Hindu Brahmans, History of Hinduism

Brahman :

God is the highest sense, One: beyond form, infinite, and eternal. God is changeless and is the very source of consciousness. God is beyond time, space, and causation and yet permeates everything and every being. God is beyond gender When God is thought of as this infinite principle, God is called Brahman. Brahman is the indescribable, inexhaustible, omniscient, omnipresent, original, first, eternal and absolute principle the Supreme Cosmic Spirit who is without a beginning, without an end , who is hidden in all and who is the cause, source, material and effect of all creation known, unknown and yet to happen in the entire universe, Brahman is the Absolute Truth: it is pure existence, consciousness and knowledge. In this sense,
The Hindu scriptures declare that Brahman is beyond description, and can be understood only through direct spiritual experience. Nevertheless, for the benefit of others, the ancient Hindu sages who experienced Brahman attempted to describe their experiences, as recorded in the ancient Vedic texts known as the Upanishads.

Ishvara :

When God is thought of as Creator, he is called Prajapati Brahma, and is represented visually as shown in this temple carving.When human beings try to think of the infinite God, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit gets projected upon the limited, finite human mind, to appear as the Supreme Lord. An interesting metaphor is that when the "reflection" of the Cosmic Spirit falls upon the mirror of Maya, it appears as the Supreme Lord Therefore, the mind projects human attributes, such as personality, motherhood, and fatherhood on the Supreme Being. According to the Advaita school of thought, God does not have any such attributes in the true sense.However, many consider it helpful to project such attributes on God the myriad names and forms of God one finds in Hinduism are all human-constructed ways for humans to approach the divine.

Thus, despite Hinduism's belief in the abstract principle of Brahman, most Hindus worship God on a day-to-day basis in one of God's less abstract personal forms, such as Vishnu, Shiva, or Shakti. Some Hindus worship these personal forms of God for a practical reason: it is easier to cultivate devotion to a personal being than to anabstract principle. Other Hindus, such as those following the Dvaita traditions, consider the personal forms in themselves to be the highest form of truth and worship God as an infinite and yet personal being.

God is called Isvara, It is not specific to a particular deity. Isvara transcends gender, yet can be looked upon as both father and mother, and even as friend, child, or sweetheart. Most Hindus, in their daily devotional practices, worship some form of this personal aspect of God, although they believe in the more abstract concept of Brahman as well.

Depending on which aspect of Isvara one is talking about, a different name will be used—and frequently a different image or picture. For instance, when God is spoken of as the creator, God is called Brahma.[26] When spoken of as preserver of the world, God is called (and depicted as) Vishnu. When spoken of as destroyer of the world, God is called Shiva. Many of these individual aspects of God also have other names and images. For example, Krishna and Rama are considered forms of Vishnu. All the various deities and images one finds in Hinduism are considered manifestations of the same God, called Isvara in the personal aspect and Brahman when referred to as an abstract concept.

Ishvara is Saguna Brahman, or Brahman with innumerable auspicious qualities. He is Aparabrahman, as opposed to Parabrahman . He is all-perfect, omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal, independent, Creator of the world, its active ruler and also destroyer. He is causeless, eternal and unchangeable — and is yet the material and the efficient cause of the world. He is both immanent and transcendent. He is the subject of worship. He is the basis of morality and giver of the fruits of one's Karma. He rules the world with His Maya is divine power. This association with a "false" knowledge does not affect the perfection of Ishvara, in the same way as a magician is himself not tricked by his magic. Ishwara is also believed by most accounts to be incorporeal.It is also important to note that some other philosophies, such as the Dvaita school, do not make any distinction between Ishwara and Brahman, and do not believe that the highest form of Brahman is attributeless, or Ishwara is incorporeal.