Devi: "Till the complete knowledge in the form of my consciousness arises, there is no liberation.”
4) Sri Cidagni-Kunda-sambhuta
— Born from the Pit of the Fire of Consciousness.
— Burns out ignorance and confers Immortality.
— She who rose from the fire of knowledge and is the ultimate truth.
68) Sri Chakra-raja-ratha-rudha-sarvayudha-pariskrta
— Mounted on Sri Chakra inside body with all weapons i.e. Powers.
— Enlightens mind to realise Ultimate Reality as an All Pervading-Consciousness.
207) Sri Manonmani
— Highest state of Consciousness.
— Secret name of Sri Durga.
367) Sri Pratyak-Chiti-Rupa
— Inner Consciousness or Knowledge.
404) Sri Bhakta-harda-tamo-bheda-bhanumad-bhanu- santaih
— Effulgence of the Sun; dispels Darkness of Ignorance.
— Giver of the Vision of the Ocean of Consciousness.
573) Sri Prajnana Ghana-rupini
— Supreme Wisdom
— State of Consciousness where nothing else is experienced except Self.
—"Like the taste of salt in the sea (It) is everywhere; Prajnana is All Pervasive.”Brahadaranyaka Upanisad
669) Sri Annada
— The Giver of Food.
— Sustains Life and Consciousness.
739) Sri Layakari
—The Fifth State beyond Turiya.
—The State where individual and Cosmic Consciousness merge.
854) Sri Gambhira
— The Bottomless Lake.
—"The Ultimate Mother is to be visualised as a great and deep lake of Consciousness, uncomprehended by Space and Time.”Siva Sutra 1.23
858) Sri Kalpana-rahita
— Pure Consciousness.
907) Sri Tattvamayi
— The Mother of the Ultimate State of Consciousness.
Sri Lalita Sahasranama,
C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and Printers, 1989.
"The Devi declares that prior to creation, She is the only existent entity, the one supreme Brahman and is pure consciousness.”
The Devi Gita is the final and best-known portion of the vast 11th-century scripture known as the Devi Bhagavata Purana, a text exclusively dedicated to the Devi"In her highest iconic mode, as the supreme World-Mother Bhuvaneshvari, beyond birth, beyond marriage, beyond any possible subordination to Shiva.”Indeed, the Purana's"most significant contribution to the Shakta theological tradition is the ideal of a Goddess both single and benign.”
In the Devi Gita the Devi proceeds to describe her essential forms. The Devi declares that prior to creation, She is the only existent entity, the one supreme Brahman and is pure consciousness. The Devi Gita is clear about salvation and attainment of eternal life: "Even when a person performs bhakti, knowledge need not arise. He will go to the Devi's Island. Till the complete knowledge in the form of my consciousness arises, there is no liberation.”
Devi"Is the origin of the universe, the resort of all, the primordial prakrti.”She is the"supreme vidya (knowledge) which is the cause of liberation.”
"The Devimahatmya refers to two different traditions regarding the origin of the Great Goddess: in the first Devi is explained as the Mahanidra of Visnu embodied as the universe, eternal, incarnated in many forms. She is"drawing herself out from the eyes and the various organs and limbs"of Visnu: when Great Sleep leaves Visnu, he awakens. In this form she is the great creator: she creates the entire universe, she is the cause of bondage and transmigration, the cause of final liberation too. She is both fierce and auspicious: she gives to mankind boons for their final liberation.
The second account of Devi's origin has a different ring and seems to be the older one. It not only mentions the Vedic gods but it is somehow reminiscent of the Indra-Vrtra myth—the fight of the High God against the demon usurper, who has conquered the gods and assumed the place of Indra. Devi here is no longer the prakrti of Visnu but the essence of all the gods," godhead"In a concrete sense. She surpasses all the individual gods in power and glory because in her all the qualities of the gods are embodied...
Thus the salvation of gods and men has been accomplished, and Devi receives praise from all the devas. In the cause of this prayer all the essential qualities of the Devi are mentioned, and the basic Devi philosophy comes to the fore: Devi"Is the origin of the universe, the resort of all, the primordial prakrti.”She is the"supreme vidya (knowledge) which is the cause of liberation.”She is"durga, the boat that carries men across the difficult ocean of worldly existence," she is"Sri who has taken her abode in the heart of Visnu," and she is"Gauri, who has established herself with Siva.” Devi offers a boon, and the devas choose the following: "Whenever we think of you again, destroy our direst calamities.”...
Devi-avataras are also found in the Puranas. They have the same function which Vainavas ascribe to Visnu-avataras, namely to protect the world in successive ages from demons and other evil. This theory also helps to explain the numerous goddesses as manifestations of One Supreme Goddess: "Bhavani is worshipped by the gods in all her repeated incarnations. She always kills demons by incarnating herself on earth and she protects all creation in heaven, earth and the nether world...”
She explains her own nature according to Advaita: "I and Brahman are one.”...
The Goddess is the great Sakti. She is Maya, for of her the maya which produces the samsara is. As Lord of Maya she is Mahamaya. Devi is avidya because she binds, and vidya because she liberates and destroys the samsara. She is praktri and as existing before creation is the Adya Sakti. Devi is the Vacaka Sakti, the manifestation of Cit in Praktri, and the Vicya Sakti or Cit itself. The Atma should be contemplated as Devi. Sakti or Devi is thus the Brahman revealed in The Mother aspect (Srimata) as creatrix and nourisher of the worlds. Kali says of herself in Yogini Tantra: "I am the bodily form of Saccidananda and I am the brahman that has emanated from brahman.” "
K. K. Klostermaier, Hinduism: A Short History
Oneworld Pub., 2000, p. 200-211.
