Advaita Vedanta

====Brahman====
{{Main|Brahman|Satcitananda}}

According to Advaita Vedānta, [[Brahman]] is the true Self, consciousness, awareness, and the only Reality (''[[Satya|Sat]]'').{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=122}}{{sfn|Raju|2006|p=426; Conclusion chapter part XII}}{{refn|group=note|name=Brahman_definitions}} Brahman is ''Paramarthika Satyam'', "Absolute Truth"{{sfn|Venkatramaiah|2000|p=xxxii}} or absolute Real.{{sfn|Padiyath|2014|p=177}} It is That which is [[Ajativada|unborn]] and unchanging,{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=122}}{{sfn|Brodd|2009|p=43–47}} and immortal.{{refn|group=note|name=Brahman_immortal}} Other than ''Brahman'', everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are ever-changing and therefore [[maya (illusion)|maya]]. Brahman is "not sublatable",{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=6–7}} which means it cannot be superseded by a still higher reality:{{sfn|Puligandla|1997|p=231}}
{{blockquote|the true Self, pure consciousness [...] the only Reality (''sat''), since It is untinged by difference, the mark of ignorance, and since It is the one thing that is not sublatable".{{sfn|Potter|2008|pp=6–7}}}}

In Advaita, Brahman is the substrate and cause of all changes.{{sfn|Lochtefeld|2002a|p=122}}{{sfn|Brodd|2009|p=43–47}} Brahman is considered to be the material cause{{refn|group=note|It provides the "stuff" from which everything is made}} and the efficient cause{{refn|group=note|It sets everything into working, into existence}} of all that exists.{{sfn|Raju|2006|p=426 and Conclusion chapter part XII}}{{sfnp|Dhavamony|2002|pp=43–44}}{{sfnp|Martinez-Bedard|2006|pp=18–35}} }}The Brahma Sutras I.1.2 state that Brahman is:
{{blockquote|...that from which the origination, subsistence, and dissolution of this universe proceed.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=18-19}} {{refn|group=note|Gambhirananda: "That (is Brahman) from which (are derived) the birth etc. of this (universe)."{{sfn|Gambhirananda|2021|p=13}}}}}}

Advaita's Upanishadic roots state Brahman's qualities{{refn|group=note|''Svarupalakshana'', qualities, definition based on essence}} to be ''[[Satcitananda|Sat-cit-ānanda]]'',{{sfn|Raju|1992|p=228}}{{sfn|Deutsch|1980|p=9}}{{sfnp|Arapura|1986|pp=12, 13–18}} "true being-consciousness-bliss,"{{sfnp|Arapura|1986|pp=12, 13–18}}{{sfn|Deutsch|1980|p=9–10 with footnote 2}} or "Eternal Bliss Consciousness".{{sfn|Werner|1994}}{{refn|group=note|The Advaitin scholar Madhusudana Sarasvati explained Brahman as the Reality that is simultaneously an absence of falsity (sat), absence of ignorance (cit), and absence of sorrow/self-limitation (ananda).{{sfnp|Arapura|1986|pp=12, 13–18}}}} A distinction is made between ''[[nirguna Brahman]]'', formless Brahman, and ''[[Saguna brahman|saguna Brahman]]'', Brahman with form, that is, ''Ishvara'', God. ''Nirguna Brahman'' is undescrible, and the Upanishadic ''[[neti neti]]'' ('not this, not that' or 'neither this, nor that') negates all conceptualizations of Brahman.{{sfn|Derrida|1992|p=203}}{{sfnp|Pradhan|2014|p=19}}