Nature of Brahman And It's Meta- physical Existence Explained By Advaita Vedanta

 "Brahman" is the fundamental and primordial reality of existence of the Universe. Brahman is the "efficient cause" of this Universe. It is  the unchanging ,pure "cosmic consciousness "which holds everything together . Brahman is the cause  of all causes .Brahman is the "unfiltered " reality , and the reason why it is unfiltered is because  reality can not be perceived using "relative frame" of mind .         We can not filter   true nature of reality in order to  perceive it  and even if we do it ,the reality itself becomes filtered . Hence, by   using "relative consciousness" we   can only  achieve empirical reality but not reality itself . The only way to attain to this reality is to merge with that  "unfiltered  reality "which is Brahman.

  Advaita Vedanta describes Brahman as being only reality , and everything else apart from this reality is just a mere illusion ,which is called "maya ". Many theologians and philosophers believes that Brahman is creating that maya  by itself ,but Advaitaian scholars proposes otherwise ,they say that  it is our own senses which projects a false image of reality and filters the true nature of reality and  this false sense of projection creates maya . It seems  that maya has no independent existence but rather co-exist with Brahman,though there is only Brahman in the universe and no maya exists apart from that ,but still we perceive it   that's because there is still a sense of subject - object division or a dual state of mind which creating a veil of perception that we are nothing but  a body and mind  and are individual and separated beings  from that one singular reality. The body -mind   duality coexist because we are identifying ourselves with this dualism constantly ,from evolution to this state of existence' our brain and the whole human mechanism went  through so many stages to build this cognition and behavioral patterns which we are experiencing right now and hence this construction of dualism has almost became a "genetic memory "through which we all functions. hence we can not erase this genetic memory or can not reconstruct our mechanism ,since every cell of our body always  remembers this evolution process.  So we can not go beyond this empirical sense of reality just by cutting off ourselves from it ,rather we can  train our senses to function them  in a certain way . We don't have to cast away our body to reach God rather should use this body as a tool to get there and this is the whole aim of practicing yoga or asanas or even meditation .So Advaita do not criticize the existence of body or mind but teaches us how to train our body and mind to attain the ultimate truth. 

               Picture of Adi guru  shankara                                                                                                                                                                              Adi Shankaracharya proposed the non-duality philosophy which is called Advaita Vedanta. Shankaracharya said "The knowledge of non duality brings about the cessation of the notions of difference".  Adi guru did not proposed the idea  of neglecting the body to realize the Aatman but he said the body is like a  pilgrimage in which the Aatman resides .                                                                                      Adi Guru said " Knowing that I am different from the body ,I need not to neglect the body . It is a vehicle that I use to transact with the world . It is temple which houses the pure Self within". 

Adi Shankar believed that the Self is pure and the only reason why the self suffers because of the ignorance which is called "Avidya "in Sanskrit. He proposed the philosophy of seeing everyone as a multiple  appearances of that one supreme reality . He proposed  that "The Soul appears to be finite because of ignorance .When ignorance is destroyed the Self which does not admit of any multiplicity truly reveals itself by itself :like the Sun when the clouds pass away." So , the Aatman or the Self  resides behind the veil of ignorance , but once we realize this truth that we are one with that supreme Self irrespective of appearances of multiplicity ,we are for the time being completely dissolved in that blissful state which is Satchidananda.  

After Adi Shankaracharya's  Advaita philosophy two other philosophies emerge out which are Parinanma-vada and Vivrata-vada which also tries to explain the Aatman  and Brahman from their view point. It may seem that Vivrata-vada has so many similarities ,but in terms of  theosophical  aspects they are quite   different .       Parinanma-vada and  Vivrata-vada are post Advaita vedanta causality theories.                        Parinanma-vada suggests that universe is a real transformation( parinama) of Brahman and          Vivrata-vada suggests that the universe is merely an illusory transformation or unreal manifestation(Vivrata)of Brahman. Vivrata-vada emphasis more on the notion that although Brahman appears to undergo a transformation ,in fact no real change takes place but only a apparent state.

There are also so many phrases which Hindu -Santana dharma used to preach and it said to be holy chanting use to realize the Brahman. These short statements or chanting are called as      " Mahavakya " which typically translates as "Great Utterances" which are from Upanishads.                                             " Aaham Brahmasmi Tvam Cha" is one of the most famous utterances from Advaita Vedanta which reflects the idea of Aatman and Brahman are same and also reflects the unity between them.                    The utterance translates as "I am that Brahman".                                                                                       Other "Mahavakya  " are also there to realize Brahman and to merge Aatman with Brahman, which are :

Prajnanam Brahma (Brahman is intelligence)

Tatvamasi ( That you are)

Ayamatma Brahma (Myself is Brahman)

Isavasyam Idam Sarvam  (All this is enveloped by God)

Pranosmi (I am Breath) 

Prajnatma (  I am the intelligent Self).

Hence, to conclude I would like to add some more metaphysical aspects which I didn't mention earlier. Which are, Brahman is unborn ,unchanging ,"not sublatable ". it is omnipresent ,omnipotent , everlasting ,absolute truth . Brahman is called " parmarthika Satya" since it is untagged by difference ,the mark of ignorance . Brahman is substrate of all changes .