Mountain Path - July 2010 " On Consciousness "
Consciousness
As Revealed in the Mandukya Upanishad
- Dennis Waite
The following is an extract from the second edition of The Book of One by Dennis Waite.
Dennis Waite is a well known author on Advaita Vedanta.
This Upanishad demonstrates how it is
the same Consciousness that functions throughout and ‘witnesses’ all three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. It uses the states of consciousness in order to ‘talk about’ reality and begins by saying that
the manifestation has four facets or aspect
The first of these states is called jAgrat. This is the waking state and the waker-ego, called vishva, is conscious of the gross,
physical, external world of sense objects.
In the waking state, the ‘individual’ is complete (vishva = whole) with all its faculties of senses and mind.
The second state is called svapna, meaning ‘sleep’, but only for the body — the mind remains active. This is the dreaming state and the dreamer is called taijasa.
In this, the dreamer is conscious of the
subtle or internal world of objects, i.e. thoughts, feelings, etc., but is unaware of the external world. In the dreaming state, Consciousness effectively projects the world of the dream from its own ‘light’ and
the dream ‘consists’ of this ‘light’ of the mind (taijasa = ‘originating from or consisting of light’).
The third aspect is suShupti, meaning ‘excellent rest’ since both body and mind are now resting in the deep-sleep state. The sleeper-ego is called prAj~na, literally meaning ‘intelligent’, ‘wise’ or ‘intelligence’.
In the deep-sleep state, the sleeper sees neither the external nor internal worlds of objects. The senses and mind are inactive and nothing is experienced, i.e. there is no perception or conception. The state is
governed by ignorance (avidyA) but there must be some vestige of awareness since, for example, if someone calls our name, we will probably wake up.
During this state there is no ‘knowing’ of anything nor appearances of any kind. prAj~na can also be translated as ‘the one
who is nearly ignorant’. Because Consciousness is still present, the self is not totally ignorant, but nearly ignorant. It is said to be a state of pure consciousness and bliss, precisely because there is no mental agitation but, since there is no knowledge, we are not directly aware of this. It is said that here the Self is identified with avidyA.
The fourth aspect is not actually a ‘state’ at all — it is called turIya
— and it is characterized by neither ignorance nor error.
But I will not say anything more about this for the moment; it is not something with which most of us are familiar. The pure consciousness of deep sleep can be considered to emerge, either to illuminate the subtle world of thoughts and emotions, as we become the dreamer, or to illuminate the external world, as we become the waker. In deep sleep, there is only ignorance — we do not also misperceive the world, mistaking a rope for a snake for example, because there is no perception at all.
There is thus ignorance but no error or misperception. This non-apprehension is the same as the ‘veiling power’ of mAyA – AvaraNa.
In dreaming and waking, the ignorance is still there but, with the mind and senses now active, we additionally fall into error — we misapprehend reality. This misapprehension ‘effect’ follows from the
ignorance ‘cause’ of non-apprehension. Misapprehension is vikShepa, described earlier as the projecting power of mAyA.
If we could see the rope, we would not mistake it for a snake.
The misapprehension occurs under the conditions in which there is partial ignorance — we can see that there is something there but not sufficiently clearly to make out that it is a rope. Thus, the (partial) ignorance is the effective cause for the error.
(Note that, if there is total ignorance — i.e. we cannot see anything at all — there is no error either. If we do not see the rope in the first place, there is no way or scope to mistake it for a snake. Hence the expression ‘ignorance is bliss’!)
This explains why the deep-sleep state is known as the ‘causal’ state. In that ignorance is the potentiality for all manifestation in the dream and waking states.
Consciousness is that in which all else appears. It is there when there appears to be nothing. It can be thought of as the silence between thoughts or as the screen, upon which the movie of life is projected,
unaffected by all, yet without which there would be nothing.
Sri Poonja asked what we would see if he put up a blackboard the size of the wall and marked a small white spot in the middle of it. Ninety nine percent of people, he said, would say that they saw a white spot. Almost invisible, this is what draws our attention such that we do not even see the big blackboard. It is in our nature to look for objects against the background and ignore the background itself.
In just the same way, we see a cloud in the sky and miss the sky. And we see the thought arising in Consciousness and know nothing about Consciousness itself.
It is inevitable that our minds will search for an understanding of what Consciousness is, as though it were an object that we could observe, rather than that which enables observation to occur in the first place. All theories that we may come up with are going to fail and, worse, may delude us into thinking that we know something when we do not.
Ultimately, the scriptures summarize the matter very simply in one of the four great sayings or mahAvAkya-s from the Upanishads:
praj~nAnam brahma — Consciousness is brahman.
Consciousness equates to brahman, which is the one reality, all that there is.
The four ‘great sayings’ from the Vedas are: ‘Consciousness is brahman’
from the Aitareya Upanishad,
‘That thou art’ from the Chandogya
Upanishad,
‘This Self is brahman’ from the Mandukya Upanishad and
‘I am brahman’ from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.)
Before looking in more detail at the three states of consciousness, it is important to note that all of these explanations are made from the vantage point of the waking mind. Strictly speaking, it can only speak from experience about the waking state, since it is, by definition, not present in the other states.
The true situation is summed up in
the Katha Upanishad (IV.4):
‘Having realized that it is the great, all-
pervading Atman that sees the objects in the dream and the waking state, the wise man does not grieve.’
