परब्रह्म 

पुराण Purana and इतिहास Itihasa

(epic history)

Children’s Illustrated रामायण Ramayana: Figure 19

Among the rishis from whom राम Rama received blessings was अगस्त्य Agastya,

short of stature and a sage known for his penance and great powers.

परब्रह्मन् Parabrahman —The Supreme Spirit. ब्रह्म Brahman is the root cause of this universe. From ब्रह्म Brahman originated आकाश Ākāśa (sky). From the sky came air, from the air came अग्नि Agni and from Agni came water and from the water was born this earth. (Chapter 377, अग्नि पुराण Agni Purāṇa). (Cf. Story of Parabrahman from the Puranic encyclopaedia by वेट्टम मणि, Vettam Mani)

Source: शिव पुराण, Shiva Purana

1) परब्रह्मन्, Parabrahman refers to the “Supreme Brahman” which one is able to realise due to विजनाना perfect knowledge (vijñāna), according to शिव पुराण, the Śivapurāṇa 2.1.12, while explaining details of worship:—“[...] if one associates with good people (सत्संगती, satsaṃgati), one will come across a preceptor (गुरु, Guru). From the preceptor mantras and the modes of worship (पूजा, pūjā) can be learned. भक्ति, Bhakti (devotion) is generated by worship and it gives birth to knowledge (ज्ञाना, jñāna). Knowledge leads to perfect knowledge (विजनाना, vijñāna) and the realisation of the supreme Brahman (Parabrahman). When there is perfect knowledge, differentiations (भेडा, bheda) cease altogether. When differentiation ceases, the misery of mutually clashing opposites (द्वादवदुखः dvandvaduḥkha) vanishes. He who is free from the tangle of opposites and the miseries attendant on them assumes the form of शिव Śiva (शिवरूप śivarūpa)”.

2) परब्रह्मन्, Parabrahman refers to the “pure Brahman”, and represents an epithet of शिव Śiva used in संध्या Sandhyā’s eulogy of शिव Śiva, according to शिवपुराण, the Śivapurāṇa 2.2.6. Accordingly:—“[...] Directly perceiving the lord of दुर्गा Durgā she [viz., संध्या Sandhyā] eulogised the lord of the worlds: [...] Thou art, the greatest supreme soul. Thou art शिव Śiva, the various lores, the pure Brahman (परब्रह्मन्, Parabrahman), the supreme Brahman and the utmost object of deliberation”.

Source: Shodhganga: सौरपुराण, the Saura Purana - a critical study

परब्रह्मन्, Parabrahman refers to the “equilibrium of the three guṇas” representing a primordial state of शिव Śiva, according to the 10th-century सौरपुराण, Saurapurāṇa: one of the various उपपुराणसी Upapurāṇas depicting शैवसम्प्रदायः Śaivasampradāyaḥ (शैववाद Śaivism).—While discussing the topic of सर्ग sarga (creation or evolution of the Universe), सौरपुराण, the Saurapurāṇa says that शिव 

 Lord Śiva exists firstly as the unmanifested infinite, unknowable and ultimate director. But He is also called the unmanifested, eternal, cosmic cause which is both being and nonbeing and is identified with प्रकृति, Prakṛti. In this aspect, He is regarded as Para-Brahman, the equilibrium of the three guṇas.

In this state, पुरुष: the Puruṣa exists within Himself as it were and this is also called the state of प्रकृतिप्रलय, Prakṛtapralaya... From this state of Unmanifestedness God begins to assert Himself as God and enters into प्रकृति, Prakṛti and पुरुष, Puruṣa by His own inner intimate contact. This existence of God may be compared with the sex-impulse in man or woman which exists within them and manifests itself only as a creative impulse although remaining one and the same with them all the while.

वैष्णव धर्म Vaishnavism

(Vaishnava dharma)

परब्रह्मन्, Parabrahman in Vaishnavism glossary

Source: Pure भक्ति Bhakti: भगवद-गीता Bhagavad-gita (4th edition)

परब्रह्म, Parabrahma refers to “the Supreme Absolute Truth, Śrī Kṛṣṇa; the supreme Brahma”. (cf. Glossary page from Śrīmad-Bhagavad-Gītā).

