We use the word consciousness many times and in many
senses. A person who is under
anaesthesia is said to be unconscious.
What happens when you are under anaesthesia? You forget who you are! When the influence of this chemical wears out
you wake up to your bodily consciousness.
Similarly, even our waking state of bodily consciousness is an
unconscious state or perhaps a semi-conscious state when we look at it from a
higher perspective. Our bodily identity
is not everything we are. We have a
deeper mental layer and an even deeper layer of consciousness. When we are drugged by our bodily identity, we
forget that we are also at a different level, an aspect of consciousness. While the body is the most natural and
visible proof of our existence, we know intuitively that we are more than the
body. The life force and intelligence
that we feel and use everyday are sparks of a light called consciousness.
So what is this consciousness? Consciousness is the source and substratum
from which we arise and unto which we shall unfailingly return. The
experience of this consciousness is limited because the door to consciousness
is through the mind and memory. If the mind is impure, then the entry is
blocked. If the memory of that consciousness is lost due to our embracing
other identities, then these false identities block our experience of
consciousness. Pure consciousness is the pure state of being. It is
the most natural state of man to which he always seeks to return. This
human attempt to return to his natural state of pure consciousness is the
spiritual journey. It is defined by a dismantling of the importance of
everything that is not pure consciousness. This is the spiritual path.
Many Sanskrit words are used to describe various aspects
of our inner self and these words are used with some elasticity and some
relative sense. When we understand the
framework of reference, then the relative meaning becomes clear to us. Many times the Sanskrit word chitta is
used for consciousness. But the unmistakable word is Brahman or Parabrahman.
More ordinarily chitta represents the mind and its memory and associated
identity aspects which drive the actions of man. It is in this sense that the
ancient Indian sage Patanjali uses the word chitta in the sootra
- 'yogah chitta vrtti nirodhah' – which means ‘yoga is the practice of
diminishing the tendencies that arise in the mind’.
The word for memory in Sanskrit is smrti. When the memory content is purified and the
faculty of this pure memory awakens to the true memory of one's own true and
primordial self, then it is Bhagavat-smrti - remembering the Lord.
This is true knowledge. In this sense, chitta becomes pure
knowing - the individualised and possessed memory falls and the hierarchy of
creation and the play of natural forces become visible in their natural
state. The principles involved in the operation and maintenance of the
manifest world are seen as they are. Such a person endowed with pure
knowing is referred to as a tattva darshi – a seer. Thus when we
say Sat-chit-ananda, we refer to this pure aspect of knowing. 'Sat'
is pure being; 'chit' is pure knowing and 'ananda' is the pure
state of bliss or unalloyed happiness.
Consciousness permeates the entire universe. The
manifest universe appears to be held together by laws and by the interactive dynamic
balance of various dualities, light and darkness, matter and antimatter, the
animate and inanimate worlds, etc.,. If you add everything up, all of
these opposites cancel each other and only consciousness is left. That is
why exploring physicians realise that all their exploration is valid within a
certain limit and the one who probes the deepest truths comes across the veil
of uncertainty beyond which all that is manifest ceases to exist.
While everything manifest arises from the play of duality
called prakriti, the play of prakriti is not independent and is
wedded to the ocean of pure consciousness at all times. The vast and
magnificent universe of billions of galaxies, stars, planets and lives is
referred to as prakriti. The purusha is the steady
consciousness part that remains unchanged and prakriti is the wavering
manifest part that changes forms and is subjected to the laws of space and
time. Thus purusha and prakriti are the two halves of
creation.
All of nature exists in the matrix of space and time. And
this matrix lies in the vast unlimited space of purusha. The word purusha
in its original sense refers to the aspect of consciousness within the human
being irrespective of gender. Therefore the statement, 'tvameva evam
purushvama' - Thou art the only purusha – refers to this innermost
pure consciousness that is common to all of creation and by corollary everyone
who is identified by any material adjective become part of prakriti.
But in nature, the word purusha ordinarily refers to the male aspect and
prakriti refers to the female aspect. No creation is possible
without these two halves. And yet all of this creation is shown up as an
illusion as you probe deeper and deeper into consciousness.
This
does not mean that one can reach the state of pure consciousness by completely
disregarding nature, or prakriti.
The purusha sookta says, ‘tam aakratum
pashyati veeta-shoko dhatuh prasadaan mahimaanam
eesham’ – which
means - ‘the unmanifest is seen
by him who is free from attachment and his attributes become known to him whose
physical frame is ready for grace’. This
means that the purity of the mind and body are enablers in our perception of
pure consciousness. The mind must be
purified of attachments and the body must be in a balanced state. Thus it is well for us to make an effort to
cleanse our natural instruments, the body and mind, to enable a revelation of
the state of pure consciousness.
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