chapter I A Conceptual Introduction
- Chapter II A Historical Survey
- Chapter III Brahman: Nirguṇa and Saguṇa
- Chapter IV Īśvara
- Chapter V Devī
- Chapter VI The Hindu Trinity (Trimūrti)
- Chapter VII Brahmā
- Chapter VIII Viṣṇu
- Chapter IX Śiva
- Chapter X Jīva
- Chapter XI Saṁsāra
- Chapter XII Karma
- Chapter XIII Dharma
- Chapter XIV Māyā
- Chapter XV Mokṣa
- Chapter XVI Jñāna-yoga
- Chapter XVII Bhakti-yoga
- Chapter XVIII Karma-yoga
- Chapter XIX Varṇa
- Chapter XX Āśrama
- Chapter XXI Puruṣārthas
- Chapter XXII Vedas
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Brahmā
Brahmā
- Chapter:
- (p.76) Chapter VII Brahmā
- Source:
- Classical Hindu Thought
- Author(s):
Arvind Sharma
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The first member of the Hindu trinity is Brahmā. The name has usually been explained as the masculinization of Brahman, which designates the ultimate reality in the neuter. However, it is also plausible that the god arose as a divinization of Brahmā, a word which originally designated a supervisory priest. Brahmā is closely associated with the Vedas, and to see how this association is connected with creation, one has to take into account certain characteristic Hindu ideas. One of them is that the universe undergoes periodic cycles of appearance and dissolution, on a rather spectacular scale. This chapter provides an account of the temporal dimensions involved, before which even computation in light years begins to appear rather dim.
Keywords: Hindu trinity, Brahman, Vedas, creation, universe, dissolution of the universe, god, divinization
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary of Sanskrit Words
- Introduction
- Chapter I A Conceptual Introduction
- Chapter II A Historical Survey
- Chapter III Brahman: Nirguṇa and Saguṇa
- Chapter IV Īśvara
- Chapter V Devī
- Chapter VI The Hindu Trinity (Trimūrti)
- Chapter VII Brahmā
- Chapter VIII Viṣṇu
- Chapter IX Śiva
- Chapter X Jīva
- Chapter XI Saṁsāra
- Chapter XII Karma
- Chapter XIII Dharma
- Chapter XIV Māyā
- Chapter XV Mokṣa
- Chapter XVI Jñāna-yoga
- Chapter XVII Bhakti-yoga
- Chapter XVIII Karma-yoga
- Chapter XIX Varṇa
- Chapter XX Āśrama
- Chapter XXI Puruṣārthas
- Chapter XXII Vedas
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index