Source: Pure Bhakti: Bhajana-rahasya - 2nd Edition

Parabrahma (परब्रह्म) refers to:—The Supreme ब्रह्मा Brahma, श्री भगवान Śrī Bhagavān. (cf. Glossary page from भजन रहस्यः Bhajana-Rahasya).

Source: Pure भक्ति Bhakti: बृहद भगवतमृतम, Brhad Bhagavatamrtam

Parabrahman (परब्रह्मन्) refers to:—The Supreme ब्रह्मा Brahman. (cf. Glossary page from श्री बृहद-भागवतामृत: Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta).

Parabrahm, the unmanifested Absolute

Description of the Frontispiece in Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann.

White or Black, a game and show of alienated, usurped powers

At the foot of the picture is a sleeping Sphinx, whose upper part (representing the higher principles) is human; while the lower parts (symbolizing the lower principles) are of animal nature.

She is dreaming of the solution to the great problem of the construction of the Universe and of the nature and destiny of Man, and her dream takes the shape of the figure above her, representing the Macrocosm and the Microcosm and their mutual interaction.

Above, around, and within all, without beginning and without an end, penetrating and pervading all, from the endless and unimaginable periphery to the invisible and incomprehensible centre is Parabrahm, the unmanifested Absolute, the supreme source of every power that ever manifested or may in the future manifest itself as a “thing”, and by whose activity the world was thrown into existence, being projected by the power of His own will and imagination.

The Omega (and the Alpha in the centre) represent the “Son”, the Absolute having become manifest as the Universal Logos or The Christ, also called Buddhi, or the sixth principle, the cause of the beginning and the end of every created thing. It is One with the “father”, is manifested as a Trinity in a Unity, the cause of what we call Space, Motion, and Substance. Its highest manifestation is Self-consciousness, by which it may come to the comprehension of Man.

The spiritual man whose matrix is his own physical body draws his nutriment from this universal spiritual principle as the physical fetus is nourished by means of the womb of the mother, his soul being formed from the astral influences or the soul of the world.

Out of the Universal Logos proceeds the “invisible Light ” of the Spirit, the Truth, the Law, and the Life, embracing and penetrating the Cosmos and becoming manifest in the illuminated soul of Man, while the visible light of Nature is only its most material aspect or mode of manifestation, in the same sense as the visible sun is the reflex of its divine prototype, the invisible centre of power or the great spiritual Sun.

The circle with the twelve signs of the Zodiac, enclosing the space in which the planets belonging to our solar system are represented, symbolizes the Cosmos, filled with the planetary influences pervading the Astral Light, and which are caused by the interaction of the astral emanations of the cosmic bodies and their inhabitants.

The activity in the Cosmos is represented by the interlaced triangle. The two outer ones represent the great powers of creation, preservation, and destruction, or ब्रह्मन् bráhman, विष्णु viṣṇu and शिव śivá, “the auspicious one”, acting upon the elements of Fire, Water, and Earth — that is to say, upon the original principles out of which ethereal, fluid and solid material substances and forms are produced.

The two inner interlaced triangles refer more especially to the development of Man. B, C, and D represent Knowledge, the Knower, and the Known, which trinity constitutes Self-knowledge. E, F, and G represent the Physical Man, the Ethereal or Inner Man, and the Spiritual Man. The centre represents the divine Atma, being identical with the Universal Logos. It is, like the latter, a Trinity in a Unity. Of the three interlaced A’s only one is distinctly drawn in the figure.

It is the spiritual seed implanted in the soul of man, through whose growth immortal life is attained. Its light is the Rose of the Cross that is formed by Wisdom and Power. But below all is the realm of illusion, of the grossest and heavy materialized thoughts, sinking into Darkness and Death, where they decompose and putrefy, and are resolved (recycled) again into the elements out of which the Universe came into existence.

Excerpts from Magic: White and Black by Franz Hartmann