ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>&#298SHVAR</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="*SHVAR"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279&#298SHVAR from Sanskrit &#298&#347vara (<i>&#299&#347a</i> = ruler, master, lord+<i>vara</i> = environing, enclosing, i.e. the all-pervasive Lord) is one of the several names used in Indian philosophy for God, the Ultimate Reality, also known as Brahman. There is however a subtle conceptual difference between &#298&#347vara and Brahman as interpreted by &#346a&#7749kar&#257ch&#257rya, philosopher of Ved&#257nta. Brahman, he holds, is the Ultimate Reality or Pure Consciousness devoid of all attributes (<i>nirgu&#7751a</i>) and all categories of the intellect (<i>nirvi&#347e&#7779a</i>), while &#298&#347vara is the personal aspect of the impersonal Brahman. &#298&#347vara is Apara Brahman or Lower Brahman as compared to the Absolute which is called P&#257ra Brahma or Higher Brahman. &#298&#347vara is the phenomenal aspect of the Transcendent Brahman who is Infinite, beyond the reach of finite thought and who can only be described in negative terms such as ineffable, indescribable, acosmic, timeless, etc. All normal talk about God is therefore about &#298&#347vara. Even positive attributes such as transcendent, self-existent, perfect, etc. really refer to "conditioned &#298&#347vara" rather than to the "unconditioned Brahman". In brief, &#298&#347vara is God as related to the phenomenal reality, the personal aspect of the impersonal Reality. He is the Lord of M&#257y&#257, the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer, immanent throughout His creation.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In Sanskrit, <i>&#299&#347a</i> and <i>&#299&#347vara</i> are also defined as name of the Hindu gods &#346iva, Kubera and one of the Rudras and even as "name of the goddess Durg&#257 or any other of the &#346aktis or female energies of the deities." In Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, the Sikh Scripture, &#298s, &#298sar or &#298suru, Punjabi forms of Skt. &#298&#347vara, appear sparingly for &#346iva as well as for God (GG, 2, 6, 316, 516, 923, 925, 1082); <i>&#299sur</i> once stands for great men is general (GG, 816) ; and <i>&#299saru</i> once as name of a person other than &#346iva (GG, 952) . The composite term <i>paramesar</i> (Skt. <i>parame&#347vara</i> = <i>parama</i>, supreme, highest + <i>&#298&#347vara</i>) for God appears more often; once it is spelt even <i>paramesvar</i> (GG, 299).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sikhism does recognize the traditional categories of transcendent and immanent as also of <i>nirgu&#7751a</i> (without attributes) and <i>sagu&#7751a</i> (with attributes, <i>sargu&#7751a</i> in Punjabi), pertaining to God, but not the &#346a&#7749karite distinction between higher and lower Brahman. The emphasis here is on the unicity of Ultimate Reality, the "1 O&#7749k&#257r". The term P&#257rbrahma (&#346a&#7749kara's P&#257ra Brahman) appears frequently in the Sikh Scripture but Aparbrahma or Apara Brahman never. For the Sikhs the same Absolute is both <i>nirgu&#7751a</i> and <i>sargu&#7751a</i> (GG, 98, 128, 250, 287, 290, 862). The <i>nirgu&#7751a</i> Brahman manifests himself as <i>sargu&#7751a</i> Brahman, in relation to His attributes.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Nirbhai Singh, <i>Philosophy of Sikhism</i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> <li class="C1"> Sher Singh, <i>The Philosophy of Sikhism</i>. Lahore, 1944<BR> <li class="C1"> Ishar Singh, <i>The Philosophy of Guru Nanak</i>. Delhi, 1969<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>