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Nirguna Brahman, (literally, the attributeless Brahman
Brahman

Brahman is a concept of Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, Immanence, and transcendence reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe....
, Devanagari
Devanagari

, or 'Nagari', is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together....
: ??????? ??????) refers to Supreme Reality which pervades through the Universe
Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
. Brahman
Brahman

Brahman is a concept of Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, Immanence, and transcendence reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe....
 is considered without any form in Advaita and without material form in Dvaita
Dvaita

Dvaita is a dualist school of Vedanta Hindu philosophy. The Sanskrit word dvaita means "dualism". This school was established as a new development in the Vedanta exegetical tradition in the thirteenth century CE with the south Indian Vaishnavism theologian Madhvacharya, who wrote commentaries on a number of Hindu scriptures....
 schools of philosophy.

Advaita
According to Sankara, the most authoritative teacher of advaita vedanta, saguna brahman called by vedas as Narayana, Vishnu, Vasudeva etc.






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Nirguna Brahman, (literally, the attributeless Brahman
Brahman

Brahman is a concept of Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, Immanence, and transcendence reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe....
, Devanagari
Devanagari

, or 'Nagari', is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together....
: ??????? ??????) refers to Supreme Reality which pervades through the Universe
Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
. Brahman
Brahman

Brahman is a concept of Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, Immanence, and transcendence reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe....
 is considered without any form in Advaita and without material form in Dvaita
Dvaita

Dvaita is a dualist school of Vedanta Hindu philosophy. The Sanskrit word dvaita means "dualism". This school was established as a new development in the Vedanta exegetical tradition in the thirteenth century CE with the south Indian Vaishnavism theologian Madhvacharya, who wrote commentaries on a number of Hindu scriptures....
 schools of philosophy.

Advaita


According to Sankara, the most authoritative teacher of advaita vedanta, saguna brahman called by vedas as Narayana, Vishnu, Vasudeva etc. is the same as nirguna brahman. Divine maya is the anavarana jnana shakti of saguna brahman and by this the lord playfully creates multiple worlds and deludes jiva, who are in essence non-different from him. One can worship this Ishvara as one's own self or as fully or partially distinct from oneself. If one worships the different deities vishnu, siva, sakti etc., one will reach the worlds of the respective deity called collectively as hiranyagarbha. After many many millios of years, the deity and the devotees will reach the state of para vasudeva. If one is desireless and has the mercy fo the ishvara, he can reach this state here and now, which is called jivan mukti. Though, this world is only a temporal reality and the self is not affected by this world, the lord appears time and again in this world to show the path of liberation through bhakti, jnana, karma, dhyana etc. When he appears as such he seems to have a birth but that is only an illusion because he is birthless. His body is aprakrta or transcendental in its original state unlike our bodies which are created and destroyed.

Vaishnavism


Various schools of Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu or his associated avatars, principally as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....
 consider that Ishvara is possessed of infinite attributes, is free from all conditioning, and is the source of the impersonal Nirguna Brahman. Ramanuja
Ramanuja

Ramanuja , also known as Ramanujacharya, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete. He is seen by Sri Vaishnavism as the third and most important teacher of their tradition, and by Hindus as the leading expounder of Vishishtadvaita, one of the classical interpretations of the dominant Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy....
, Madhva
Madhva

Madhva can refer to:* Madhvacharya, Vaishnavism and founder of the Dvaita school of thought, at Pajaka, Udupi in Karnataka, India.* A person belonging to the Dvaita ...
, Caitanya, and all other Vaishnava acharyas differ strongly with Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara

Adi Shankara ; , also known as ' and ', was an Indian philosopher who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, the most influential sub-school of Vedanta....
's doctrine of Saguna Brahman (as Brahman with limited attributes, upadhi
Upadhi

Upadhi is a term in Hindu philosophy. An upadhi is external; in Hindu logic, it is an extra limitation or qualification on something. It can also be viewed as a disguise or vehicle for true reality, both defining something and limiting it....
) and his two levels of reality (vyavaharic and paramarthic) since they point out that his views lack support of Vedanta Sutra. However, Sankara does not say that saguna brahman is limited though he differs from others in stating that there are multiple levels of reality.

Sikhism

In Sikhism, God is described as both Nirguna (transcendent) and Saguna (immanent).

See also

  • Para Brahman
    Para Brahman

    Para Brahman - is a term often used by Vedantic philosophers as to the "attainment of the ultimate goal". It is believed that all Vaishnava and other schools attribute Personhood to this concept, as in Svayam bhagavan....
  • Saguna Brahman
    Saguna brahman

    Saguna Brahman came from the Sanskrit "with qualities" and Brahman "The Absolute_%28philosophy%29#The_Ultimate"....
  • Brahman
    Brahman

    Brahman is a concept of Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, Immanence, and transcendence reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe....
  • Mahavishnu
    Mahavishnu

    For the album by Mahavishnu Orchestra see Mahavishnu In Hinduism, Mahavishnu is an aspect of Vishnu, the Absolute which is beyond human comprehension and is beyond all attributes....
  • Parasiva
    Parasiva

    In Hinduism, Parasiva is the aspect of Siva, the Absolute which is beyond human comprehension and is beyond all attributes. In Saivite theology, the term is similar to Nirguna Brahman....
  • Turiya
    Turiya

    In Hindu philosophy, turiya is a state of pure consciousness, or the experience of ultimate reality and truth. It is a fourth state of consciousness that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness: the state of waking consciousness , the state of dreaming , and dreamless sleep ....
  • Harihara
    Harihara

    Harihara is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu and Shiva from the Hinduism tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana , Harihara is thus worshipped by both Vaishnavism and Shaivism as a form of the Supreme God, as well as being a figure of worship for other Hindu traditions in general....