UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS
At this stage, it is very interesting to know the structure and composition of this Universe in which man dwells in order to understand the reality of things, the ‘sat’. The knowledge one gains from this spiritual inquiry leads to ‘chit’ and brings divine ‘bliss’ and hence, this is the way to go near ‘Satchidananda’, the Lord Shri Hari Narayana.
According to Hindu mythology, it is the
common belief that, the Trimurtis’ who are concerned with the creation,
sustenance and devolution of this Universe are Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara,
respectively. In fact, it is one common divine force behind all these three who
is responsible for the nature of the world we are in, and it is known as ‘Brahman’ as distinct from the Lord of the
creation,‘Brahma’. In fact, Hiranyagarbha precedes the Trimurtis and
constitutes the manifest form of the Infinite, the 'Brahman'- “Brahman is Universal Consciousness”. It is the force behind all
creation. Itios the cause of the cause of creation; from it (the universal
consciousness), emanate all the things that constitute this sensate objective
world (prapancha), perceived by the fivesenses. It is all- pervasive ('vish')
and as such known as the Vishnu. It is omnipresent and omniscient. It is called
'God' since no other term is suitable to express these qualities.
The Phenomena of Mind and
Consciousness
Gregory Bateson proposed to define
‘Mind’ as ‘a systems phenomenon characteristic of living organisms, societies,
and ecosystems’. The ‘systems view’ looks at the world in terms of
relationships and integration. Systems are integrated wholes whose properties
cannot be reduced to those of smaller units.
A set of criteria goes to make mind according to systems view of life.
Thinking, willing, learning, and memory are all associated with mind. Mind is a
necessary and inevitable consequence of a certain complexity, which begins long
before organisms develop a brain and a higher nervous system. This definition
of Bateson is closely related to the characteristics of self-organizing
systems.
Mind is the essence of being alive.
Accordingly, mind is an essential property of the living systems. From the
systems view of life, life is not a substance or a force, and mind is not an
entity interacting with matter. Both life and mind are manifestations of the
same set of systemic properties, a set of processes that represent the dynamics
of self-organization. The description of mind as a pattern of organization, or
a set of dynamic relationships is related to the description of matter in
physics. Mind and matter no longer appear to belong to two fundamentally
separate categories, but can be seen to represent merely different aspects of
the same universal process. The term ‘mentation’ is used to refer to mental
activity, to describe the dynamics of self-organization at lower levels and the
term ‘mind’ is used for higher organism of high complexity. George Coghill
developed the beautiful systemic view of living organisms and mind, well before
the advent of the systems view of life.
According to Coghill, ‘structure,
function, and mentation are the three essential and closely inter-related
patterns of organization in living organisms. Here, structure is organization
in space; function is organization in time; and ‘mentation’ is a kind of organization
that is intimately inter-woven with structure and function at low levels of
complexity but goes beyond time and space at higher levels. From the modern
systems perspective, ‘mentation’, being the dynamics of self-organization, represents
the organization of all functions. At higher levels of complexity, mentation
can no longer be limited to behavior; because it takes on the distinctive non-spatial
and non-temporal qualities associated with mind.
Thus, in the systems concept of mind,
mentation is characteristic of not only of individual organisms but also of
social and ecological systems. Bateson asserts, that ‘mind is immanent not only
in the body but also in the pathways and messages outside the body’. There are
larger manifestations of mind of which our individual minds are only subsystems
and this concept has radical implications in our day-to-day interaction with
our natural environment. Man will stop exploiting nature when he fully
understands this concept. All the maladies of the modern day industrial
economic development exploiting natural resources instead of properly utilizing
the natural wealth, has led to the predicament ‘whither development?
Brain, its
Function in relation to Mind
It is very difficult to explain
the spiritual and the physical aspects of the Mind and the Brain at one
stretch. Mind is both matter and energy and it is very easy to convert energy
into matter and vice versa. Meditation is the technique of realizing Mind as
energy in its superconscious level. Similarly, it is difficult to relate the
spiritual aspects of the subtle human heart generating emotions and feelings to
the physical heart that pumps blood; so also, it is difficult to realize that
the subtle heart and the subtle mind are one and the same. Thus, the Mind, at
higher level of Consciousness and the Heart i.e., the seat of the Lord, are
extremely subtle and spiritually more powerful inner instruments called
'Anthahkarana'. On the otherhand, the humanBrain is a bundle of tissues and
cells that are constantly pulsating conveying signals received from the nerve
centers as 'neurons'. It is a wonderful system of organization, communication
and the network is fantastic! Images are transferred, messages are convyed by
vibrations of different intensities and colours and codes to the brain from the
heart (through blood) and the Mind (as thought waves), and from the brain Mind
and to the different parts of the body for reflex action. It does all the task
of assimilation, codification, decoding, and transfer to memory, discretion,
judgement, and declaration- all within split seconds! The messages and images
are created and stored in cells and transferred from cell to cell before each
cell dies out. It is' ageing' and 'loss of memory' if the cells slow down and
stop their growth; it is 'clinical death' when Brain stops its work,
Another interesting development is
about the structure and functioning of the brain. It is discovered that there
are two hemispheres of the brain and these two parts function opposite but
complementary to each other. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the
body and it is more specialized in analytic, linear thinking, which involves
processing information sequentially. The right hemisphere controls the left
side of the body. It seems to function predominantly in a holistic mode that is
appropriate for synthesis and tends to process information more diffusely and
simultaneously.
