Does it Encompass the Entire Universe or Envelop Planet Earth Only?

Brahman, a key concept of the Upanishads, appears by all means  to be a simple, easily understandable term for ordinary mortals, but from time immemorial it has been  made  unimaginably complex and incomprehensible, I feel,   by the great interpreters and commentators of Hindu spirituality.

Proponents of the Dvaita, Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and other schools of thought had once engaged in unending debates on their concept of  the world  and their idea  of oneness or duality of Brahman, their divergent arguments  finding die-hard  adherents in the Hindu society even now.

Many of the lines  of the Upanishads, like the great mahavakyas, are pithy and to the point, but the commentaries by the hoary acharyas and modern-day scholars go on and on for hundreds of pages, leaving a reader gasp for breath, a manifestation of  the real Brahman they all speak of.

That brings us to the preliminary question:  What is Brahman, or who is Brahman?  Is he the one who created the Universe and all that it contains?  Is he the God who created it all ? And supervises it all, in a divinely good, bad or ugly manner?

Even the Vedas and the Upanishads have no proper answer to such questions. See the Rig Veda, the most ancient fountainhead of Hindu spirituality. Its 129th verse of 10th  Mandala  is known as Nasadiya Suktha in Sanskrit and famous  as the ‘Hymn of Creation’ in English. But it does not at all say who created the Universe, pointing out that gods came after creation. (Then how can it be called as the ‘Hymn of Creation’ is another question).

But, after all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
the gods themselves are later than creation,
so who knows truly whence it has arisen?
   —— (Rig Veda 10.129)

From Nasadiya Suktha and many references in the Upanishads, like Prasna for instance, it is evident that Hindu scriptures do not say there is a creator per se for the Universe, which came into being on its own, as swayambhu. From many Upanishadic accounts the emergence of the universe could well be  likened to the later scientific theory of Bing Bang. Prasna is crystal clear in its explanation.

Prasna, through the infinite wisdom of Sage Pippalada (son of Dadichi whose backbone became Indra’s invincible weapon Vajrayudha) explains to his neophyte sishyas that all living things in this world are created by the union of Prana, the life force, and Rayi, the matter. The former is represented by the Sun and the latter by the Moon. The former is explained as the male aspect and the latter the female.

Pippalada explained to a questioner when Prana enters a body it divides into many aspects to do different functions of the body. The panchabhutas constituting the body, that is akash, vayu, agni, jalam and prithvi, karmendriyas like speech, mind, sight and hearing, and njanendriya, intellect, are  deities in control of the body.

Through a simple analogy Pippalada underlined the ultimate importance of vayu as Prana.

When each of the components of panchabhuthas thought he was the main support for the edifice of the body, the varishta prana, that is the main prana or the breath, told them that there was no meaning in their self-important postures as he was in control. To put them in their places the varishta prana appeared to leave the body, when all the others had necessarily to follow suit. When varishta prana returned to its former place, the other pranas also returned along with it, because they did not have an independent existence.

Pippalada likened varishta prana to a King Bee, saying that like a swarm of bees always following the King Bee (madhukara rajanam) wherever it went, other pranas had to follow the main prana. (During the Vedic period the lead bee in a hive was considered as a male, though we now know that it is the Queen Bee that is at the center of a hive).

What Pippalada highlights is the ultimate importance of vayu or breath in the life of a living being. 

Where does the breath come from? Definitely from the atmospheric air containing the vital element of oxygen, the real prana that envelops the earth and sustains every living thing. And that which envelops the world as a protective sheath is the Paramatman, or super soul, or Brahman.

No living thing on planet earth has an independent existence. It is merely an extension of the Life Force covering the earth. And the moment the perennial connection to that Life force is snapped, we cease to exist.

All Mahavakyas of Upanishads point to this oneness of relationship between Brahman and us, or in practical terms, between the atmospheric air containing Oxygen (or Prana) and us.

• Tat Tvam Asi (Chandogya Upanishad – ‘You are That.’  
• Aham Brasmasmi (Brihad- aranyaka Upanishad – ‘I am Brahman.’ 
• Ayam atma Brahma (Mandukya Upanishad – ‘This Self is Brahman.’

From all the three mahavakyas it is evident that the atmospheric air containing life giving oxygen is considered as Paramatman or Brahman.

This view is equivocally  buttressed in the Shanthi Mantra of Taittiriya Upanishad.

Namo Brahmane,
Namasthe Vayo,
Tvam eva prathyaksham Brahmassi.

(Salutations to you Brahman,
Salutations to you Vayu,
You are the prathyaksha Brahman).

Air is Life. Air is all. Air is the Trinity. It gives life, sustains it and cessation of connection to it means Death.