“A bit of Mother, a drop, was Krishna; another was Buddha.”
"The Saktas worship the Universal Energy as Mother; it is the sweetest name they know. The Mother is the highest ideal of womanhood in India...
Mother is the first manifestation of power and is considered a higher idea than father. The name of mother brings the idea of Shakti, Divine energy and omnipotence. The baby believes its mother to be all-powerful, able to do anything. The Divine Mother is the Kundalini sleeping in us; without worshipping Her, we can never know ourselves. All merciful, all-powerful, omnipresent - these are attributes of the Divine Mother. She is the sum total of the energy in the Universe.
Every manifestation of power in the universe is Mother. She is Life, She is Intelligence, She is Love. She is in the universe, yet separate from it. She is a person, and can be seen and known - as Sri Ramakrishna saw and knew Her. Established in the idea of Mother, we can do anything. She quickly answers prayers.
She can show Herself to us in any form at any moment. The Divine Mother can have form (rupa) and name (nama), or name without form; and as we worship Her in these various aspects, we can rise to Pure Being, having neither form nor name.
The sum-total of all the cells in an organism is one person. Each soul is like one cell, and the sum of them is God. And beyond that is the Absolute. The sea calm is the Absolute; the same sea in waves is the Divine Mother. She is time, space and causation. Mother is the same as Brahman and has two natures; the conditioned and the unconditioned. As the former, She is God, nature and soul. As the latter, she is unknown and unknowable. Out of the Unconditioned came the trinity, God, nature and soul - the triangle of existence.
A bit of Mother, a drop, was Krishna; another was Buddha. The worship of even one spark of Mother in our earthly mother leads to greatness. Worship Her if you want love and wisdom.”
Swami Vivekananda, "Inspired Talks, My Master and Other Writings",
Wed. July 2,1895, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, NY, pp. 48-49.
"The Devi-Bhagavata was intended not only to show the superiority of the Goddess over various male deities, but also to clarify and elaborate on her nature on her own terms.”
The Devi-Bhagavata Purana (The Old Book of the Goddess), also known as Shrimad Devi Bhagvatam or Devi Bhagavatam, is one of the most important work in Shaktism, the veneration in Hinduism of the divine feminine, next to Devi Mahatmya. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana retells the tales of the Devi Mahatmya in much greater length and detail, embellishing them with Shakta philosophical reflections, while recasting many classic tales from other schools of Hinduism (particularly Vaishnavism) in a distinctly Shakta light:
"The Devi-Bhagavata was intended not only to show the superiority of the Goddess over various male deities, but also to clarify and elaborate on her nature on her own terms.”.. The Goddess in the Devi-Bhagavata becomes less of a warrior goddess, and more a nurturer and comforter of her devotees, and a teacher of wisdom. This development in the character of the Goddess culminates in the Devi Gita, which"repeatedly stresses the necessity of love for the goddess, with no mention of one's gender, as the primary qualification," a view"Inspired by the devotional ideals of Shaktism.”
The Devi-Bhagavata Purana vividly describes the concept of supreme devotion (parabhakti), a central component of all the Puranas. One passage explains that there are three kinds of Yoga: that of action (karma), knowledge (jnana), and devotion (bhakti). According to Devi, who narrates the text herself," Of these three, the Yoga of devotion is the easiest in all respects.”However, she explains, there are three lower forms of devotion that should be avoided. Some people worship Devi to spite other people. Others worship Devi hoping to attain some personal desire, such as fame. Still others worship Devi as a means of purifying their actions. A fourth type of devotion, though, is supreme devotion, which is completely selfless. As described below, it is so selfless that the worshiper does not even desire the experience of release itself:
"Now listen attentively about the supreme devotion (parabhakti) which I will now describe to you. He always hears my glories and recites my name. His mind always dwells in me, like the incessant flow of oil, and he is the receptacle of all good qualities and gunas. But he does not have the least trace of any desire to get the fruits of his actions (karma). Indeed, he does not want the various levels of release (moksha), including being on the same plane as God (salokya), nearness to God (samipya), having the form of God (sarsti), union with God (sayujya) and other forms of release.”
Devi continues noting that true worshipers abandons all concepts of themselves, completely identify themselves with Devi, and make no distinctions between themselves and anything else. Worshipers find Devi in everything, including other souls:
He becomes filled with devotion for me alone, worships me only, knows nothing higher than to serve me, and he does not even want final release. He does not like neglecting the notions of"serving" (sevya) and the"servant who serves" (sevaka). He always meditates on me with a constant vigilance, actuated by a feeling of supreme devotion. He does not think of himself as separate from me, but rather thinks to himself," I am the Lord (Bhagavati).”He considers all souls (jivas) as myself, and loves me as he loves himself. He makes no distinction between the souls and myself since he finds the same pure consciousness (caitanya) everywhere and manifested in all. He does not quarrel with anyone since he has abandoned all ideas of separateness. He bows down and worships the pure consciousness and all the souls. He becomes filled with the highest love when he sees my place, sees my devotees, hears the scriptures, describes my deeds, and meditates on my mantras. His hairs stand on end out of love for me and his tears of love flow incessantly from both of his eyes. He recites my name deeds in a voice that is choked with feelings of love for me. With intense feeling he worships me as The Mother of this universe and the cause of all causes.” (Devi Bhagavata Purana, 7.37)
THE PRIMEVAL ENERGY
One of the unique features of Hinduism is the fact that it conceives Divinity also as Mother Goddess. When Divinity has no name or form—which is the most important declaration of the Upanishads, the next logical step is to recognize that the Supreme has no specificity in terms of gender. The Upanishads transcend the gender-specific connotation and invent the unique Sanskrit word tat, meaning 'that' for that Supreme Reality. And therefore they argue, whatever reason or rhyme we have in referring to God by a masculine pronoun, the same right there is for us to call God by a feminine pronoun. The energy of every Cosmic Divinity is taken to be feminine and thus arises the interesting concept of primordial power or the [Parashakti], which means 'Power Supreme'.