In recent years, there have been
attempts to promote a more balanced view of brain functioning and to develop
methods for increasing one’s mental faculties by stimulating and integrating
the functioning of both sides of the brain. It is said that we hardly we use
ten percent of our brain. Concentration and contemplation greratly enhances the
sharpness of the brain. The human mind is able to create an inner world that
mirrors the outer reality but has an existence of its own. This can move the
individual/s or society to act upon the outer world. This inner world of the
individuals is the psychological realm; it unfolds an entirely new level and
involves a number of phenomena that are characteristic of human nature.
Self-awareness, conscious experience,
conceptual thought, symbolic language, dreams, art, the creation of culture, a
sense of values, interest in remote past, the concern for the distant future
are some of the most interesting aspects of thinking of the human mind. Most of
these characteristics exist in rudimentary form in various animal species; but
what is unique in human species is the combination of characteristics
fore-shadowed in lower forms of evolution but integrated and developed to a
high level of sophistication only in human species. The patterns we perceive
around us are based, in a very fundamental way, on the patterns within.
Patterns of matter mirror patterns of Mind coloured by subjective feelings and
values.
Our Mind is a synthetic whole, consisting
of the faculties of cognition, feeling and willing. Our reasoning, feeling,
willing and action are at war with one another and create a terrible confusion
within ourselves. Unless we develop an integrated personality - in all its
physical, mental and spiritual aspects, it is very difficult to live a harmonious
life.
Consciousness
The vedantic conception of Nature is
allcomprehensive and includes the physical, the biological, the spiritual, in
the unity of Pure Consciousness,
which is the meaning of God. In Bhagavad Gita (Ch.7 Verse 4-6) Shri Krishna says, ‘Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind,
intellect, and ego sense- this is my Prakriti, i.e., Nature, divided
eight-fold’. "This is (My) Lower
(Prakaruti); but different from it, know thou, Oh! Mighty-armed, (My) Higher
Prakruti, the principle of intelligence by which this universe is sustained;
Know that these (two prakrutis) are the womb of all beings; I am the Srushti
(origin), Sthiti (maintenance), and
Laya (dissolution) of the whole universe”.
Shri Shankara comments on the same as:
“Through the two-fold Nature, apara
(lower) prakruti, and para (higher) prakruti, I, who am the Omniscient God
(being of the nature of infinite Pure consciousness), am the cause of this universe’.
The word ‘Consciousness’ has many Samskrit (Sanskrit) equivalents viz.chit,
prajnya, jnyapti, jnyana, bodha, and samvit. According to context, the meaning
may be ‘Infinitude’, ‘Pure Consciousness’, Knowledge, Truth, Wisdom, etc. The
word ‘Samvit’ is used to express ‘Non-dual Pure Consciousness’, the Atman-
Brahman. The systems view of mind seems perfectly consistent with both the
scientific and the mystical views of consciousness, and thus to provide the
ideal framework for unifying the two. The systems view agrees with the
conventional scientific view that consciousness is a manifestation of complex
material patterns- a manifestation of living systems of a certain complexity.
Biological structures of these systems are expressions of the system’s self-organization
i.e., Mind. In mystic view, it is manifestation of Cosmic Mind- direct
experience of cosmic consciousness goes beyond the scientific approach. The
systems view gives a more meaningful scientific framework for approaching the
age-old questions of nature of life, Mind, Consciousness and Matter. All these
should be clearly understood.
'Consciousness'
('Prajnana') is 'choice-less
awareness'. ‘Consciousness’ is the
physical basis of Mind, a hypothetical mechanism of nerve-cell connections.
