I want to know if there are any proofs or books I can read that prove brahman exists?preferably of the advaita variety,but dvaita is also good.
how do I know shunyata isnt true above brahman?any books I can read on this topic?
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1Whether Brahman exists or God exists, books cant prove it to you, otherwise even parrots who can cram hymns of Vedas or scriptures would have been enlightened. Only proof of Brahman is you yourself as Brahman is not some bookish theory but practicality. An animal believes only in concrete and what it perceives but subtle Brahman is the cause of perception and thats why man is given intellect that separates it from animals and with which he can discriminate and understand the cause of perception.Brahman, Shunyata, God etc.,these are all just words and will perish in time,but present is eternal.– user16530Feb 18, 2020 at 4:09
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you yourself is the proof who makes you to grow when younger, who is programming you to become older and die is this change in your control same holds for the whole universe observe yourself when you are sick you are not able to walk upright who is making you walkupright lets us assume all this are chemical reactions then question arise why the reaction is programmed to work in this way? same for earth, moon and sun.– Prasanna RFeb 18, 2020 at 10:35
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Proving Brahman is beyond a human's capacity. Can any one prove what LOVE look like? ABSTRACT things can only be experienced. In my opinion, the question is off-topic, as the answers would be opinion based.– Srimannarayana K VFeb 18, 2020 at 14:37
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There are no proofs. According to Hinduism faith is the proof.– Wikash_Feb 19, 2020 at 0:24
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@Wikash_ False. You don't understand the real essence of Hinduism then, only the faith projection of it which is easier to digest.– WeezyFeb 19, 2020 at 7:09
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2 Answers
there are probably millions of words written about Nirvana/brahman/samadhi. All these words are totally useless unless you directly experience what lies beyond the extinguishment of the self.
To a modern seeker - J Krishnamurti's words are among the most accessible: he says the same thing over and over again, using slightly different formulations each time - but even they are only a pointer. There seems to be no cookbook that will take you to brahman.
from kinfornet.org:
As I said, liberation is not an end, it is not a goal; it is the understanding of right values, eternal values. Intelligence is ever becoming, it has no end, no finality. In the desire to attain there is a subtle craving for self-continuance, glorified self-continuance; and every struggle, every effort to attain liberation indicates an escape from the present. This summation of intelligence, which is liberation, is not to be understood through effort. After all, you make an effort when you want, when you desire to acquire something. But liberation is not to be acquired, truth is not to be acquired. So where there is a craving for liberation, for a culmination, for attainment, there must be an effort to sustain, to preserve, to perpetuate that consciousness which we call the "I". The very essence of that "I" is an effort to reach a culmination, because it lives in a series of movements of memory, moving towards an end.
What are proofs for brahman?
According to Vedanta, Brahman can only be known through scriptural statements about it.
Scripture here means Vedas and all other texts (Smritis) that are based on the Vedas.
In Hinduism, there are only 3 sources of knowledge: pratyaksha (perception), anumana (logic/inferences), and shabda (verbal testimony).
The existence of Brahman cannot be known from perception and inference, but only from verbal testimony of scripture.
The third sutra of the Brahma Sutras says:
Because Scripture is the source (of the knowledge of Brahman).
And the medieval scholar Ramanujacharya comments on that sutra:
Because Brahman, being raised above all contact with the senses, is not an object of perception and the other means of proof, but to be known through Scripture only; therefore the [Vedic verse] "Whence these creatures are born, ..." etc., has to be accepted as instructing us regarding the true nature of Brahman.
He then goes on to refute the cosmological arguments for Brahman propounded by the Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools, which believe that Brahman can be proved through inference.