BRAHMAN TO BE KNOWN, SHAKTI TO BE WORSHIPPED
The primordial Parashakti is therefore the ultimate dynamic energy of the transcendental Brahman, than which there is no other existence. In fact it is technically wrong to say that She (Parashakti) is the Energy of Brahman, because the nature of Brahman does not allow any attributes or predicates.The moment we attribute anything to Brahman we have already delimited and circumscribed it. When we talk of the Energy of the Ultimate Reality we have already descended one step from the supreme pedestal of the Unmanifested Attributeless Ultimate.
But the beauty of the concept of Parashakti is that She is transcendent beyond anything that is finite and immanent in everything there is. So while we predicate it and relate it to other things, it is still the Ultimate Supreme that can be talked about. While Brahman has only to be cognized, Parashakti can be worshipped with a name and form. She is the Divine Will personified. She is the Conscious Power beyond everything. She is the Presence, invisible and constant, that sustains the world, linking form and name, holding them in interdependence. There is nothing impossible for Her. She is the Universal Goddess. She is all knowledge, all strength, all triumph and all victory. She is the Goddess Supreme (Maheshvari) who brings to us the total state of illumination.
Devi Mahatmyam
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The same principle of matter and form working together can account for the whole evolution of humanity. But what happens in human beings is that this organizing power, this form, begins to emerge into consciousness.”
“In the course of evolution most processes simply follow mechanical
laws. Rupert Sheldrake puts this down to a kind of force of habit, in
that once a certain pattern of organisation has occurred it tends to
repeat itself and so it gets fixed to a certain extent. This pattern
appears as a kind of mechanical law. But at the same time there are
also continual chance variations and the new form that emerges from
these apparently chance changes integrates the chance elements,
creating a new structure. So form and matter, order and chance, are
working one on the other the whole time. At each stage the organism
becomes more complex and the organising principle more powerful and
more structured. This is what Teilhard de Chardin calls the principle
of complexification. (p.259) An atom of hydrogen is extremely simple,
consisting of one proton and one electron. But then as there arise
more and more complex atoms, and increasingly complex molecules and
cells, at each level there has to be a more complex deep structure
to hold it together and the energy within has to be stronger. This is
Teilhard's point of the within and the without of things. Atoms,
molecules, cells, attain their structure from the outside, as it
were, with regard to their matter but at the same time a force is
appearing within each one which organises and maintains the
structure. Matter is without; form, the organising force, is within.
And so the form organises each thing in a more complex way and
becomes more manifest as it develops, leading to increasingly greater
and more complex formal order.
This process goes on continually, through plants and animals to human
beings. It appears that the same forces which are at work in matter
and sub-human life operate also in the human person and in human
consciousness. The same principle of matter and form working together
can account for the whole evolution of humanity. But what happens in
human beings is that this organizing power, this form, begins to
emerge into consciousness. We have seen that there is an organizing
power at every level and this organising power has the character of a
mind. Mind, it has been said, reveals itself as"A pattern of self-
organisation and a set of dynamic relationships.” In this sense it
can be said that mind is present in matter from the beginning. Form
in Aristotle's sense of the word is a power of intelligence. It
creates order. It causes the self-organisation of all organic
structures and creates a set of dynamic relationships. So mind is
present in matter, and in plants and animals, and that mind becomes
conscious in us. And so, in a very exact sense, it can be said that
matter becomes conscious in human beings. This process which has been
going on from the beginning of time becomes conscious in us. (p.260)
It evolves into consciousness. We are that stage of evolution at
which the material universe is emerging into consciousness in each
one of us...
In the evolutionary and developmental process, once we reach the
level of language we have already crossed a barrier because with
language it becomes possible to form symbols and an inner world comes
into being. There is the outer world around us consisting of all the
energies of matter and nature, and now with language and symbol we
create an inner world where we represent, through the imagination,
what we take to be the structure of the universe around us. Outside
us are all these energies at work, but through our senses, feelings,
imagination, reason and will, through all the faculties of our being,
we structure a universe around us. It is a very limited universe and
a very limited understanding that we have. It is always that we are
structuring this appearance of the world around us. It is not as it
really is. The world is infinitely greater than we perceive it. We
only perceive those aspects of nature, matter and the energies of
existence which are reflected through our senses, our feelings, our
imagination, our mind and our will, through the whole of our human
organism, and this is our particular way of perceiving the universe.
So matter emerges into consciousness in us and we create this inner
world by which we can represent the world around us and that can
gradually be extended. The whole aim of pure science and of
philosophy is to get a more and more accurate knowledge of the world
around, but we know now that understanding is always conditioned by
the limitations of our minds.”
A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and
Christian Faith) Chapter 12, p.258-262
Bede Griffiths
Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois
ISBN 0-87243-180-0
Consciousness
"All things are made of atoms. Stars are made of atoms. Humans are made of atoms. When we look at a tree, we see ourselves.”
John Holland
"To say that consciousness evolved from matter is to say that a TV evolved from a refrigerator. Such things do not happen.”
