skills. As part of its 60th anniversary, the Brahma
Kumaris inaugurated the Academy for a Better
World as a place where men, women, and children
can reach their unique human potential and culti-
vate common human values. The Brahma Kumaris
World Spiritual University is a nongovernmental
organization in general consultative status with
the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) and the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF).
Further reading: Liz Hodgkinson, Peace and Purity:
the Story of the Brahma Kumaris: A Spiritual Revolution
(Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Health Communications, Inc.,
1999); John Walliss, The Brahma Kumaris as a “Reflexive
Tradition”: Responding to Late Modernity (Burlington,
Vt.: Ashgate, 2002).
brahman (brahma)
Brahman is one of the most important terms in the
Vedic tradition, with a rich variety of meanings. It
derives from the root brih, which means to “swell”
or “grow,” and evidently first referred to the swell-
ing or growing power of the sacrifice and its MAN-
TRAS that expand out and create efficacy.
The most common early meaning of brahman
was simply “prayer.” It is from this term that the
word BRAHMIN, “one who prays,” or “priest,” is
derived. Certain Vedic text collections are called
BRAHMANAS; they are said to contain the secret of
prayer.
Eventually, the term brahman was developed
in the Upanishads to mean “the All” or “Ultimate
Reality.” An understanding developed that the
individual self, or AT M A N, was identical to the
brahman. These understandings developed in
later VEDANTA into both theistic views, in which
the brahman was tantamount to a god or goddess,
and nontheistic views, in which the brahman was
seen as an uncharacterized reality that constituted
or underlay everything.
Often brahman is spelled as brahma, in part
depending on grammatical context. Both forms
are commonly used in transliterating Sanskrit. In
the latter spelling the word must be carefully dis-
tinguished from BRAHMA, the creator god, whose
name is pronounced with a long final a.Further reading: Jan Gonda, Notes on Brahman (Utre-
cht: J. L. Beyers, 1950); Stephen H. Phillips, Aurobindo’s
Philosophy of Brahman (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986.) G.
Sundara Ramaiah, Brahman: A Comparative Study of the
Philosophies of Sankara and Ramanuja (Waltair: Andhra
University 1974).Brahmana
Brahmanas are texts that delineate the work-
ings of the BRAHMAN in its oldest sense of the
power, efficacy, or energy of Vedic ritual. They
are considered SHRUTI or revelation and are part
of the VEDAS. They accompany the MANTRA text
of the four Vedas and are memorized along with
them; the Brahmana of the Black YAJUR VEDA is
interspersed with the mantras; the other three are
stand alone texts. All the Brahmanas are written
in prose.
The Brahmanas are designed to guide and
explain the ritual sacrifice (YA J N A). Much Vedic
mythology is found in the Brahmanas, explain-
ing how particular rituals relate to the actions
of particular divinities. For example, the SHATA-
PATHA BRAHMANA explains that goat hair is to be
mixed with other ingredients for a ritual fire
(AGNI), because the gods once collected Agni
from among cattle. Brahmanas abound in much
obscure, esoteric material that is not easy for
the outsider to grasp, but that assure the effi-
cacy and intelligibility of the Vedic ritual for
practitioners.Further reading: S. N. Dasgupta, History of Indian
Philosophy. Vol. 1 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975;
Jan Gonda, Vedic Literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas).
Vo l. 1 , A History of Indian Literature (Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz, 1975).Brahmana 91 J