Brahman: Meaning in Hinduism and Yoga

Brahman (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मन्, brahman) is the name Hindu philosophy gives to the ultimate reality: the one ground that everything in the universe comes from, rests in and returns to. The Upanishads teach that Brahman is also what you are at the deepest level, your true self or atman. How that sameness should be understood is the main question the schools of Vedanta argue about.

What does Brahman mean?

The word is usually traced to the Sanskrit root bṛh, "to grow, to swell, to expand". Brahman is then "that which is vast", or "that which makes things grow". Linguists do not all agree on the root, but it is the explanation the Indian tradition itself gives.

The meaning of the word shifted over time:

• In the Vedas, the oldest layer, brahman meant the sacred word: the hymn, the formula spoken at the ritual, and the power in it.
• In the Upanishads, written from roughly 700 BCE onward, it came to mean the reality behind the ritual and behind the world itself. The power of the sacred word became the power that holds everything.

The Upanishads describe Brahman in two ways. One is positive: the Taittiriya Upanishad (2.1) calls it satyam jnanam anantam brahma, "Brahman is truth, knowledge, the infinite". Later Vedanta sums this up as sat chit ananda: being, awareness and ananda, bliss. The other way is negative. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.3.6) says Brahman can only be described as neti neti, "not this, not this". Whatever you can point to, Brahman is not that thing, because it is what the pointing happens in.

Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin

Three words that look alike and mean different things. They are mixed up all the time, so here they are side by side:

• Brahman (neuter): the ultimate reality. It is not a person and has no form. This is the word this page is about.
• Brahma (masculine): the creator god, one of the three gods of the Hindu trimurti with Vishnu and Shiva. Our page on Brahma, the creator god covers him.
• Brahmin (brahmana): the priestly class of traditional Hindu society, the people who kept and recited the Vedic word. Older English books often spell it "Brahman", which adds to the confusion.

All three grow from the same root. The Brahmin is the keeper of brahman, the sacred word. The god Brahma is that power given a face. Brahman, in the Upanishads, is the reality beneath both. You will also meet Brahmana as the name of a group of Vedic ritual texts, and "Brahman" as the name of a breed of cattle.

Brahman and atman

This is the centre of the idea. Atman, the true self, is the awareness in you that stays while your body, thoughts and moods change. The Upanishads say that this inner self and Brahman are one. Four short sentences, known as the mahavakyas or "great sayings", carry the teaching:

• Tat tvam asi, "You are that" (Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7).
• Aham brahmasmi, "I am Brahman" (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10).
• Ayam atma brahma, "This self is Brahman" (Mandukya Upanishad 2).
• Prajnanam brahma, "Awareness is Brahman" (Aitareya Upanishad 3.3).

The Chandogya uses an image to make the point. A father asks his son to dissolve salt in water and then find it. The son cannot see the salt, but every sip tastes of it. Brahman, the father says, is present in the same way: nowhere to be seen, and in everything.

Saguna and nirguna Brahman

Hindu thinkers separate two ways of approaching Brahman. Nirguna Brahman is Brahman "without qualities": formless, beyond description, the neti neti of the Upanishads. Saguna Brahman is Brahman "with qualities": the same reality approached as a personal God, with form, names and a relationship to the one who prays. Most daily worship in Hinduism is directed to saguna Brahman, in the form of Vishnu, Shiva, the Goddess or another deity.

Brahman in yoga practice

In most modern yoga, Brahman enters through three doors.

Om. The Upanishads name the syllable Om as the sound of Brahman. The Mandukya Upanishad opens with it, and the Katha Upanishad (1.2.16) says the syllable is Brahman. When a class begins by chanting Om, the mantra, this is the idea behind it, whether the teacher says so or not.

Meditation. In the Vedanta tradition you do not find Brahman by looking outward. You sit still, turn your attention to the one who is aware, and keep coming back to it. A plain beginner's meditation practice uses the same mechanics: a still seat, a point of focus, returning when the mind wanders. What you believe about Brahman does not change how you sit.