Cairns Smith, chemical evolutionist
"When science comes to eventually understand consciousness it will be an achievement in the face of which every other achievement of science will pale into insignificance.”
William James
"The physical basis of the mind is the brain action in each individual. It accompanies the activity of the spirit, but the spirit is free. It is capable of some degree of initiative. The spirit is the man one knows. He must have continuity through periods of coma and sleep. I assume then that the spirit must live on somehow after death. I cannot doubt that many make contact with God and have guidance from a greater spirit. If he had only a brain and not a mind, this difficult decision would not be his.”
W. Penfield, one of the top neuroscientists of the century,
Science, the Ox, and the Spirit
"I went through my entire scientific career searching for life, but now I see that life has somehow slipped through my fingers and all I have is electrons, protons, and particles, which have no life at all. So in my old age I am forced to retrace my steps.”
Szent-Giorgi, the Nobel laureate biologist
"The origin of species and of much of evolution appears to be due to some organizing and partly intelligent spiritual agency associated with the animal or plant, which controls its life processes and tends to keep the being more or less adapted to its environment. But in addition to this there seem to be other spiritual agencies of a much higher type which have been responsible for what may be called greater evolution ... These spiritual agencies appear to have worked by directing from time to time the inferior agencies which are associated with the animals and plants.”
Robert Broom, Evolution—Is There Intelligence Behind It?
South African Journal of science, Vol. 30 (October 1933), pp. 18-19.
"To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could nave been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species,
New York: New American Library, 1964, p. 168.
"It is difficult to discuss the beginning of the universe without mentioning the concept of god. My work on the origin of the universe is on the borderline between science and religion, but I try to stay on the scientific side of the border. It is quite possible that god acts in ways that cannot be described by scientific laws.”
Stephen Hawking, 2002
The cosmos"reveals an intelligence of such superiority that compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.”
Albert Einstein
"If there is such an Infinite Being, and if... his will and purpose is the increase of conscious beings, then we can hardly be the first result of this purpose. We conclude, therefore, that there are now in the universe infinite grades of power, infinite grades of knowledge and wisdom, infinite grades of influence of higher beings upon lower. Holding this opinion, I have suggested that this vast and wonderful universe, with its almost infinite variety of forms, motions, and reactions of parts upon part, from suns and systems up to plant-life, animal-life, and the human living soul, has ever required and still requires the continuous coordinated agency of myriads of such intelligences.”
Alfred Russell Wallace, The World of Life
New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1911, p. 431
"To understand the esoteric philosophy it is best to forget bodies and to grip the essential consciousness of ourselves. The fatal error of Western thought in all its departments of religion, philosophy and science is that it concentrates on the body-aspects, therefore on the transitory, the ever-changing. We have forgotten that the way by which to understand ultimates is by facing and studying them; and the ultimate of ultimates is the divine Selfhood, essential consciousness.”
G. de Purucker, Fountain-Source of Occultism,
Theosophical University Press, 1974
Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta
From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia
By Pravrajika Brahmaprana
Wandering mendicants greet each other: 'Om. Is your vision clear?' 'Om' is a salutation to the indwelling divinity, or Atman, within all beings. 'Is your vision clear?' is a sober reminder: Are we seeing the world as it truly is or, rather, as it appears to be? The vision that comes from spiritual insight completely transforms the perception of who we are, what this world is, and what our relationship to it is. A person who has such insight is known in Sanskrit as a rsi, or 'seer'.
The Upanishads say that Brahman, the ultimate reality, is pure consciousness (praj—anam brahma).[1] But, so long as this empirical world of multiplicity exists for us, consciousness remains a mere philosophical concept with different categories.
Categories of Consciousness
According to Advaita Vedanta, these different categories of consciousness are classified as absolute consciousness (brahma-caitanya), cosmic consciousness (isvara-caitanya), individual consciousness (jiva-caitanya), and indwelling consciousness (saksi-caitanya). However, all these distinctions are due to limiting adjuncts (upadhis) and are not intrinsic to the true nature of consciousness, which is by itself one and non-dual. Advaita Vedanta says that there is a substratum of this universe, even finer than energy (prana), called brahma-caitanya. The very nature of this substratum is sat-cit-ananda: absolute existence (sat), pure consciousness (cit), and bliss (ananda). In other words, pure being is Self-aware and is of the nature of pure conscious-ness and bliss, or 'loving consciousnesses.
The natural question that arises is: How did absolute consciousness—undivided, unmoved, and unchanging—become this world of multiplicity and change? The great seer and philosopher Shankaracharya resolved this paradox with his theory of superimposition, vivartavada. From the ultimate standpoint, absolute consciousness did not become this world; it only appears to have done so. Shankara gave the classic example of the snake and the rope:
We see a snake on the road at night, but as we approach the snake and flash a torch on it, we realize that it is actually a rope.
This snake-universe is a superimposition upon the rope-Brahman. There is no more causal relationship between this world-appearance and Brahman than there is between the snake and the rope. However, the universe has no existence apart from Brahman, just as the snake has no existence apart from the rope.
Since it is possible for a rope to be mistaken for a snake, it is also possible for something to apparently exist without being real. Advaita Vedanta states that this world is and is not. By is not, it is not suggested that the world is an illusion without a basis, a shadow without substance, or a void. It means that the world as it appears to us is unreal because this world-appearance has no absolute existence. But for a rsi whose vision is clear, the world is ever real because it is, essentially, nothing less than Brahman mistaken as a world of matter. This cosmic superimposition of the unreal on the real is due to maya, which literally means 'that which measures the immeasurable'. To show its twin faculty of concealing the reality and projecting the apparent, maya is often compared to a veil, a cloud, or a screen, as well as a magician's trick.
