The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

(vip2019) #1

marriage, there has been significant
divergence from the classically mandat-
ed form. In many modern Indian
weddings, it has become common for
the bride’s family to give the groom’s
family a dowry as a condition for
the marriage, which can easily be
interpreted as selling the groom. See
also marriage, eight classical forms,
and prashasta marriages.


Brahma Muhurta


(“time of Brahma”) The forty-eight-
minute period (muhurta) immediately
before sunrise, which is thought to be
the most auspicious time of the day.
This auspiciousness makes it the
best time for worship, meditation, or
any type of religious practice; serious
spiritual aspirants rise before it begins
so that they may take full advantage
of the time.


Brahman


In its first appearances in the Rg Veda,
the earliest text in the sacred literature


known as the Vedas, the term Brahman
both denotes the power inherent in, and
gives potency to, the sacred word. In the
Brahmanaliterature, one of the later
strands in the Vedas, brahmanwas the
name for one of the four types of priests
who officiated at a sacrifice(the others
being hotr, udgatr, and adhvaryum). In
the Upanishads and afterward,
Brahmanis the generally accepted term
for the highest reality in the universe,
which is both the material cause and the
final cause of all that exists. In the world-
view of the Upanishads, the speculative
and most recent texts in the Vedas,
Brahman is the single binding unity
behind the world’s apparent diversity.
These texts also affirm Brahman’s iden-
tity with atman, the individual soul, and
thus the identity of the essence of
macrocosm and microcosm. As
described in many of the Upanishads
and later systematized by the philoso-
pher Shankaracharya(9th c.), the ulti-
mate form of Brahman is without
qualities (nirguna), formless, nameless,
indefinable, and grammatically a neuter

Brahma Muhurta


After death, a liberated person’s soul is believed to escape through an opening in the skull
called the brahmarandhra. This is thought to correspond to the fontanel,
an opening in an infant’s skull (right) that closes in adulthood (left).
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