What is the difference between Nirguna and Saguna Brahman in Hinduism?

Answer 1

Sanskrit, Brh - to grow, to expand

Brahman is eternal, unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality, which is common to all matter, energy, time, space and being.

Both Nirguna and Saguna Brahman have these qualities. However, in Nirguna Brahman it is just apparent and in Saguna Brahman it is real.

Nirguna Brahman - Brahman without qualities

Saguna Brahman - Brahman with qualities.

To understand Brahman and the two kinds of Brahman we must know the seven basic Hindu gods.

The seven basic Hindu gods:

1. Dreaming force - Indra

2. Illusory force - Shakti

3. Voluntary force - Brahma

4. Semi voluntary force - Vishnu

5. Involuntary force - Shiva

6. Status altering force - Shani

7. Compulsive force - Yama

Strictly speaking, all these gods are a blend of Voluntary force and Involuntary force. We attain Moksha we would have separated Voluntary and Involuntary forces completely and thus there would be just one and only one god i.e. Brahman.

Brahman is the supreme Hindu god, who selects the best Basic god for our purpose and, if many gods are required, it controls the interaction among them.

Components of the Basic forces:

Strictly speaking, all the seven Basic forces have two components.

1. Voluntary (Manual) force

2. Involuntary (Automatic) force.

To understand Brahman we must attain Moksha. In this state we would have just pure voluntary force (Nirguna Brahman) and pure Involuntary force (Saguna Brahman)

Nirguna Brahman:

It is called Nirguna Brahman because it is a state at which we don't feel anything or think about anything.

1. It is static Brahman or Brahman at rest

2. It is pure Voluntary force

3. There is no time sense

4. Though there is absolute ability to change there is nothing that needs change

5. This Brahman is just the exact opposite of omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Saguna Brahman.

Saguna Brahman:

This is the Brahman we can feel and think about instinctively.

1. This is Brahman at activity.

2. It is pure Involuntary force.

3. There is absolute time sense and time is eternal

4. Though everything keeps changing everything looks eternal because there is just one activity and nothing else to look at it from.

5. This Brahman is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.

Thus, Nirguna Brahman is the best god to take rest and Saguna Brahman is the best god for activities.