Brahman/Ishvara

It is extremely difficult for many people to grasp the unity in diversity and the diversity in unity. This is especially seen in the idea of the Trinity, which is to be found in some form in just about every religion.

When reading the different Christian interpretations about the Trinity, we come to the conclusion, that there exists a lot of confusion and every time theologians attempt to make the idea clearer, it becomes even more obscured.

For some reason, theologians find it difficult to get the idea of a single absolute unity that manifests in a threefold manner. One problem is their insistence that there are three “persons” in the Godhead. They seem to resent the suggestion that the Three are really three aspects or manifestations of the Divine, or three ways in which the Absolute relates to relative existence and all sentient beings that are evolving within the cosmos.

In ancient India the sages clearly understood and expressed the truth that God is Om Tat Sat: divine creative intelligent energy, divine guiding intelligence within that energy, and primal intelligence that include those two.

"Tat" means ‘that’; it also refers to God only.

"Sat" means ‘truth’ & God is truth which is everlasting and unchanging.

So "Om Tat Sat" means; what is everlasting and unchanging is God, who is infinite Existence - Consciousness Bliss is denoted by Om. Within Om is everything. Om contains all. Om is all, Om is present everywhere, like light.

The Bible which refers to "Om" as "Word":

 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." which can be expressed "In the beginning was the Om, and the Om was with God, and the Om was God."

In Christianity Trinity is referred to as, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which corresponds to the above Sat, Tat, Om. Father corresponds to Sat, Son, corresponds to Tat and Holy Spirit corresponds to Om.

This threefold nature of God is beautifully related in his book "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda.

Sat or Father aspect of God is one who lives beyond this vibratory creation of ours.

"Tat" or "Son or Christ Consciousness" aspect of God is one who lives within this vibratory creation and is present

everywhere within space or vibratory creation and is called omnipresent God.

The Om or Holy Ghost aspect of God is the witness of this Tat or Son or Christ Consciousness aspect of God.

This Om is the invisible divine power, the only doer, the sole causative and activating force that upholds all creation through vibration. Om, the Word is the creative vibration that externalizes all creation.

Brahman as Ishvara in Yoga

The One Absolute, Impersonal Existence, together with his inscrutable Maya, appears as the divine Lord Ishvara or the personal God. By his divine power he holds dominion over all the worlds. At the periods of creation and dissolution of the universe, he alone exists.

Brahman always exists and Brahman is always one, never two. But Brahman can appear as many, Together with his inscrutable Maya. It is through Maya, the creative power of Brahman, that Brahman appears as many. Maya is as incomprehensible to the limited human mind as Brahman Itself, for Maya is Brahman, otherwise it could not exist.

When we get the seeming duality of Brahman and Maya we immediately get the appearance of Brahman as Ishvara, the Lord, and the personal God.

Brahman is without any qualities or traits, but Ishvara possessing innumerable qualities. So although we cannot conceive of Brahman, we can know Ishvara, even though we cannot comprehend His total being.

Ishvara, as an emanation of Brahman and arises as the first step or first born in creation.

At dissolution of the universes He merges into the bosom of the Father and only Brahman remains.

It is Ishvara who creates, sustains, and dissolves the universes, and this all takes place within Him as His creative thought, the Cosmic Dream.

Ishvara is Consciousness Itself. And in this capacity omniscient and omnipresence, He interacts with all beings. Those who wish, can enter into an intimate relationship and communication with Him, He is father, mother, brother, sister, and friend.

We have presented the triune nature of God in Christian and Yoga terms and explained the Existence of God as transcendent Reality and its first expression, which in Yoga is called Ishvara and trust that it will bring greater clarity to otherwise confusing issues.