✅ MOUNTAIN PATH
July 2010
As Revealed in the Mandukya Upanishad
- Dennis Waite
The following is an extract from the second edition of The Book of One by Dennis Waite.
Dennis Waite is a well known author on Advaita Vedanta.
This Upanishad demonstrates how it is
the same Consciousness that functions throughout and ‘witnesses’ all three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. It uses the states of consciousness in order to ‘talk about’ reality and begins by saying that
the manifestation has four facets or aspect
The first of these states is called jAgrat. This is the waking state and the waker-ego, called vishva, is conscious of the gross,
physical, external world of sense objects.
In the waking state, the ‘individual’ is complete (vishva = whole) with all its faculties of senses and mind.
The second state is called svapna, meaning ‘sleep’, but only for the body — the mind remains active. This is the dreaming state and the dreamer is called taijasa.
In this, the dreamer is conscious of the
subtle or internal world of objects, i.e. thoughts, feelings, etc., but is unaware of the external world. In the dreaming state, Consciousness effectively projects the world of the dream from its own ‘light’ and
the dream ‘consists’ of this ‘light’ of the mind (taijasa = ‘originating from or consisting of light’).
The third aspect is suShupti, meaning ‘excellent rest’ since both body and mind are now resting in the deep-sleep state. The sleeper-ego is called prAj~na, literally meaning ‘intelligent’, ‘wise’ or ‘intelligence’.
In the deep-sleep state, the sleeper sees neither the external nor internal worlds of objects. The senses and mind are inactive and nothing is experienced, i.e. there is no perception or conception. The state is
governed by ignorance (avidyA) but there must be some vestige of awareness since, for example, if someone calls our name, we will probably wake up.
During this state there is no ‘knowing’ of anything nor appearances of any kind. prAj~na can also be translated as ‘the one
who is nearly ignorant’. Because Consciousness is still present, the self is not totally ignorant, but nearly ignorant. It is said to be a state of pure consciousness and bliss, precisely because there is no mental agitation but, since there is no knowledge, we are not directly aware of this. It is said that here the Self is identified with avidyA.
The fourth aspect is not actually a ‘state’ at all — it is called turIya
— and it is characterized by neither ignorance nor error.
But I will not say anything more about this for the moment; it is not something with which most of us are familiar. The pure consciousness of deep sleep can be considered to emerge, either to illuminate the subtle world of thoughts and emotions, as we become the dreamer, or to illuminate the external world, as we become the waker. In deep sleep, there is only ignorance — we do not also misperceive the world, mistaking a rope for a snake for example, because there is no perception at all.
There is thus ignorance but no error or misperception. This non-apprehension is the same as the ‘veiling power’ of mAyA – AvaraNa.
In dreaming and waking, the ignorance is still there but, with the mind and senses now active, we additionally fall into error — we misapprehend reality. This misapprehension ‘effect’ follows from the
ignorance ‘cause’ of non-apprehension. Misapprehension is vikShepa, described earlier as the projecting power of mAyA.
If we could see the rope, we would not mistake it for a snake.
The misapprehension occurs under the conditions in which there is partial ignorance — we can see that there is something there but not sufficiently clearly to make out that it is a rope. Thus, the (partial) ignorance is the effective cause for the error.
(Note that, if there is total ignorance — i.e. we cannot see anything at all — there is no error either. If we do not see the rope in the first place, there is no way or scope to mistake it for a snake. Hence the expression ‘ignorance is bliss’!)
This explains why the deep-sleep state is known as the ‘causal’ state. In that ignorance is the potentiality for all manifestation in the dream and waking states.
Consciousness is that in which all else appears. It is there when there appears to be nothing. It can be thought of as the silence between thoughts or as the screen, upon which the movie of life is projected,
unaffected by all, yet without which there would be nothing.
Sri Poonja asked what we would see if he put up a blackboard the size of the wall and marked a small white spot in the middle of it. Ninety nine percent of people, he said, would say that they saw a white spot. Almost invisible, this is what draws our attention such that we do not even see the big blackboard. It is in our nature to look for objects against the background and ignore the background itself.
In just the same way, we see a cloud in the sky and miss the sky. And we see the thought arising in Consciousness and know nothing about Consciousness itself.
It is inevitable that our minds will search for an understanding of what Consciousness is, as though it were an object that we could observe, rather than that which enables observation to occur in the first place. All theories that we may come up with are going to fail and, worse, may delude us into thinking that we know something when we do not.
Ultimately, the scriptures summarize the matter very simply in one of the four great sayings or mahAvAkya-s from the Upanishads:
praj~nAnam brahma — Consciousness is brahman.
Consciousness equates to brahman, which is the one reality, all that there is.
The four ‘great sayings’ from the Vedas are: ‘Consciousness is brahman’
from the Aitareya Upanishad,
‘That thou art’ from the Chandogya
Upanishad,
‘This Self is brahman’ from the Mandukya Upanishad and
‘I am brahman’ from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.)
Before looking in more detail at the three states of consciousness, it is important to note that all of these explanations are made from the vantage point of the waking mind. Strictly speaking, it can only speak from experience about the waking state, since it is, by definition, not present in the other states.
The true situation is summed up in
the Katha Upanishad (IV.4):
‘Having realized that it is the great, all-
pervading Atman that sees the objects in the dream and the waking state, the wise man does not grieve.’
✅ MOUNTAIN PATH
July 2010
Labels: Ramana Kendram
posted by Borrowed Wisdom at 2:01 AM
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