Advaita Vedanta is not mere philosophical speculation or theory; it has direct experience as its basis as well as ultimate proof. To lift the veil of maya, Advaita Vedanta exhorts the spiritual seeker to take the testimony of the scriptures (Vedas) and illumined souls, use reason, reflection, and meditation, and attain direct experience. These are the compasses, maps, and sails needed to steer successfully to the highest union with Brahman. One must transcend the effects of maya in order to know the nature of its cause.
How does a knower of Brahman perceive this world-appearance which is and is not? Swami Shivananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, one day disclosed the answer to his attendant, who noticed how the swami reverently saluted all who entered his room, regardless of their social position or spiritual stature. 'When somebody approaches me,' the swami conceded, 'first of all I see that particular effulgent form of God through which He reveals Himself in that particular personality. The persons themselves appear indistinctly like shadowy beings, while the divine aspect itself appears vivid and living. That's why I make my obeisance. The divine forms disappear after my salutation, and then only can I see the human figures distinctly and recognize them as well.'[2] One day, Swami Shivananda even saluted a cat, explaining afterwards to his attendant that he first saw Brahman as pure consciousness at play in all forms, including the cat's, and then recognized the difference as only in name [3].
This level of realization stems from a great Upanishadic truth: 'From pure consciousness, which is of the nature of absolute bliss, all beings arise, by it are they sustained, and it they reenter at death.'[4] For those of us who possess ordinary human consciousness, however, only the world-appearance of name and form is manifest to the mind and senses. In our ignorance, we see the cat, not Brahman.
The second type of consciousness in Advaita Vedanta is called isvara-caitanya, or Brahman united with maya as the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer of this universe. With the purpose of explaining what isvara-caitanya is, Brahman may be called the ultimate cause of the universe because, due to maya, the world-appearance is superimposed upon it. But Brahman can neither transform itself into the world nor create it, since that which is absolute reality, by definition, must transcend action and change. Therefore, Vedanta introduces the creative principle of Ishvara—Brahman united with maya—to explain the process of this universe's creation, preservation, and dissolution, which is without beginning and without end. Ishvara is God with attributes. The personal God, according to Swami Vivekananda, is the highest reading of the Absolute by the human mind.
'Are there two Gods then,' we may ask, 'one absolute and one personal?' 'No,' Vedanta says, 'Brahman appears as Ishvara when viewed through maya.' 'But,' we persist, 'what then is the difference between Ishvara and an ordinary human being?' According to Vedanta, Ishvara is the wielder of maya—all-free, all-powerful, and all-knowing—whereas human beings are subject to maya because their freedom, power, and knowledge are limited. Human beings can become one with Ishvara, but they can never be individually the same as Ishvara.
This brings us to the third type of consciousness in Vedanta: human consciousness, or jiva-caitanya. The superimposition of the ego-idea upon pure consciousness is the individual's first plunge into the whirlpool of maya. Vedanta says that the lie of separateness—the claim that 'I am I (the lower I)'—is the initial act that produces the chain reaction of further superimposition and entanglement. Considering ourselves 'individuals' implies considering everything as 'individual'. This attitude inexorably superimposes a world of multiplicity upon the one, undivided reality.
Initially, the ego-idea identifies itself with the body and mind, and with their attributes and actions. Instinctively we say: 'I am young', 'I am short', or 'I am talking'. As the ego-idea reaches further out to claim external objects and conditions as its own, we find ourselves thinking and saying such things as: 'I am an American', or 'This property is mine'. As our superimpositions multiply, so do our extraordinary personal claims, such as 'We are sending troops to the Balkans', or 'I carry health insurance'. Thus, the human ego continues to enlarge itself until it becomes identified with every known object in its universe, while the higher Self remains the detached witness to all these foolish shenanigans. At the same time, the Self makes them all possible by providing the mind with the light of consciousness, without which maya could not exist. In short, it is due to maya that we become identified with a psychophysical being—the shadow of our real Self.
'Who am I?' we may then ask. 'What is my real nature? Like the world around me, am I a mixture of Brahman and maya—the real and the apparent, divine and human consciousness, Atman and jiva-caitanya?' A passage in the Mundaka Upanishad describes the relationship of our true Self with the empirical self (jiva-caitanya):
Like two birds of golden plumage, inseparable companions, the individual self and the immortal Self are perched on the branches of the self-same tree. The former tastes of the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree; the latter, tasting of neither, calmly observes.
The individual self, deluded by forgetfulness of his identity with the divine Self, bewildered by his ego, grieves and is sad. But when he recognizes the worshipful Lord as his own true Self, and beholds His glory, he grieves no more.[5] The state of one's spiritual development does not matter; Vedanta upholds the real nature of every human being as the luminous Self, which is associated with the mind as the onlooker, or witness (saksi-caitanya).
