t teaches the doctrine of
Brahma. Brahma is the one, eternal, absolute, unchangeable Being. He
unfolds into the universe as Creator and Created. He becomes first ether,
then air, then fire, then water, then earth. From these five elements all
bodily existence proceeds. Souls are sparks from the central fire of
Brahma, separated for a time, to be absorbed again at last.

Brahma, in his highest form as Para-Brahm, stands for the Absolute Being.
The following extract from the Sama-Veda (after Haug's translation)
expresses this: "The generation of Brahma was before all ages, unfolding
himself evermore in a beautiful glory; everything which is highest and
everything which is deepest belongs to him. Being and Not-Being are
unveiled through Brahma."

The following passage is from a Upanishad, translated by Windischmann:--

"How can any one teach concerning Brahma? he is neither the known nor the
unknown. That which cannot be expressed by words, but through which all
expression comes, this I know to be Brahma. That which cannot be thought
by the mind, but by which all thinking comes, this I know is Brahma. That
which cannot be seen by the eye, but by which the eye sees, is Brahma. If
thou thinkest that thou canst know it, then in truth thou knowest it very
little. To whom it is unknown, he knows it; but to whom it is known, he
knows it not."

This also is from Windischmann, from the Kathaka Upanishad: "One cannot
attain to it through the word, through the mind, or through the eye. It is
only reached by him who says, 'It is! It is!' He perceives it in its
essence. Its essence appears when one perceives it as it is."

The old German expression _Istigkeit_, according to Bunsen, corresponds to
this. This also is the name of Jehovah as given to Moses from the burning
bush: "And God said unto Moses, I AM THE I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto
the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." The idea is that God
alone really exists, and that the root of all being is in him. This is
expressed in another Upanishad: "HE WHO EXISTS is the root of all
creatures; he WHO EXISTS is their foundation, and in him they rest."

In the Vedanta philosophy this speculative pantheism is carried further.
Thus speaks Sankara, the chief teacher of the Vedanta philosophy
("Colebrooke's Essays"): "I am the great Brahma, eternal, pure, free, one,
constant, happy, existing without end. He who ceases to contemplate other
things, who retires into solitude