THE NATURE OF WITNESS
CONSCIOUSNESS IN ADVAITA
-VEDANTA
Dr.
Chilakamarthi Durga Prasada Rao
INTRODUCTION:
Each of the major religions and philosophies of the world speaks,
often in symbolic terms, about states of consciousness other than
those of our ordinary consciousness. According to these teachings, we
have the potential to experience qualitatively different levels of
perception, awareness and orientation towards ourselves, others and
the universe. The first two of these distinct realms of consciousness
– sleep and waking consciousness – constitute the normal human
condition, our day to day experience. Higher states of being
correlate with fine and subtle levels of reality. In this article
the nature of different levels of consciousness in general and
Witness Consciousness in particular, are discussed from the
perspective of Advaita -Vedanta. Before entering into the subject
the necessity of study of these levels of consciousness is presented
hereunder.
It is a natural tendency of every living being to desire happiness
and avoid misery. They therefore strive towards that end to the
maximum possible extent. But on close observation and personal
experience, it is seen that the happiness we acquire in day to day
life is subjected to gradation. More over it is always accompanied by
some elements of misery. We can even say that there is no pleasure in
this world which is not mixed with misery. And the pleasure we get
by possessing something will certainly cause misery when we loose it.
Even though the joy of heavenly sojourn is pure and not effected by
any element of misery, it is also not everlasting.
This being so, it is imperative on the part of the wise to opt for
the permanent and absolute happiness. Through the experience of seers
and saints, it is known that man can get real and absolute happiness
on the realization of his own true nature and it alone is to be the
sole aim of human life and there is no higher purpose of human
existence than knowing one’s own self. The Sastras assert that a
man who knows Brahman will achieve the highest good ब्रह्मविदाप्नोति
परम्
(Brahmavidapnoti
param).
CONSCIOUSNESS:
All the Upanishads not only establish the Uniqueness of Atman but
also assert that nothing other than It exists. सर्वं
खल्विदं ब्रह्न नेह नानास्ति
किंचन
(Sarvam
khalvidam Brahma neha nanasti kinchana) means that the entire
universe is nothing but Brahman and there is no plurality in It.
Brahman, is the universal spirit and the supreme reality. It
is self-effulgent. Being self- luminous it illuminates everything.
न
तत्र सुर्यो भाति न चन्द्रतारकं
नेमा
विद्युतो भान्ति कुतोयमग्नि:
तमेव
भान्तमनुभाति सर्वं
तस्य
भासा:
सर्वमिदं
विभाति
(Na tatra suryo bhati na chandratarakam
Nema vidyuto bhanti kutoyamagnih
Tameva Bhantamanubhati sarvam
Tasya bhasah savvamidam vibhati).
Translation: There the Sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars,
nor even these lightning flashes; all these shine only after He
shines; it is only through His luminosity that all this shines.
The entire creation is the result of movement in consciousness.
According to Sankara there is an intelligent principle behind the
manifest world which alone can account for the design and purpose of
the universe and it is none other than Brahman Itself. Brahman is
pure consciousness and it is self-effulgent. It is the light which
manifests all objects and all relations between the objects. It is
the primordial source of the universe comprising the worlds, the
objects in them and the senses and the mind. It has neither inside
nor outside and it is a mere mass of knowledge. Brahman, the supreme
self is manifested as Atman, the inner self of all beings. It is
neither limited in space and time nor governed by the law of
causality. Though it is one and without a second it appears as many
to the ignorant. It is the subtle agent that animates the mind, sense
organs etc and acquires the characteristics of a knower, knowledge
and the known.
Matter, the manifestation of chaitanya at a lower level, can
neither know itself nor any thing else. It comes under the known
category. Mind, a comparatively higher level of the manifestation of
chaitanya can know matter but it cannot know itself. It is both
knower and known. Atman, being the highest level of chaitanya not
only knows itself but also every thing else. There is no seer, no
hearer, no knower other than Itself. However, It can not be known
because a knower of all can not be known by gross mind or senses.
He is to be known only by the refined mind after being instructed by
a competent and erudite teacher.
तद्विज्ञानार्थं
स गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत्
समित्पाणि:
श्रोत्रियं
ब्रह्म निष्ठम्
(Tadvijananartham sa gurumevabhigacchet
Samitpanih shrotriyam brahmanishtham)
LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
Though the un-manifested consciousness is pure, the manifested
consciousness at different levels is impure to different degrees as
it is associated with Maya or Avidya. As already stated, we
experience three states in our day-to-day life. They are waking
state, dreaming state and deep sleep.
We experience consciousness in waking state and we are aware of it.
In this state external objects determine the content of our
consciousness. It is the state in which mind and sensory organs act
as channels for consciousness to flow out and take the shape of the
objects under observation. Similarly we are aware of dreaming. Dream
consciousness is made up of the same stuff as the waking
consciousness, except that its content is not empirically real but a
reflection of occurrences experienced in waking state. It is
illusory in the sense that, on waking, one realizes the unreality of
what is experienced in the dream.