This brings us to the fourth type of consciousness in Advaita Vedanta, saksi-caitanya. The witness-self transcends the changing states of the mind, neither suffering nor enjoying the mental and physical conditions of human existence. After realizing the witness-self, an aspirant returns to normal consciousness with a transformed mind. Such a soul perceives itself and the universe through a mind composed of finer matter. Like a sheet of glass, through which sunlight can pass unobstructed, the mind in this state allows the light of consciousness to reach the body and its organs unimpeded. As the witness, one perceives one's Self to be distinct from the body and mind, which are clearly recognized as objects of perception. One knows, beyond doubt, that it is the self-luminous Atman that governs one's entire psycho-physical being. In the mystical language of the Kena Upanishad, the Self is realized as 'the Ear of the ear, Mind of the mind, Speech of the speech ... [as] also Breath of the breath, and Eye of the eye.'[6] This witness-self is known as the 'inner controller' (antaryamin), and is beautifully described in the Katha Upanishad as the rider within a chariot-body. The charioteer is the intellect (buddhi), and the reins are the mind—endowed with volition and emotion. The senses, say the wise, are the horses; the roads they travel are the mazes of desire. The wise call the Self the enjoyer, when he is united with the body, the senses, and the mind[7].
Once the jiva identifies its real nature, the next step is to locate it. How and where does pure consciousness dwell within the body? The ancient Upanishads show us the precise location. 'within the city of Brahman, which is the body,' the Chhandogya Upanishad discloses,
There is the heart, and within the heart, there is a little house. This house has the shape of a lotus, and within it dwells that which is to be sought after, inquired about, and realized. ... Though old age comes to the body, the lotus of the heart does not grow old. At the death of the body, it does not die. The lotus of the heart, where Brahman exists in all his glory—that, and not the body, is the true city of Brahman.[8][9]
Consciousness and the Psycho-physical System
Also in the Upanishads, we find the classic Vedantic model of the threefold body, or fivefold sheath, which elucidates the nature of the gross and subtle layers of consciousness that exist within our psycho-physical being. Vedanta explains that every human being is comprised of three bodies: the gross, the subtle, and the causal, which are the respective mediums of experience for our waking, dream, and dreamless sleep states. The gross body (annamaya kosa or 'sheath of food' is born; it grows, transforms, decays, and dies. The subtle and causal bodies are what reincarnate from birth to birth.
The subtle body is composed of the vital sheath (pranamaya kosa), mental sheath (manomaya kosa), and sheath of the intellect (vij—anamaya kosa). The vital sheath is the life force that operates the autonomic nervous system, thus controlling respiration (prana), excretion (apana), and digestion (samana), and also various functions of the cerebro-spinal system such as exertion (vyana) and growth. The vital sheath, moreover, mediates the soul's departure from the body at the time of death (udana). The manomaya kosa comprises the volitional, or deliberative mind, as well as the five organs of perception; whereas the vij—anamaya kosa (buddhi) is the cognitive or determinative mind, along with the five organs of perception.
Through the buddhi, or cognitive mind, all other faculties of the mind, whether volitional or emotional, receive their light. However, as already mentioned, the buddhi simply permits the passage of the light of the witness-self (saksin) and thus appears to be self-luminous. Vedanta claims that though the buddhi is located in the heart within a tiny space (akasa) 'about the size of a thumb', the witness-self dwells even deeper within our being, within the buddhi itself. Therefore, the buddhi—only one step away from the witness-self—is still identified with the non-Self and asserts itself as the knower and the doer within the mental and vital sheaths, and functions as the empirical self that reincarnates.[10]
Human cognition exemplifies how the various mental faculties function together within the mental and intelligence sheaths. According to Vedanta, cognition is a fourfold operation. First, the deliberative faculty of the mind (manas) asks: 'What is this object?' The memory (citta) attempts to recall similar objects. Then, the determinative faculty (buddhi) is able to ascertain: 'It is a desk.' Finally, the sense of egoism (ahamkara) makes the association: 'I am sitting at the desk.' Throughout the cognitive process, however—whether we know it or not—the light of the Self, shining through the buddhi to the organs of perception, reveals everything that we experience. William M Indich, in his book Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta, explains: 'In visual perception, then, Brahman intelligence reflected in mind is extended out along the medium of the organ of vision, which Advaitins claim is the nature of light (tejas) ... contacts an object, assumes its form, and reveals it as known.'[11]
This Upanishadic model of the fivefold sheath maintains that consciousness does not originate in the brain—nor even in the mind, for that matter, because the mind merely passes on the light of consciousness. The brain, the mind, and the body are merely physical mediums for the expression of consciousness. Moreover, the Yoga-Vedanta system of psychology asserts that thought, which is a specific type of consciousness, is a function of the mind, not the brain.[12] 'In the Vedantic view the mind is not a process;' Swami Satprakashananda summarizes, 'nor is it a function, or a state, or an attribute of something else. It is a positive substance, though not ultimately real. It has definite functions and states. It is one of the products of primordial nature, the potential cause of the universe, called prakrti or maya, which has no consciousness inherent in it'.
Yoga-Vedanta uphold the premise that one's own consciousness—disciplined and refined through the path of yoga—is the clearest and most reliable lens for perceiving and grasping the nature of human and transcendental consciousness. For thousands of years mind and consciousness have been primary subjects of introspective investigation. Consequently, the rsis were able to develop sophisticated techniques for tracing the origin and nature of consciousness, which have been handed down from guru to disciple to the present day.
Approaches to Consciousness
How, then, can we attain pure consciousness, the light of the Atman, by which we obtain the clearest perception of reality? Shankara, the Advaita Vedantin, prescribes the four traditional methods (sadhana catustaya) that, when perfected, mark the qualifications of a rsi: 1.discrimination between the eternal and non-eternal;
2.renunciation of the tendency towards sensual enjoyment;
3.cultivation of the six treasures (tranquility, self-control, mental poise, forbearance, faith, and self-surrender); and
4.desire for liberation. Though all four qualifications work together as methods for refining, stabilizing, and elevating one's mind, for the sake of brevity, we will focus only on the first two.
