BRAHMAN AND ISHWARA

Brahman has no attributes and therefore cannot be described.  Rather, it is the substratum of all attributes.   Brahman does not act, for it is the substratum of all action.  It simply is. 

Brahman is omnipresent.  When it is spoken of as residing within any particular object or creature, it is called the Atman.   This, however, is merely a matter of linguistic convenience, for the Atman and Brahman are one and the same.

Ishwara is the term used for what is generally thought of as “God.”  It is God with attributes, loving, merciful, and just, for instance, the Personal God.

It is Ishwara who creates a universe, sustains it, and eventually dissolves it again, in a process called evolution/involution. 

Ishwara’s three aspects, known as the Hindu Trinity, are personified as Brahma (the Creator,) Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Dissolver).

Ishwara resembles, in a way, God the Father in Christianity.  He is the ruler of the universe which he has created.  The Christian says “God” and means, essentially, Ishwara.  A Vedantist says “God” and means Atman/Brahman.  To the Vedantist the statement “I am God” is self-evident, whereas to the Christian “I am God” is blasphemy.