Meditation is the key

In the Brahma Sutra text, the very second sutra shows how it is possible to meditate on Brahman through His attributes in relation to the universe. Commentators point out that the deep import of this sutra can be traced to the crucial statement about Brahman in the Taittiriya Upanishad. “That from which these beings are born, that by which when born they live and that into which when departing they enter, that is what one should seek to know. That is Brahman.” In a discourse, Sri Madhava Ganapadigal drew attention to the fact that more than mere reasoning, meditation on the truths declared by Vedanta texts is essential when trying to understand Brahman. The Upanishad points to the creative side of Brahman. Brahman is shown as the sole cause of the world, and also as responsible for its sustenance and dissolution. Adi Sankara explains this with the analogy of cause and effect. Every effect has a cause. The manifest world of cosmology could not have come into existence on its own; it obviously has a creator. From this created world, one begins to speculate about the creator. How was this magnificent world created? What materials have been used? How is this phenomenon sustained with such precision? Where does all this go finally? These questions lead to a creator who transcends all distinctions of subject and object and yet for purposes of understanding and discussion, He is described as one with empirical form. The Supreme Brahman is behind creation as one who is in full control of everything. This Brahman stands beyond what is accepted as chronology or time in human terms; He stands beyond the name and form that constitute the infinite variety in the created world of objects and beings. This implies that omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence are the attributes of Brahman.