A few words about Brahman, Consciousness and God

Recently a friend was reflecting on the following verse:
Om poornamadaha  poornamidam  Poornath  Poornamudachyate’
Poornasya  Poornamadhaya  Poornameyva  Vasishyate’
Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthihi !
You are infinite and whole; You are full and complete; Nothing can be taken away that will make you any less; Nothing can be added that will make you anymore; You are that, pure, free and forever. 
May this peace be with you always. Peace! Peace! Peace!

As his reflection continued, he shared the following description of his life:
From my own limited understanding, all I can say is that I grew up in a pious household practicing Bhakti and rituals, living a simple, moral life, while also being philosophical about the trials and tribulations of life (belief in karma and Jnana) and practicing prayers (japam) and meditation.   These along with the teachings and interpretations of Swami Vivekananda and others have shaped the way I have led my life, despite the fact that I have strayed from what is considered the norm.  Looking back, I can definitely feel  a change over the years in my attitudes and reactions to events with increasing objectivity.  It is like the growth of the human body.  Your child grows up from birth to adulthood and you are not conscious of the growth, as opposed to someone who sees your child after ten years, say, and expresses surprise at how the child he knew is no longer a child. The reason for this rambling is to just convey that Mantra (prayer verse) like Poornamadah Poormidam, become much more meaningful over time”.

Dear friend:
Just as you are able to tell your life story, every person’s life is a story worth telling, a movie worth making. an autobiography worth writing about.
In all this diversity pertaining to each person, there is a commonality – birth, parents, siblings, relatives, education, health, career, family, children, family issues, health issues, financial issues, thoughts, feelings. emotions and finally death!
Those who look at and marvel at this stream called “life” see the diversity across each of us and yet a commonality across all our diversity. They wonder how it all happens? 

Vedic Philosophy simplifies the answer to that question with the answer: It is all Brahman.
Everything is Brahman: Sarvam Brahma Mayam. “Brahman exists. Brahman is the enabler; everything else is enabled” state the Vedic injunctions. Brahman is described as that which enables the fire to burn, wind to move, eyes to blink,
ears to hear, …..
Brahman is infinite, all encompassing as described in the Vedic verse mentioned above. 

Through reflection, I have come to understand that Brahman and Laws of Nature are synonymous. We Laws of Nature may be referred to as “generally understood as a regularly occurring or apparently inevitable phenomenon observable in the universe”. Definition adapted from: https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/

Those who marvel at the same stream of events of life, but want to look at it only limited to  individuals say “Despite all the changes from birth to death, there is a common element in each of us. It is Aatman, Soul or Consciousness! Then they reconcile the above two answers by stating: 
Consciousness is Brahman (Pragjnanam Brahma).

We exists through our Consciousness, therefore we think! Being conscious, we get connected to the world around us through Knowledge, Bias and Ignorance. Their interplay leads to our Tranquility, Turbulence or Inertia. All our life (every aspect of it) is a reflection of these three connectors (Guna). Observe, reflect and comprehend the role of these connectors – you will see the kaleidoscopic view of life and all the experiences. Such observation and reflection is precise when you are objective and non-attached (not mired in the past or anxious about the future)! More objective and non-attached, closer you become an ideal person!

I am happy to live mostly at this level of understanding.

For most people accepting Brahman or Consciousness / Soul merely exists is a difficult concept to deal with or relate to. They can see a tree growing from a seed. A child is born to parents extending to a family. They need a “source” for everything. They are comfortable with the view that “Brahman created God; In turn God created everything. God is the creator, protector and destroyer of everything”. This line of thought and faith has resulted in the devotion or Bhakti tradition. They think of God as the ideal person, a goal to seek. In life they see Divinity as a reflection of God and His work, They seek to exhibit divinity in their way of life.

From what you have described, you are more comfortable with the Bhakti tradition. Most of our traditional scholars, teachers and Swamijis are rooted in the Bhakti tradition. This tradition also leads to the important role of the teacher (Guru) to initiate and guide their students in the path of self-reflection (i.e.) the spiritual path. 

Following is an example of the valuable role served by teachers or Guru in the Bhakti tradition:
The power of the guru is a special power; this power is either dormant or manifest in each human mind. A spiritual aspirant who is devoted to the guru can therefore reach such a high state that this power manifests within him or her also and begins to explain many hidden truths of spirituality. At that time the aspirant no longer needs anyone else to resolve doubts and problems regarding spiritual matters. Krishna said to Arjuna: “When your mind has crossed the swamp of delusion, you will achieve indifference regarding things already heard and things yet to be heard.” The aspirant ultimately attains this state. B.G. 2:52  Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play  Vol 3 Sri Ramakrishna as a Guru p 457

Such implicit faith in the teacher (Guru) is also useful as a means to overcome crises in life. Example:
Seven or eight days after my first meeting with the Master, he was walking through the courtyard of the Kali temple and I said to him, “It is better to take one’s life than to suffer such terrible pain.” At once he replied: “Why do you say so? You have a guru. Why do you worry? Your guru is always behind you. He can remove your suffering by a mere wish. He makes everything favorable. Don’t worry. The guru will remove all your obstacles.” What agony I was suffering, but I had found the Master. How he guided my life! Later my father came. We reconciled with love and affection, and he took me back home. In retrospect we see that God is all-auspicious, but we judge things superficially. It was my family problems and my desire to commit suicide that led me to God. Mahendra Nath Gupta (M.) the Recorder of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Ch 4 The Guru and the Disciple, p 40

I do not completely reject Bhakti, faith or God. Nor do I reject teachers / Guru and their guidance at times of need. It is a very useful pathway, a guidepost or walking stick at times of emotional stress. It is also useful as a means to relate to our traditions, where we have come from. The rituals as part of Bhakti traditions, the prayers and chanting Mantra are all valuable tools for self-discipline to calm our mind. After I steady myself with faith (in God), I start thinking and try to find my answers as reflected through Nature and the Laws of Nature (Brahman). This process of self-reflection and understanding based on our own thinking and reasoning (Jnana Yoga) should not be willfully avoided or substituted  only by faith or Bhakti. Such intentional neglect of anaytical reasoning (Jnana) and solely focussed on faith (Bhakti) will be like having the discipline to open a book, but not exercising the commitment necessary to learn and internalize the lessons from the book. This cautionary note may apply to a few and ertainly not for all. In reality most of us reflect and manage our life through the three pathways of reasoning, faith and action (Jnana, Bhakti and Karma) as inter-related and in an interdisciplinary manner.

There are those – Brain and Cognitive Science specialists – who say that our Brain is the source of all our thoughts, which makes us who we are. Consciousness is like the seed that enables us to think. Since we can understand how a tree grows from the seed, we ought to be able to understand how thoughts grow from our consciousness? I believe this is their field of study and their efforts to describe “Consciousness”. “How to account for the various properties of consciousness in terms of biological mechanisms; without pretending it doesn’t exist (easy problem) and without worrying too much about explaining its existence in the first place (hard problem)” best describes this effort. I prefer to stay away from this field of study, simply because of a need to remain focussed on our primary theme : “Spirituality in Practice”.
Such limited focus may be acceptable and consistent with our earlier definition from the Vedic Philosophy (i.e.): “Nature Exists; We are all parts of nature; Nature and the Universe and its laws are comprehensively identified as Brahman; a subset of it is Consciousness. Everything is Brahman; Consciousness is Brahman.”