God talk

28 th June 2020 In the Transcendental state Brahman/God is referred to as ‘it’. In the conditioned state Brahman/God is referred to as ‘He’. Hinduism is not pantheistic (Nikhilananda says later on) Nikhilananda then say that Brahman in the unconditioned state; words such as Creator, omnipotent, omniscient become irrelevant.    Perhaps he said this because at this point no creation is there.

27 th June 2020 Nikhilananda Page 12 , Hinduism, It’s meaning for the liberation of the Spirit Nikhilananda says that the etymology of Brahman denotes an entity whose greatness, powers, or expansion no one can measure. My side note; ‘Atman signifies the consciousness in man which experiences gross objects during the waking state, subtle objects during the dream state, and the bliss arising from the absence of the duality of subject and object in dreamless state’.   Nikhilananda   then gives some more definitions of Brahman states. Transcendental or unconditioned Brahman; In this state negative theology is used Brahman is not this or that.   This is a completely acceptable way to do theology within Christianity i.e. analogia entis. Phenomenal or conditioned Brahman; Brahman does this does that etc.   This is how God is spoken of in the Old Testament he acts and does. This is a completely acceptable way to see Brahman and God (Bruggeman on verbs of the OT).

26 th June 2020 So, what part of Brahman and God will I be looking at?   First, I think we can give an overall outline as taught in British Schools for example the simple Sue Penney books simple idea of God Brahman is the Unknowable or the part of the divine that cannot be known.   Then we have the economy of the Trimurti; Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the destroyer.   Over Aeons the universe goes through a cyclic process of creation, preservation and destruction.   This is a simple definition, but I want to look at the Hiddenness of Brahman and not moving onto the Trimurti.   This is important because at this point Brahman is hidden and Unknowable.   What do Hindu scholars say about this moment in Brahman that cannot be seen or known? When we cross this line, we move from the universals to the particulars I don’t want to do this. Once we have looked at this in detail, I will do the same through Karl Barths discussion on the Hiddenness of God in CD 2