Vedanta scriptures exhort aspirants to first hear the truth, then contemplate it, and finally meditate upon it (sravana, manana, and nididhyasana). To incorporate this technique into spiritual practice, Swami Turiyananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, once taught a young monastic how to study the Bhagavad-Gita: 'Take one verse at a time, meditate on its meaning, and live the verse for a week before going on to the next verse.'[13] By studying an entire scripture in this way, an aspirant refines and deepens the faculty of introspection, imbibes the spiritual truth of the passage, and thus activates and sustains a spiritual current of thought throughout the day. By developing subtlety of mind, one unleashes the powers of the mind.
To strengthen and unsheathe the buddhi from its weakening and covering delusions forged through many lives, the aspirant, under the guidance of a qualified teacher, also practices the method of negating all impermanent, unreal phenomena superimposed on the supreme reality (neti neti atma). Beginning with gross phenomena and gradually proceeding to more subtle elements, the aspirant, through logic and willpower, peels back the several layers of superimposition (adhyaropa) veiling the underlying reality of Atman-Brahman, and gradually renounces them all, both physically and mentally. This is a process that involves two steps: by negating the attributes of the non-Self, one unfolds the essential nature of the Self, or Atman; and by negating the conditions and qualities of the relative world, one discovers the nature of Brahman. Sri Ramakrishna demonstrated in his life the unconscious effects of this practice when steadfastly performed in a conscious and uncompromising way. 'When I meditated under the bel-tree,' Sri Ramakrishna confided to his disciple M, 'I used to see various visions clearly. One day I saw in front of me money, a shawl, a tray of sandesh, and two women. I asked my mind," Mind, do you want any of these?”I saw the sandesh to be mere filth. One of the women had a big ring in her nose. I could see their inside and outside—entrails, filth, bone, fresh, and blood. The mind did not want any of these—money, shawl, sweets or women. It remained fixed ... [on] God.'[14]
Self-inquiry (atma vicara) is the technique of probing into the nature of the seer and the seen to end the identification between the subject and the object (drg-drsya-viveka); of rigorously analyzing the three states of consciousness (waking, dream, and dreamless sleep) in order to gain insight into that which is common to them, the witness-self; and of methodically examining the threefold body and fivefold sheath in order to renounce one's outer coverings and trace one's 'I-consciousness' back to its source, the Self. These spiritual disciplines demand the utmost clarity of intellect and willpower—the sword of discrimination being ever unsheathed to pierce the subtle delusions of the conscious, subconscious, and even unconscious mind. 'The discipline of negation must be practiced without intermission', stipulates Swami Nikhilananda in his comprehensive 'Introduction' to Shankara's Self-Knowledge (Atmabodha), 'as long as even a dreamlike perception of the universe and the finite soul remains, and as long as identification with the body is not totally wiped out. Neither sleep nor concern about secular matters nor attachment to sense-objects should be given the slightest opportunity to let one forget the nature of the real Self.'[15]
Ramprasad, the Bengali poet-saint, wrote a song which Sri Ramakrishna used to sing, demonstrating how discrimination, when properly performed, enables the aspirant to retain the witness consciousness throughout the three states of consciousness:
Once for all, this time, I have thoroughly understood;
From One who knows it well, I have learnt the secret of bhava.
A man has come to me from a country where there is no night,
And now I cannot distinguish day from night any longer;
Rituals and devotions have all grown profitless for me.
My sleep is broken; how can I slumber any more?
For now I am wide awake in the sleeplessness of yoga.
O Divine Mother, made one with thee in yoga-sleep[16] at last,
My slumber I have lulled to sleep for evermore[17].
The discrimination and renunciation of a spiritual aspirant is tested through the practice of karma yoga. In the field of selfless action one attempts to drive home the non-dual Vedanta perception of reality through dedicated action and, in doing so, learns how much the Advaita Vedanta ideal is actually instilled and reflected in one's unconscious habits and reactions. Seclusion can be a safe haven for a practitioner of Vedanta—in it one feels comfortable with one's own spiritual prowess—but in the field of action, shortcomings and weaknesses quickly manifest and are, therefore, easier to detect and eradicate. For this reason, including the practice of karma yoga in one's daily life is more beneficial than limiting one's spiritual disciplines to only study and meditation. At the same time, the practice of karma yoga unaccompanied by regular meditation quickly deteriorates into mere meritorious acts of karma.
Advaitic meditations vary according to the temperament and capacity of the aspirant. With repeated practice, Self-inquiry (atma-vicara) advances to a meditative state. The practice of constant self-awareness—witnessing each state of consciousness—is the pratibodha technique of mindfulness, known also as vipasyana.[1] Its roots can be found in the Kena Upanishad: 'Brahman is known when It is realized in every state of the mind; for by such Knowledge one attains Immortality' (pratibodha viditam matam).[2] Behind all thought and action is the witness-self, which also becomes manifest to the aspirant who, when sufficiently advanced, can at will sustain the interval between two thoughts.
