Page 21 - WIS - Eng

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Teachings of the Vedas

In Çrémad-Bhägavatam (1.2.11), which is the ripened fruit of all
Vedic literature, the Absolute Truth is explained in three aspects:

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.”

The same Absolute Truth is realized by students of the Upaniñads
(jïäna-yogés, or jïänés) as impersonal Brahman, by dhyäna-yogés
(or simply yogés) as localized Paramätmä, and by devotees (bhakti-
yogés) as Bhagavän. Just as the sun has three different aspects—
its rays, the planet itself, and the presiding deity thereof—the
Absolute Truth has the three above-mentioned aspects. Realization
of the all-pervading effulgent sun rays is compared to Brahman
realization. Realization of the sun planet per se is a level higher
because it also includes knowledge of the sun rays, and hence is
compared to realizing the localized, Paramätmä feature of the Lord.
And realization of the sun god is the highest understanding, for it
includes knowledge of the rays and the planet, and therefore is
compared to realizing the Bhagavän feature of the Absolute Truth.

Brahman

The first step in spiritual progress is to understand “I am not this
body. I am spirit soul.” The material body, the material world,
and all interactions thereof simply cause suffering; but we are

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