The seat of Consciousness is the higher brain stem together with the portion of
the cortex that is being employed at that moment. Within the brain impulses are
passing along a million insulated nerve fibres that compose the complex, and
these impulses are somehow coordinated into the orderly sequences of
delibearate thought. What really controls this mechanism is not within the
realm of sciences, but definitely it can be perceived in the spiritual experience.
There is a switchboard and there is a Switch Operator. He decides things!
There are different layers of
consciousness at which a person can dwell and operate. We have seen persons in
coma performing their normal physical body functions without being conscious of
the external world. The senses are redundant, here. The brain is functioning
internally. It is almost similar to Samadhi; it is of no consequence in
spiritual attainment. It is an endless sleep. So far, there is no scientific
explanation forthcoming for this. Many a brilliant scholars have gone into coma
under tragic circumstances and have never regained their consciousness. The
exact state of such persons’ mind is not known. They are unconscious.
But, an interesting observation here
is that of our normal day-to-day activities in which we are scarcely aware of
what we are doing. Most of the time we are functioning ‘unaware’, unconscious, or without
discrimination, ‘Prajnya’. We are not
consciously aware. This is the tragedy of human life. All our misery,
unhappiness, troubles are the outcome of this unconscious actions. Why can we
not be consciously aware? It is a difficult question to answer. It requires
Jnyan, knowledge to be consciously aware and, ignorant, as we are, we are
unconscious, ‘Pranyaa-heena’ at that! Our country has a population of 100+
crore population and almost all of us are in this state despite the greatness
of our country in the field of spiritual attainments. “God is in us but we are
not in Him”, says Shri Ramakrishna. Realisation of the Self will lead us from darkness
to light, ignorance to knowledge, death to immortality. We will be able to work
consciously only when we have knowledge!
There are the layers of sub-conscious,
sputa (the subtle). It is an ocean of or reservoir of samskara, impressions,
memories, desires, aspirations, ambitions and what not. It is also a reservoir
of noble thoughts, ideas, intuitions and stored up experiences. It is this deep
and vast reservoir that is throwing obstacles in our day-to-day functions. It
is this Sub-consciousness that throws up confusion, contradictions, dualities,
and obstruct our intelligent and efficient functioning. This Sub-conscious
should be kept under constant watch and an efficient system of retrieval of
memories and experiences should be evolved in order to use the stored up
knowledge. All unwanted trash should be removed from the sub-conscious and only
the useful knowledge should be retrieved whenever needed. Silencing its unwanted
interference in normal day-to-day functions is also important. This can be done
by constant japam, meditation, and dhyan.
Another level of consciousness is the
'Superconsciousness'. This is
the higher level and is the most important one in human life. Scarcely we ever
reach this higher level of Super Consciousness in our life. It is difficult to
rise to higher level of Consciousness without proper training and exercise.
This higher level of Super Consciousness is the source of divine intuition,
‘Grace of the Lord’ and Supreme Bliss. To attain this State of Super Consciousness
is the “goal of life’. Super Cosnciousness can be attained by pure mind and
pure heart. It is this that makes a Man more Human and then, Divine. According
to Paatanjali's 'Ashtanga Yoga Sutra', the state of Superconsciousness is reached
in 'Samadhi'. 'Samadhi' is attained in deep meditation when 'Dhyan'
(worship), the 'Dhyata' ( the worshipper), and the Subject of worship- 'Dhyeya'
become 'One' (Yoga) in a state of
'Turiyaateeta' ('Nirvikalpa Samadhi'). This state is also a state of
'Supreme Bliss' called "sat-chit-anand" for it is total
'enlightenment'; and, a person who attains this state of Superconsciousness
becomes a liberated soul, relieved of all blemishes- the desires of the soul,
and he attains immortality. It is also true that none can stay in this state of
supreme 'Bliss' forever. It is only a for a few seconds, or at the most
minutes, that one can attain this state of Superconsciousness and will soon
come back to deep meditation again. But, this is enough to make a person 'Yogi'
–a self-ralized soul.
The Sub-conscious Mind
The Sub-conscious Mind is like the
cellar or the store- room where we store all unwanted things, the trash. Often
we resolve to clean this cellar and drop the idea; we do try to clean it, but
soon we find it a formidable task and forget about it. Then again, we resolve
and try toclean it and do not know where to begin the task. Finally, we drop
the idea and the cellar continues to be filled with trash. Our sub-conscious
mind is just like this cellar. It consists of samskaras, the impressions of all
our past actions, memories, thoughts and what not. It need not necessarily be
the evil or bad ones; it also consists of good impressions and memories. These
impressions throw obstacles to our present resolutions, thoughts, and action.
Hence, it is necessary to clean the sub-conscious mind of all evil and opposing
ones and keep good and co-operative ones only. This way, there will be no contradictions,
no internal strife in our thoughts and actions.
