What is the Brahman?

Most of the spiritual seekers would have come across the word Brahman*. I have spent my own amount of time searching for what it actually means. On my search, I stumbled upon an excerpt from the holy text of Shivapurana that I would like to share with all of you readers. This excerpt is from Rudrasamhitha, which is the second part of the Shivapurana. This excerpt is a part of a conversation between the sage Narada and Lord Brahma in which Lord Brahma explains about the Brahman.

Now, just let your mind wander. Think about the place where you are right now, your surroundings, people, and various other things. Then go beyond it, the whole city or town or village, and then the whole state, and then the whole country, and the whole continent. Imagine the huge endless sky above you, the blueness, the fluffy clouds. Now move beyond the sky and behold the whole world. Further away, now you can imagine the solar system. Beyond it is the Milkyway Galaxy. Moving further away imagine the whole Universe in which we are just a small part. Just imagine that a vacuum absorbs the stars, asteroids, planets, and everything. What do you see now? A dark space where there is no light or sound or colour or anything. Even though you just imagined everything getting dissolved, there is still that blank space that remains, isn’t it? That is what the puranas call the Brahman.

After reading this, it might be difficult to wrap your brain around the whole concept. That’s when the next part comes to the rescue.

In other words, it is a mind-blowing concept. Brahman is nothing and it is everything. It is the void and the highest form of knowledge. In truth, nobody has understood it. If anyone claims to know it that would mean they do not know it at all.

And this is the excerpt I thought would help you understand the Brahman. Lord Brahma continues to explain the Brahman in several more paragraphs. If you want to know more, I have attached the link below for the book from which I have taken the excerpt.

*Pronounced as bruh-muhn. (Sanskrit- ब्रह्मन्). Also not to be confused with Braahman (a varna caste a.k.a. Brahmin)

source: https://archive.org/details/SivaPuranaJ.L.ShastriPart1/page/n199/mode/2up