(Oct 16,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day –States of Consciousness

States of Consciousness

Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 10 – The Philosophy of Life by Swami Krishnananda

 

In his exposition of the Mandukya Upanishad, Swami Sivananda gives the following account of the Jiva as constituted of certain states of consciousness (Principal Upanishads, vol. I, pp. 420-32):

The Jiva is the supreme consciousness appearing to undergo the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. Waking is the condition where the consciousness is associated with external objects having a pragmatic existence for the Jiva. The experiences of the waking individual are made possible by the operation of nineteen powers that form the subtle body within. The distinguishing feature of the waking consciousness is that its contents are physical objects. The nineteen principles become for the Jiva the means of the enjoyment of objects, as well as of the suffering of mortal life.

From a study of the waking state one will have to proceed to the study of dream and deep sleep. When we begin to analyze the universe for the sake of realizing the Atman, we will have to deal with the wakeful state first, and understand the nature of the gross objects in the beginning. It is then that we can gradually enter the subtle and the causal nature of things (p. 422). The Jiva in the waking state goes by the names of Visva, Vijnanatma, Chidabhasa, Vyavaharika-Jiva, Karma-Purusha, etc.

Dream is the second quarter, where the Jiva is called the Taijasa, and where it is conscious of internal objects and works by means of similar nineteen avenues of knowledge and action. The objects of the dreaming consciousness are subtle in comparison with those of the waking state. The mind in dream creates various objects out of the impressions produced in it by the waking experiences. The mind can reproduce the whole of its waking life, through the force of Avidya, Kama and Karma. In the dream world the mind is the perceiver as well as the perceived. It creates objects without the help of any external means.

Here the external senses are at rest, there is only a manifestation of the knower and the known with affinities to things enjoyed in the waking condition. The dream phenomena are nothing but the states of the mind alone, though the Jiva here considers the externality of experience as real. The dream world is objective only to the dreamer.

That is the state of deep sleep wherein the Jiva does not desire any object, nor see any dream. This third quarter of the Jiva is termed Prajna, whose sphere is ignorance, in which all experiences become one, which enjoys bliss and provides a key to the knowledge of the other two states. Sound and the other objects of sense are not felt here due to the cessation of the objectifying function of the mind. Even the ego is here at rest. There is only Avidya or the veil of nescience.

An analysis of dreamless sleep leads us to the recognition of the existence of the Atman in all the three states. The remembrance of sleep, when one returns to the wakeful state, indicates that the witness of the three states is one. This witness is the Atman. The bliss of sleep, however, is not to be confused with the bliss of the Atman. As the mind is in a state of quiescence, due to the absence of desire and activity, it is wound up in sleep into an unconscious condition of absence of all pain and an unwitting proximity to the Absolute. Our impassioned craving for sleep, even if it may mean the rejection of all other pleasures of life, gives us an inkling of there being a positive bliss underlying it.

As the soul in the state of waking, dream and sleep is called, respectively, Visva, Taijasa and Prajna, the Universal Soul animating the physical, the subtle and the causal universes is designated Virat, Hiranyagarbha and Isvara. The Virat, having entered the microcosmic gross body and having the Buddhi as its vehicle, reaches the state of Visva. Hiranyagarbha, having entered the microcosmic subtle body and having the Manas as its vehicle, reaches the state of Taijasa. Isvara, who is coupled with the Avyakta, having entered the microcosmic causal body and having Avidya as His vehicle, reaches the state of Prajna. In the macrocosm, Virat is the last manifestation of Isvara, while in the microcosm, Visva is to be considered the first manifestation of the Jiva. In a sense, the waking state of the Jiva forms a link between itself and the manifestations of Isvara. Hence in the waking state the Jiva is supposed to be at its best.

Fill a pot with the water of the sea, tie a rope to the neck of the pot, and immerse it in the sea. Though the water of the pot is one with the water of the sea, it appears to be separate on account of the limiting adjunct, viz. the pot. When the pot is drawn out by means of the rope, the water of the pot gets differentiated. But the ether, which is contained in the pot and is also outside it, forms a single homogeneous whole, and cannot be distinguished thus. Even so, the pot of the subtle body which is filled with the water of ignorance and to which is tied the rope of the impetus of past good and evil deeds, gets involved, in deep sleep, in a collective causal state, which is the adjunct of Isvara in the cosmic plane. With the individual ignorance, which is its own adjunct, the Jiva in dreamless sleep gets immersed in this vast sea of stillness. It appears to be discrete due to its containing in itself, potentially, the subtle body. When the Antaryamin, or the Inner Ruler, draws the rope of Karma, it gets differentiated, and comes back to the waking state. But the Atman remains a silent witness of the three states, as a support for the pot of the subtle body, which is the vehicle of individual ignorance.

The Atman is the real witness of the three states, even of the contingency of Jivahood. This witness-state is called the Turiya or the fourth state of consciousness.

In Moksha, or the final liberation of the soul, when all objective perception is overcome in the consciousness of Brahman, even the character of being a witness drops from the self, and it realizes its majestic independence.

The Kaivalyopanishad says that the states of consciousness are appearances of one Brahman, and that one who knows this is freed from all bonds (Verse, 17).