Brahmacharya. One of the yamas carries the word in its name. Brahmacharya literally means "moving in Brahman". In the Vedic period it named the life of a student learning the Vedas, which is where the rules on celibacy and restraint come from.

The Bhagavad Gita, a text many yoga teachers quote, ties the practice together. In 5.24 it speaks of the yogi who finds happiness within and reaches brahma nirvana, the stillness of Brahman.

Where the traditions disagree

Many yoga books say "the goal of yoga is union with Brahman". That sentence hides two real disagreements.

The first is inside Vedanta. All three main schools read the same Upanishads and come out in different places:

• Advaita (non-dual), taught by Shankara around the 8th century: atman and Brahman are one without a second. The world of separate things is maya, an appearance. Liberation is seeing through it.
• Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dual), taught by Ramanuja in the 11th and 12th centuries: souls and the world are real, and they are parts of Brahman the way a body belongs to a person. Brahman is a personal God, Vishnu.
• Dvaita (dual), taught by Madhva in the 13th century: God and the soul are forever distinct. The soul depends on God and is never the same as God.

When you read "you are Brahman" in a yoga text, you are reading Advaita. It is the view most Western yoga met first, through Swami Vivekananda in the 1890s and later through teachers in the Sivananda lineage. It is one reading, and many Hindus hold another.

The second is about yoga itself. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the text behind the 8 limbs of yoga, do not use Brahman as a goal. Patanjali's system is close to Samkhya philosophy: pure awareness (purusha) is separated from nature (prakriti), and the goal is kaivalya, the isolation or freedom of awareness. The Sutras speak of Ishvara, a special kind of self, but not of merging with a cosmic Brahman. So "yoga means union with Brahman" is a Vedantic reading laid over Patanjali's text. It became common through modern teachers who blended the two, and it is not what the Sutras themselves say.

What holds across the traditions: Brahman is the Upanishads' word for the ultimate reality, and yoga in the Hindu tradition is a practice for seeing that reality, or your own true nature, more clearly. Whether that ends in oneness, in closeness to God or in the freedom of pure awareness depends on the school.

For the other Sanskrit words that come up in class, see our list of 50 Sanskrit yoga terms. Namaste is often explained as a bow to the atman in another person, and our guide to what namaste means traces where that reading comes from.

If you want to read the texts with a teacher, our yoga philosophy classes and the introduction to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali go through them sutra by sutra.

Frequently asked questions

What is the concept of Brahman?

Brahman is the Hindu name for the ultimate reality: the one source and ground of everything that exists. The Upanishads describe it as being, awareness and bliss, and teach that your true self, the atman, is one with it.

Are Brahmin and Brahman the same?

No. Brahman is the ultimate reality in Hindu philosophy. A Brahmin is a member of the priestly class, the people who traditionally kept and recited the Vedas. Both words come from the same Sanskrit root, and older English texts sometimes spell Brahmin as "Brahman".

Who is the Brahman caste?

The caste is usually spelled Brahmin. Brahmins are the priestly and scholarly class, the first of the four varnas of traditional Hindu society. Their traditional work was to learn, recite and teach the Vedas and to perform rituals.

Is a Brahman a cow?

Brahman is also the name of a cattle breed, developed in the United States in the late 1800s from Indian zebu cattle. It has a hump and a loose dewlap and handles heat well. The breed takes its name from India. It has nothing to do with the philosophical meaning.

Is Brahman a god?

Not in the usual sense. Nirguna Brahman has no form or personality. Saguna Brahman is the same reality approached as a personal God, and the Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita schools identify Brahman with Vishnu. Brahma, the creator god, is a different figure.

What is the difference between Brahman and atman?

Atman is the self in you. Brahman is the reality of everything. The Upanishads teach that the two are one: "You are that". Advaita Vedanta takes this literally. Other schools say the self is a part of Brahman, or is always distinct from it.

Does Patanjali mention Brahman in the Yoga Sutras?

Not as a goal. The Yoga Sutras aim at kaivalya, the freedom of pure awareness from nature. The word appears inside brahmacharya, one of the yamas. The idea that yoga means union with Brahman comes from Vedanta.