When a person carries out his normal
day-to-day functions, he is not aware of the role played by the different
layers of consciousness. Modern psychologists and psychiatrists stress the
importance of the sub-conscious mind in both prevention and treatment of mental
illness. They adopt methods of hypnotism to retrieve the stored memories and
throw out the impressions bothering the mentally sick persons. But the ancient
sages had devised very simple methods of Yoga to cleanse the subconscious of
all evil and trash impressions and keep the mind healthy and fit. They
suggested dhyan and chanting of the name of the Ishtadevatha to achieve this
end. Meditation is the sure cure process of sick minds but the techniques are
difficult to practise in later stages of illness.
In this busy world of competition, stress
and tension, atleast a few minutes set apart for meditation regularly will
greatly help; but there is no time for these busy people even for this; they
are prepared to get admitted to hospital for treatment of hypertension and
blood pressure problems and spend enormous time and money, but do not have a
mind to listen to their own inner voice that is constantly warning them.
How to clean the Sub-conscious Mind of
evil thoughts, bad impressions, un-savory memories? It is very easy. This can
be done by pouring in the good thoughts, divine thoughts, chanting of Lord’s
name, japa, vrata (upavas) and mauna (silence), sat sang (company of spiritual
persons), svadhyaya or reading of sacred scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita, singing
bhajans and entertaining other holy thoughts and keeping good company. By this
constant refurbishing of divine impressions, all old evil impressions are
cleared and the sub-conscious will be cleansed. This cleansing of the sub-conscious
Mind and the Conscious Mind will help us to attain the Super-conscious state
easily. Once the super-conscious state is reached the lower minds will
automatically become pure. All the samskaras will be burnt out and the mind
becomes pure. Pure mind is pure consciousness; pure consciousness is pure
intellect, the inner light, the Self, the Atman; it is the Brahman- the
Absolute and the Infinite.
Hence, controlling the mind is very
important. It is a big job. It is a very difficult job. It requires
perseverance, steadfastness and total involvement. If good things do not accumulate
in the sub-conscious, all trash will ocuupy it and create disturbances, strife
and misery. We get into inner conflicts and get lost in the process. Most of
the time we act in an unconscious state of mind. The cause of the unconscious
act is the subconscious where the unconscious thoughts are submerged with millions
of our old thoughts and impressions. May be, there are good thoughts, actions,
solutions to problems, but we will never reach them unless we clear it of the
trash, the bad and the evil ones. May be there exists some dangerous ones, too.
Hence, it is very essential that the sub-conscious is clean and full of noble
ideas, thoughts, impressions and support the conscious acts. In the absence of
this, the conscious is full of duality, contradictions, confusion and doubts.
Pure
Consciousness alone will shed light on reality of life and in the absence
of pure mind, we never get access to our pure intellect; our Buddhi evades us.
Ignorance reigns supreme and makes our life difficult. Life becomes miserable.
Often, we get into an illusion of happiness only to realize that it is leading
us to more sin and unhappiness.
Thus, the importance of keeping the
Mind in a state of ‘Pure Consciousness’ is stressed through out the Vedas and
Upanishads. The entire Treatise on Yoga, the ‘Yoga Sutra’ aims at attaining the
state of Pure Consciousness. Unless one takes to a very disciplined, austere,
pious, simple, unassuming, ego-less, self-less, devoted life, it is difficult
to attain this state of pure consciousness. Pure food helps to attain pure
mind; sattvic food is advised for both the body and mind in addition to the
other simple means like svadhyaya, satsang, advocated as the prerequisites of
this purification process. Unless the body and mind are pure, it is difficult
to attain the state of pure consciousness. Spiritual aspirants take to Hatha
Yoga and Dhyana Yoga to reach this state. They attain it in ‘Samadhi’.
Super-Consciousness is the ultimate goal of human life. It is attained by
intense spiritual practice. There are several techniques like Transcendental Meditation, Raja Yoga or
Dhyana Yoga, Kunadalini Yoga to attain 'Samadhi'
and experience the ‘Super Consciousness’.
However, it must be cautioned here, that these methods are not very very
essential in the ordinary day-to-day householders' life in order to live a
happy and succesful life. An inner peace and contentment is sufficient to enjoy
the bliss of life. One can decide to take to this advanced Yogic exercise when
he feels that the worldly life of mundane existence is enough and feels the
need for higher spiritual experience. But, it must always be remembered that it
is not an easy path and it is full of unpredictable problems! Moreover, a good
'Guru' is also needed to guide properly in the unknown.
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