Sat-Chit-Ananda or God-Consciousness
The meditative processes are
the ranges of the mind from the gross to the subtle, from the subtle to the
equilibrated condition of the mind, beyond still to the pure selfhood of
consciousness, and the experience of the Absolute. The aim of yoga is to
eliminate even the least trace of psychic impression, so that our knowledge
does not become a process of psychological function but is a character of Pure
Being. This is our aim.
The meditation is not on an
object, but on the objectivity of the object. The purpose in meditation is to
eliminate the object from its objectivity; free it from what we call
externality, spatiality, temporality, causality, relatedness, etc., so that,
ultimately, it may reveal its true nature of Selfhood or Pure Being.
The stages of meditation are
stages of the mahabhutas, the tanmatras, the ahamkara, the mahat, and prakriti; it is these that we have
to cross through. The mahabhutas are
the five elements or the gross objects; rather, they are one object. What we
call the five elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether – are the substances
of the cosmos, physically speaking. These are the bases for the appearance of
the various gross forms in the shape of objects.
We rise from the five elements
to the tanmatras, from the tanmatras to ahamkara, from ahamkara to mahat, and then to prakriti and purusha. Purusha is the Pure Self. The aim
of yoga is the absorption of consciousness into this ultimate principle called
the Pure Self or purusha, which is
the state of kaivalya.
We have been studying a
condition of meditation, an experience where everything vanishes and gets
transcended except a sense of Pure Being – asmita matra.
There will be no consciousness of any object, except for the fact that we
'are'. There is only the awareness, aham asmi, which
includes the presence of all the other features that are called objects. Thus,
we come to a stage of Being where the faculties of the individual no longer
become necessary, either for knowledge or for action. There is no need for the
intellect to understand, for the mind to think, for the senses to cognise and
perceive, nor is there a need for the limbs of the body to function for the
purpose of executing any action, etc. It is a state of all-inclusiveness – One
Being Alone in Itself. In this condition, knowledge and action combine and
become a single feature. While in ordinary life knowing and acting are
different from each other, here knowing and acting mean one and the same thing.
One's very existence is knowledge, and the very knowledge is action. This is
God-state. An individual cannot conceive what it is.
While in individual life – the
ordinary life of senses and mental cognition – there was a bifurcation of the
seer and the seen, here the bifurcation has ceased, and therefore the necessity
for the mind to move towards objects in respect of desire and action also
ceases.
What is action? It is nothing
but the movement of the subject towards an object for a particular purpose.
This movement is possible only when there is externality, spatiality and
distance, etc. between the subject and object. This has been eliminated
thoroughly, and therefore there is no movement of the mind towards an object.
Therefore there is no desire for the object and there is also no possibility
for any activity, because the very goal of activity has been achieved by the
merger of all conditions of action into the very subjectivity of consciousness.
This is the state of sat-chit-ananda, as the Vedanta
tells us – Pure Existence, Pure Knowledge, Pure Bliss. The existence of all
things becomes one with the consciousness that knows. The satta or the Pure, All-Pervading
Essential Being of everything becomes the universal content of the knowing
consciousness which, to keep itself abreast with the extent of this content
that is universal, also has to be universal, so that the consciousness that
knows this universal object is also universal. It is not an individual's mind
or consciousness that cognizes a universal object, because the subject and the
object should be on a par. The individual object can be cognized or perceived
by an individual subject, but the universal object or the universal content
cannot enter into an individual's consciousness. So here, the object is
universal. Here, this knowledge takes an infinite shape. This is called brahmakara-vritti in Vedantic
language.
A vritti
is a condition of the mind, a psychic state. This state which the mind assumes
or reaches, where its content is infinity itself, is called brahmakara-vritti, apart from what
is known as vishayakara-vritti or the psychic
condition which projects itself towards an object outside. The vritti or the mental state which
tends to move externally towards an object is vishayakara-vritti.
It is motivated by desire, and further action to fulfil the desire. But brahmakara-vritti is the
fulfillment of all other vrittis, as the
ocean is the fulfillment of all rivers. This vritti, which is
infinite in nature, which is the universal expansion of the mind, makes it
impossible for all other vrittis to
manifest, because it has taken into possession every existent feature. It
compels all of the other vrittis to
subside and destroy themselves in its own bosom, and then it itself subsides.
Then there is a subsidence of all vrittis, a coming
down of all features tending towards individuality and externality, etc. All
impressions vanish in toto. The very seed of further rise into individuality is
fried in the fire of knowledge.
The impression or sense of
Being that we are referring to, pure asmita matra, is
also no longer felt. When even the brahmakara-vritti
ceases; when even the consciousness of the universe as an object is not there
any more; when the very question of objectivity loses its meaning; when
consciousness does not know anything as an object, not even the universe itself
in its completeness; when what is known by consciousness is its own Self and
not somebody else, not even the cosmos - that is known as the resting of
consciousness in its own Self.
The Seer rests in its own
Self. There is no longer a necessity to move towards an object outside for the
purpose of acquiring knowledge, because knowledge does not mean acquaintance
with an object. It is the entry of the subject into the being of the object.
This is intuition, and this is equal to the resting of consciousness in its own
Self. The knowing process no longer exists as a process – it becomes part of
Being. The process of knowing, which was earlier valid in respect of objects
outside, becomes a movement of the ocean of knowledge, and gets identified with
the Being of the Knower.
This, as I mentioned, is the
meaning of the term 'sat-chit-ananda'
mentioned in our scriptures – the state of God-consciousness or Realisation.
Continue to
Read:
Sat-Chit-Ananda or God-Consciousness: Chapter 51 – The Study
and Practice of Yoga by Swami Krishnananda
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