Brahman

===Vedic===
''Brahman'' is a concept present in Vedic [[Samhita]]s, the oldest layer of the [[Vedas]] dated to the late 2nd millennium BCE. For example,<ref name=barbarah29/>

{{Blockquote|
<poem>
The ''Ṛcs'' are limited (''parimita''),
The ''Samans'' are limited,
And the ''Yajuses'' are limited,
But of the Word ''Brahman'', there is no end.
</poem>
|Taittiriya Samhita VII.3.1.4|Translated by Barbara Holdrege<ref name=barbarah29>Barbara Holdrege (1995), Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791416402}}, page 29</ref>}}

The concept ''Brahman'' is referred to in hundreds of hymns in the Vedic literature.<ref name=mauricebrahman>[[Maurice Bloomfield]], [https://archive.org/stream/vedicconcordance00bloouoft#page/656/mode/2up A Vedic Concordance], Harvard University Press, pages 656-662</ref> The word ''Brahma'' is found in [[Rig veda]] hymns such as 2.2.10,<ref>Original: वयमग्ने अर्वता वा सुवीर्यं '''ब्रह्मणा''' वा चितयेमा जनाँ अति । अस्माकं द्युम्नमधि पञ्च कृष्टिषूच्चा स्वर्ण शुशुचीत दुष्टरम् ॥१०॥<br>Source: [https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_२.२ ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं २.२] Wikisource</ref> 6.21.8,<ref>Original: स तु श्रुधीन्द्र नूतनस्य '''ब्रह्मण्य'''तो वीर कारुधायः । त्वं ह्यापिः प्रदिवि पितॄणां शश्वद्बभूथ सुहव एष्टौ ॥८॥<br>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_६.२१ ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं ६.२१] Wikisource</ref> 10.72.2<ref>Original: '''ब्रह्मण'''स्पतिरेता सं कर्मार इवाधमत् । देवानां पूर्व्ये युगेऽसतः सदजायत ॥२॥<br>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.७२ ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १०.७२] Wikisource</ref> and in [[Atharvaveda|Atharva veda]] hymns such as 6.122.5, 10.1.12, and 14.1.131.<ref name=mauricebrahman/> The concept is found in various layers of the Vedic literature; for example:<ref name=mauricebrahman/> Aitareya [[Brahmana]] 1.18.3, Kausitaki Brahmana 6.12, Satapatha Brahmana 13.5.2.5, Taittiriya Brahmana 2.8.8.10, Jaiminiya Brahmana 1.129, Taittiriya [[Aranyaka]] 4.4.1 through 5.4.1, Vajasaneyi Samhita 22.4 through 23.25, Maitrayani Samhita 3.12.1:16.2 through 4.9.2:122.15. The concept is extensively discussed in the Upanishads embedded in the Vedas (see next section), and also mentioned in the [[Vedas#Vedanga|vedāṅga]] (the limbs of Vedas) such as the Srauta sutra 1.12.12 and Paraskara Gryhasutra 3.2.10 through 3.4.5.<ref name=mauricebrahman/>

[[Jan Gonda]] states that the diverse reference of ''Brahman'' in the Vedic literature, starting with Rigveda Samhitas, convey "different senses or different shades of meaning".<ref name=jangondameaning>[[Jan Gonda]] (1962), Some Notes on the Study of Ancient-Indian Religious Terminology, ''History of Religions'', Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1962), pages 269–271.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062054</ref> There is no one single word in modern Western languages that can render the various shades of meaning of the word ''Brahman'' in the Vedic literature, according to Jan Gonda.<ref name=jangondameaning/> In verses considered as the most ancient, the Vedic idea of ''Brahman'' is the "power immanent in the sound, words, verses and formulas of Vedas". However, states Gonda, the verses suggest that this ancient meaning was never the only meaning, and the concept evolved and expanded in ancient India.<ref>[[Jan Gonda]] (1962), Some Notes on the Study of Ancient-Indian Religious Terminology, ''History of Religions'', Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1962), pages 271–272.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062054</ref>

Barbara Holdrege states that the concept ''Brahman'' is discussed in the Vedas along four major themes: as the Word or verses (''Sabdabrahman''),<ref>See Rigveda Chapter 1.164;<br>Karl Potter and Harold Coward, The Philosophy of the Grammarians, ''Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies'': Volume 5, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, {{ISBN|978-8120804265}}, pages 34–35</ref> as Knowledge embodied in Creator Principle, as Creation itself, and a Corpus of traditions.<ref>Barbara Holdrege (1995), ''Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture'', State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791416402}}, page 24</ref> Hananya Goodman states that the Vedas conceptualize ''Brahman'' as the Cosmic Principles underlying all that exists.<ref name="Hananya Goodman 1994 page 121"/> [[Gavin Flood]] states that the Vedic era witnessed a process of abstraction, where the concept of ''Brahman'' evolved and expanded from the power of sound, words and rituals to the "essence of the universe", the "deeper foundation of all phenomena", the "essence of the self ([[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]], Self)", and the deeper "truth of a person beyond apparent difference".<ref name=gavinflood84>Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521438780}}, pages 84–85</ref>