Even though we are not apparently conscious of any experience
whatsoever in deep sleep we become aware of the joy we experienced in
deep sleep the moment we wake up and reflect upon it. This clearly
shows that we are animated by consciousness of the self during that
state also. This deep sleep state is characterised by the total
absence of all distinctions together with the awareness of the
subject and object and the distinction between the two. Apart from
these three there is one more state, Turiya, the fourth one, which is
neither conscious of the internal world, nor conscious of the
external world, nor conscious of both the worlds, nor a mass of
consciousness , nor simple consciousness, nor unconsciousness, which
is unseen beyond empirical determination, beyond the grasp of the
mind, un-demonstrable, unthinkable, indescribable and of the nature
of the consciousness alone where all phenomena cease to exist and
which remains unchanging, peaceful, auspicious and non dual. The
first three states are mutually exclusive in that each exists in its
own right to the exclusion of the other two while the forth is the
conscious background against which every thing that happens in the
three states occurs. It is as if a witness {Sakshin} to all that
happens in our conscious life.
ATMAN AS SAKSHIN
The concept of Atman as Sakshin is allegorically expressed in the
Mundakopanishad. Atman, albeit one in nature, is described as
possessing a dual character. Firstly, there the supreme consciousness
– through association with the mind and the senses – engages in
actions, thereby reaping their sweet and bitter results as Jiva.
Secondly there is the consciousness which remains aloof as a pure
spectator or witness. (Sakshin) and who is in essence none other
than Jivasakshin identified with Brahman.
द्वा
सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया
समानं
व्R
क्षं
परिषस्वजाते
तयोरन्य:
पिप्पलं
स्वाद्वत्ति
अनश्नन्नन्योSभिचाकशीति
(Dva suparna sayuja sakhaya
Samanam vriksham parishasvajate
Tayoranyah pippalam svadvatti
Anashnnannyo abhichakashit)
Translation:
Two birds, companions and always united, Cling to the self – same
tree. One eats the sweet Pippala – fruit, the other looks on
without eating.
Here the former refers to the Jivatma, who eats the diverse fruits of
many flavours, and consequently experiences the pleasures and pains
of life. The latter, who looks on without eating is the Sakshin or
Atman, always one with Brahman, ever untouched by Maya in which Jiva
is engulfed. He is, at the same time, the controller of both the
individual soul and the body and is also the detached witness of
their activities. [Swami Nikhilananda on Mundakopanishad-3/1/1]
Swetaswara Upnishad went one step further by stating that the Atman
as Sakshin. It regards Him as the supreme deity or consciousness
which being all by itself governs the entire Universe. The verse goes
like this.
एको
देव:
सर्वभूतेषु
गूढ:
सर्वव्यापी
सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा
कर्माध्यक्ष:
सर्वभूताधिवास:
साक्षी
चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च
Translation: The one resplendent God is hidden in all beings, all
pervading, the inmost self of all creatures, The overseer of all
karmas, Dwelling in all beings.
He is the
witness [Sakshin], the knower, the Absolute, free from all
attributes.{S.U 6/11} Chitsukharya, who established the nature of
Atman as Sakshin explains in his magnum opus ‘ Tattvapradipika’
that the self shining nature of Atman as Sakshin, can not be denied
because the Shruti says that Atman is self luminous. The sloka runs
as follows:
चिद्रूपत्वादकर्मत्वा
त्स्वयं
ज्योतिरिति श्रुते:
आत्मन:
स्वप्रकाशत्वं
को
निवारयितुं क्षम:
{ Chidrupatvadkarmatvat
Svayam jyotiriti shruteh
Atmanah svaprakashatvam
Ko nivarayitum kshamah }
{ Tattvapradipika }
CONCLUSION:
Unlike other branches of knowledge, this knowledge can be acquired
through Sadhana on the instruction of a preceptor who has had the
experience of supreme reality and that is why it is said in the
Mundakopanishad:
Tadvijnartham sa gurumevabhigacchet
Samitpanih shrotriyam brahmanishtham
The same idea is found in the Gita also:
तद्विद्धि
प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन
सॆवया
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति
ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिन:
तत्त्वदर्शिन:
{Tadviddhi pranipatena
pariprashnena sevaya
upadekshyanti te jnanam
jnaninah tattvadarshinah.}
{ Bhagavadgita- IV-34}
The Advaita-Vedanta tradition has thus conceived the Sakshichaitanya
as the highest level of spiritual consciousness attainable in this
life.
REFERENCES:
Bhagavadgita
Brihadaranyakopanishad.
Encyclopaedia
of Philosophy
Kathopanishad.
Mandukyopanishad
translated by Swami Nikhilananda.
Mundakopanishad.
Swetaswataropanishad.
Tattvapradipika
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