Indian Philosophy
Vedic-Hindu metaphysics
The Atman which is Brahman

The original Vedas are the oldest sacred writings of the Hindus and are composed of spiritually focused poetry written in Sanskit between 2000-1000 B.C. The spirtually inspired poets who wrote these early Vedas often imply a one-ness with the Divine.

More recent Vedas are known as the Upanishads - a name implying sitting at the feet of a teacher - and are the Hindu sacred texts next in antiquity dating from circa 600 B.C. The Upanishads uphold views that maintain that people are capable of a profound interior spirituality.

It may be that Hinduism should more properly referred to as Vedanta, and that Indian philosophy should be more properly referred to as Vedic philosophy because of these roots in the Vedas.

A certain difficulty for people brought up in monotheistic faith based cultures, in relation to Hinduism, lies in the view that Vedic philosophy speaks of Mystical Union as being with "The Atman which is Brahman".

The Atman being the "Self" and Brahman being the "World Soul" :-

The Self which is free from sin, free from old age, from death and from grief, from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to imagine, that it is which we must search out, that it is which we must try to understand. He who has searched out that Self and understands it, obtains all worlds and all desires.

Khândogya-Upanishad 8.7.1

All this is Brahman. Let a man meditate on that (visible world) as beginning, ending, and breathing in it (the Brahman)...
...He is my self within the heart, smaller than a corn of rice, smaller than a corn of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a canary seed or the kernel of a canary seed. He is also myself within the heart, greater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater than heaven, greater than all these worlds.

Khândogya-Upanishad 3.14 1, 3

Whilst Hindu philosophy holds that Brahman "is" the "World-Soul" it further holds that this World Soul should itself be regarded as being the Three-in-One God known as the Trimutri. Brahma-the Creator, Vishnu-the Preserver, and Shiva-the Destroyer, are all perceived as being aspects or manifestations of the One-ness which is Brahman.

Notwithstanding the view that Mystical Union is with the Atman which is Brahman several very remarkable spiritual teachers and guides who have appeared from time to time across the ages are considered, by the Vedic-Hindu tradition, to have been incarnations of the Lord Vishnu!!!

This may effectively provide something of a bridge towards traditionally monotheistic cultures which view Mystical Union as being purely spiritual rather than with existence in ALL its manifestations.

Introductory quotations

Spirituality & the wider world

Jesus

Rumi

Indian philosophy
The Atman which
is Brahman

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Indian - Vedic Philosophy
The Atman which is Brahman

Indian Philosophy Vedic-Hindu metaphysics The Atman which is Brahman

Khândogya-Upanishad 8.7.1

Khândogya-Upanishad 3.14 1, 3

Indian Philosophy
Vedic-Hindu metaphysics
The Atman which is Brahman