Brahmavidya is the knowledge of Brahman or the science of the Absolute. Brahmavidya is that supreme knowledge which is self-founded and by which everything exists and everything is known. Brahmavidya is considered to be the highest kind of knowledge. It is called paravidya (higher spiritual knowledge) in contrast to the empirical/secular knowledge which is aparavidya. The realization of the absolute through brahmavidya gives release from all bondages.
Brahmavidya is not to be confused with mere religious
theism. Vedas, i.e., shrutis or revealed texts impart brahmavidya. The word Upanishad
suggests this. It is derived from the root ‘sad’ which means – to sit down; to destroy.
Upa means nearby and ni means devotedly. The word, therefore, means the sitting
down of the disciple near his teacher in a devoted manner to receive
instructions about the highest Reality or the Absolute, which removes all
doubts and destroys all the ignorances of the disciple, who attains brahmavidya.
Mundaka Upanishad says – two kinds of knowledge must be
known, the higher and the lower. The lower knowledge is that which the Rig,
Sama, Atharva, ceremonial, grammar give…., but the higher knowledge is that by
which the Supreme Brahman is known (I.i.45). In the Bhagavad Gita also,
Bhagavan Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to rise above the three gunas, telling him
that Vedas deal with the three guans and that he who has known Brahman has
little to do with Vedas. Yajnavalkya instructs about brahmavidya to Maitreyi in
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. In Katha Upanishad, Nachiketa seeks brahmavidya.
Nachiketa rejects the worldly gifts offered by Yama in preference to
brahmavidya. In fact, all Upanishads teach Brahmavidya.
Brahmavidya is a non-dual transcendental reduction. Positive
definitions about Brahman are not possible. Nobody can say what Brahman is
like, as nothing can be said about the indescribable. Yajnavalkya said, ‘He,
the Absolute, is not this, not this, i.e., neti-neti. He is inconceivable,
unchangeable, untouched and he cannot suffer any injury (II.iii.6). Thus
brahmavidya is not the knowledge expressed in words, it is not the knowledge
available in books. Brahmavidya is attained through integral experience or
anubhuti.
All the Hindu philosophical schools regard brahmavidya as
absolute knowledge. He who attains brahmavidya becomes Brahma (Brahma Vid
Brahmaiva Bhavati).