In the Upanishads, there are symbolic Advaitic meditations known as vidyas, which train the mind of the aspirant to search beneath the coverings of various external objects—such as honey (madhu), the sun (aditya), and fire (pa—cagni)—their common spiritual core. In these meditation techniques, which focus on the relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the practitioners attempt to identify their own centre of consciousness with Saguna Brahman (Brahman with attributes). For example, the madhu vidya—meditation on honey, or sweetness, or bliss—begins: This earth is honey for all beings, and all beings are honey for this earth. The intelligent, immortal being, the soul of this earth, and the intelligent, immortal being, the soul of the individual being—each is honey to the other. Brahman is the soul in each; he indeed is the Self in all. He is all.'[3]
Each successive step of the madhu vidya meditation on water, fire, air, sun, space, moon, lightning, thunder, ether, law, truth, the human race, and the Self as madhu—focuses on the correlation between these respective elements, expanded to their universal aspects, and the Self within every being and the whole of creation. The intrinsic thread running through all is Atman-Brahman, the culmination of the vidya or meditation. Sri Ramakrishna disclosed some of the meditations he had learned from his teacher of Vedanta, Tota Puri:
Nangta [Tota Puri] used to tell me how a jnani meditates: Everywhere there is water; all the regions above and below are filled with water; man, like a fish, is swimming joyously in that water. In real meditation you will actually see all this. Take the case of the infinite ocean. There is no limit to its water. Suppose a pot is immersed in it: there is water both inside and outside the pot. The jnani sees that both inside and outside there is nothing but Paramatman. Then what is this pot? It is 'I-consciousness. Because of the pot the water appears to be divided into two parts; because of the pot you seem to perceive an inside and an outside. One feels that way as long as this pot of 'I' exists. When the 'I' disappears, what is remains. That cannot be described in words. Do you know another way a jnani meditates? Think of infinite akasa and a bird flying there, joyfully spreading its wings. Tree is the Cidakasa and Atman is the bird. The bird is not imprisoned in a cage; it flies in the Cidakasa. Its joy is limitless.[4]
Self-inquiry culminates in the intuitive knowledge revealed by the four Vedic aphorisms (mahavakyas) stated in the Upanishads: 'That thou art' (tat-tvam-asi); 'I am Brahman' (aham brahmasmi); 'Pure Consciousness is Brahman' (praj—anam brahma); and This Self is Brahman' (ayam-atma brahma). Each of the ten Vedantic monastic orders founded by Shankaracharya is associated with one of these Vedic dictums, which is transmitted from guru to disciple at the time of sannyasa. Before that, the novice undergoes years of rigorous spiritual training to purify the mind, in order that it may be receptive to these higher truths. At the time of sannyasa, when the guru utters one of the mahavakyas, the disciple is then better able to receive the realization of truth that the mantra imparts. 'The Self ... is to be known,' Yajnavalkya exhorts his wife Maitreyi in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 'Hear about it, reflect upon it, meditate upon it. By knowing the Self, my beloved, through hearing, refection, and meditation, one comes to know all things.'[5]By uninterrupted meditation on these great Vedic dictums, desires are obliterated, and we receive the highest realization of pure consciousness, known as nirvikalpa samadhi. The mind's refection of pure consciousness reverts back to its source of light, the Self-luminous Brahman, just as our face, when reflected in a broken mirror, reverts back to our face itself. Subject and object—pure consciousness and perceived consciousness—become one. At last we discover that the ocean of pure consciousness that we had thought was outside ourselves is, in reality, within. We are by nature Brahman—eternal, free, ever-blissful—the One-without-a-second.
Comparison between Mind and Consciousness in Western Psychology and Advaita Vedanta
The fundamental difference between Western and Eastern psychology is that the former does not, and the latter does differentiate Mind from Consciousness. On the contrary Western psychology interprets Mind in terms of Consciousness, that is Consciousness is the distinctive character of Mind. Where Mind and Consciousness are used as equivalents the one of the other, ordinary experience is of course meant and not pure Cit or supreme unconditioned Consciousness. The Western 'Mind' is something for which there is no adequate Sanskrit equivalent since the notions are different. When I speak of Mind in Vedanta I refer to what is explained later as the 'Inner Instrument' (Antahkarana) as distinguished from the 'outer instruments' (Bahyakarana) or senses on the one hand, and on the other hand from Consciousness of which both mind and senses are instruments.
The term 'Mind' bears a narrower as well as a wider meaning in the sastras. Thus in the saying 'from where speech together with mind (Manas) withdraws failing to reach' (referring to Brahman) the word Manas (mind) is evidently used for the whole 'Inner Instrument'. In strictly philosophical literature however, the term 'Manas' is almost always used in a defined sense so that it cannot be translated into 'Mind' as understood by Western psychologists. It is only then one function of the inner instrument. Indian 'Mind' is distinguished from Western 'Mind' in this that the former as such is not Consciousness but a material force enveloping Consciousness, the two in association producing the Consciousness-unconsciousness of Western Mind. Pure Consciousness (Cit) is not an attribute of Mind. It is beyond Mind being independent of it. It is immanent in Mind and is the source of its illumination and apparent Consciousness...
According to the Vedanta ... Cit is pure consciousness Itself. Mind is a real or apparent negation or limitation or determination of that. Mind in fact, in itself, that is considered as apart from Cit (from which in fact it is never separate) is an unconscious force which in varying degree obscures and limits consciousness, such limitation being the condition of all finite experience. Cit is thus Consciousness. Mind is Consciousness plus Unconsciousness, the intermingled Consciousness- unconsciousness which we see in all finite being.[6]
References
1. Swami Bhajanananda, 'JnanaMarga: Its Meditation Techniques', Prabuddha Bharata, 91/8 (August 1986), 334.
2. Kena Upanishad, 2.4, in The Upanishads, 4 vols, trans. Swami Nikhilananda (New York: Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center, 1990), 1.239.
3. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 2.5.1, in The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal, 146.
4. Gospel, 915.
5. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 2.4.5, in The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal, 143.
6. John Woodrofe, The World as Power, 145—8
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