Brahman

This is useful but very limited. In all aspects of Hinduism there is a lot of variety about what you will learn from different parts of India. The most important thing that I would want to convey about 'The Brahman' (Brahman is not the name of a deity) is that it is the aspect of God which is ultimate, transcendant and utterly beyond human comprehension. The Brahman has no gender, neither he, she nor it. The Brahman is beyond all concepts, beyond our human comprehension. In The Brahman, God is one and Absolute, sometimes called The Supreme. But since one of the attributes of The Brahman is omnipresence, we can approach God, by focussing our love and devotion on any aspect of creation or on any of the deities which we choose. The sage Sri Ramakrishna, who lived in the 19th Century and Hindus recognise as a God-Realised Master said that The Brahman is like the water of the ocean, infinite and without form. But just as the water in an ocean can become visible, solid and approachable in the form of an iceberg, so The Brahman can take the form of any aspect, any deity, and approach the devotee in the form that they love best. This is a really useful concept to explain when you are looking at Hinduism. A Christian will approach the Brahman as Jesus, a Muslim as Allah (99 + Beautiful Names) a devotee of Sri Krishna as Krishna, a devotee of Mother Kali or Lakshmi etc as those deities. I hope this helps. </p> Also the definition of Sanatama Dharma as Eternal Law is not one that I use. It is more often translated as The Eternal Code of Life. This is splitting hairs but again an interesting concept to discuss with your students