Sat
Sat · sat, “being, the real”
Grammar: present participle of the root as (to be), used as a noun: “that which is, the real”.
Meaning: the real, that which does not change: the causal principle that is there before creation, during it and after it. In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa it is the advaya (one without a second) Brahman.
In the scriptures:
The undivided Sat. Kapila tells his mother Devahūti that the jīva is the reflection of the undivided Sat in the antaḥkaraṇa; free of upādhi (limiting adjunct), it is not different from Sat. That undivided Sat is the advaya Brahman, which pervades and lights the mithyā world (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 27).
What is at the beginning and the end. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that what is not there at the beginning and the end is not there in the middle either; only what is there at the beginning and the end is there in the middle. That causal principle is to be known as sat, the real (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 19).
Related terms: Brahman · Asat · Mithyā · Jīva · Upādhi
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 27; Skandha 11, Chapter 19