Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1883

c8.1883

2) General characteristics. Brahman is such that he who says he knows it does not know it and he who says he does not know it, knows it. It is beyond the experiences of time and space. The chief attributes of Brahman are Sat, Cit and Ānanda. Sat means existence, the really existent truth. The one and undivided existence. There are pandits who say that it was undivided, Nāstitva (nonexistence) that was at the beginning of the Universe. Since nothing can be born from ‘nothing’ the world should have started from astitva (existence). There is a saying in Ṛgveda explaining the position thus :—“There was neither Astitva nor Nāstitva (existence or non-existence) at the beginning.” It is a matter to ponder how strongly conscious was the Ṛṣi who made the above statement about the Parabrahman’s Nirguṇatva (devoid of attributes) and how clearly he tries to make it understandable to those who have not experienced the idea.