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(Sep 16,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Atman as the Pranava (OM)

The Atman as the Pranava (OM)

Divine Life Society Publication: Section7 The Mandukya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda

 

The three syllables, A, U, M, may be compared with the three states described of the Atman – Jagarita (waking), Svapna (dream), Sushupti (sleep). And, also, just as there is a fourth transcendent state beyond the three states of the Atman, there is a transcendent state of Om, too, beyond the three syllables, A, U, M. As there are four states of consciousness, there are four states of Omkara, each one, respectively, comparable with its corresponding counterpart. All these comparisons are symbolic, and we should not take them literally. All meditations are symbolic; all Vidyas of the Upanishads are symbolic.

What is the first state of the Atman? The Jagaritasthana, or the waking condition of the Atman, called the Visva, or Vaisvanara, is the first syllable of Om – Akara. From the point of view of the Jiva – not from the point of view of Isvara – the waking condition is the cause, and dream and sleep may be regarded as its effects. Ya evam veda: One who knows this secret of meditation on the harmony between Akara and the waking state of the Atman, becomes a master over all things, a perfected Siddha does he become, and he is an adept in Yoga.

Ukara is the second syllable of Om, which can be compared with the second Pada or foot of the Atman. Taijasa or dream-consciousness comes as an effect of the waking experience; proceeding from the waking experience, existing midway between waking and sleep. One who meditates in this manner, rises in his status of knowledge and becomes an equalizing factor in society and in all creation. One has peace within oneself, and creates peace outside, too, on account of the radiance of peace emanating from oneself.

Makara is the third Matra of Om, and it is comparable with Prajna (deep sleep state of consciousness), the third state, causal, of the Atman. It is the measure of all things, and it is the dissolver of all things. When we chant Om, Akara and Ukara merge in Makara, as all the impressions of waking and dream merge in Prajna, deep sleep, the causal state. Deep sleep is the cause, and all experiences in waking and dream are its effects. As Isvara is the cause of all things, the deep sleep state seems to be the cause of our waking and dreaming, in one sense, namely, that we wake up from sleep on account of unfulfilled desires. If all our desires are fulfilled, we would not be waking up from sleep, at all. 'A' and 'U', merge themselves in 'M'. One, who meditates thus, has the capacity to measure all things, that is, to know everything – he becomes Sarvajna. He becomes Isvara Himself. Everything merges in him; as the verse in the second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita says, everything enters into him, as rivers enter the ocean. Isvara is the Merger of all creation, and when you become Isvara, the whole creation merges in you. You realize this state by this meditation on the unity of Makara and Prajna, the causal state of Pranava and the causal state of Consciousness, both individually and cosmically.

Now, as there are three relative conditions of the Atman, Jagrat, Svapna and Sushupti – waking, dream and deep sleep – Akara, Ukara, and Makara of Pranava, or Omkara, may be regarded as its relative conditions. But, just as there is a transcendent state of the Atman, there is a transcendent condition of Pranava, or Omkara, which is not constituted of Matras or syllables, but is Amatra, without any measure or syllable. Even as we cannot designate the Atman as either this or that, so we cannot specify this Amatra condition of Om as either this or that. It is a vibration of being, and not a state of sound, and there is no material content in this vibration. It transcends the physical, the subtle and the causal states, and it is not even merely the vibration which sets creation in motion. It is subtler than even the causal vibration with which creation commenced. The only word the Upanishad uses to name this state is Amatra, immeasurable. As the Atman is ungraspable, unrelatable, indescribable, unthinkable, so is this Amatra condition of Omkara measureless in every way.



Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva within OM

This Om, in its fourth or transcendent state, is Atman itself. There is a soundless state of Pranava that is Existence itself. All sounds and vibrations merge into Existence, and Existence is One. We may call it Pranava in its Amatra state or as Atman in its indescribable state of Being. Pure Existence is the merging together of Pranava and the Atman. The fourth state of Pranava is that with which we cannot have any dealings, as with objects, words or sounds, such as in connection with usages in language. All the world of sound ceases here in this soundless state of Pranava. It is most auspicious, blessed and non-dual like the Atman, because it is The Atman. This Omkara which is soundless and transcendent is the Atman itself. Creation and the Creator become one here. The merger of Om in the Atman is the merger of creation in the Absolute. There is no creatorship also, because there is no created. There is no sound that is supposed to be the first vibration of creation. Sound reaches the soundless state. It becomes, then, relationless. One, who knows this secret, by deep meditation, enters the Atman by the Atman. Sounds merge in Pranava; it becomes the Atman.

The Atman alone is. When the Atman becomes the Atman through the Atman, it is called Atma-sakshatkara – realization of the Atman. It is also Brahma-sakshatkara – realization of Brahman. From the point of view of the Atman animating the individual states, we call this achievement Atma-sakshatkara. From the standpoint of this very same Atman animating the whole cosmos, we call it Brahma-sakshatkara. It is Self-realization and God-realization at one and the same time. It is Existence, it is Consciousness, it is Power, it is Bliss, it is Perfection, it is Immortality, it is Moksha, it is Kaivalya. This is the Goal of life, the path to which is beautifully described in the Mandukya Upanishad.

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The Atman as the Pranava - Section7 The Mandukya Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda

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