The Spiritual Reality – a Paradox for Psychology
The human being seems to be
passing from waking state to others, such as dream and deep sleep. Though we
have some sort of awareness in dream, it is strange that in deep sleep we do
not know even our own selves, and yet we know that we do exist then, without
doing anything, even without thinking. The condition of deep sleep is a paradox
for psychology and is the crux of the yoga analysis. In deep sleep, we have
consciousness not associated with objects, and hence we remain oblivious of
everything external. There is, at the same time, unconsciousness of even one's
own existence due to there being the potentiality for objective perception. The
result is, however, that the deepest in the individual is consciousness, which
is called by such names as the Atman, Purusha,
etc. This is the real Self.
In the cosmos, there are five gross
elements and within them are five forces which manifest the elements. These forces
are the universal causes of everything that is physical, and are called tanmatras, a term which signifies
the essence of objects. There is such a force or power behind the elements of
Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Sabda or sound is
the force behind Ether. But this sound is, different from what we merely hear
with our ears. It is the subtle principle behind the whole of Ether, on account
of which the ears are capable of hearing at all. This is sound as tanmatra. Likewise, there are the tanmatras of Air, Fire, Water and
Earth, called respectively sparsa or touch, rupa or form, rasa or taste and gandha or smell. These powers are
subtle energies immanent in the elements constituting the physical universe.
Modern science through
research proved that even the atoms are formed of certain substances, which
have the character of both waves of energy and particles of force. There is
nothing but force, a continuum of energy, everywhere in the universe. The tanmatras of the yoga system,
however, are subtler than the energy of the scientist, even as the prana is subtler than electricity.
Just as behind the prana there is the mind, behind the
tanmatras there is the Cosmic Mind.
Beyond the Cosmic Mind are the Cosmic Ego, the Cosmic Intellect, and finally prakriti, in which the whole universe exists
as a tree in a seed, or as effect in its cause. Transcending prakriti is the
Absolute-Consciousness, called Brahman. So,
whether we dive deep within ourselves or within the cosmos, we find the same
thing - Consciousness. And the stages of
manifestation in the individual correspond to those in the universe.
The purpose of yoga is to
effect a communion between the individual and cosmic structures and to realize
the ultimate Reality. The yoga places before us the goal of a union wherein
infinity and eternity seem to come together. The aim of yoga is to raise the
status of the individual to the cosmic level and to abolish the false
difference between the individual and the cosmic. The individual is not
separate from the cosmic, but there seems to be some confusion in the mind of
the individual which has caused an artificial isolation of itself from the rest
of the universe. This confusion is called ajnana or avidya, which really means an
absence or negation of true knowledge. Here we enter the realms of depth
psychology.
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