Consciousness (in Hinduism)
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
States of consciousness
The Times of India, May 12 2016
V N Mittal
Is the mind capable of perceiving the relationship between self and environment without consciousness and being aware of the inner being? The process of inner awakening enables us to shed negative thoughts, beliefs and ideas and unreal concepts. The inner awakening process uncovers the inherent spirit by removing the veil of ego. In fact, we are here to evolve and raise our consciousness to a higher level celebrate life and make other's life happy with whatever means we have at our command.
As we try to raise our consciousness, it becomes universal and awakens to universal truths, putting us on the path of spirituality . Devoid of qualities like the ability for perception, self-awareness, sentience and sapience, our spiritual growth is scuttled. So the quality of consciousness is indispensable for a harmonious life for everyone free of tension, fear and anxiety to improve quality of life.
Consciousness is a state of awareness of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. In the Bhagwad Gita, chapter 13 is devoted to Prakiriti, Nature, Bhogta, the enjoyer and Chetna, Consciousness, that enables us to understand the difference between the body , the owner of the body, and the super soul.
You can understand that the body is matter, gross manifestation, with its 24 elements. The mind and psychological effects are subtle manifestations. Over and above this, there is soul and super soul two different entities.The material world is working with the conjunction of soul and 24 material elements. If you can comprehend the constitution of the whole material manifestation as a combination of soul and matter and visualise the super soul you become eligible to enter the spiritual world.
It is difficult to assess the level of consciousness in a person. However, researchers have now, come up with a method that uses the brain's response to magnetic stimulation to judge a person's awareness, reducing it to a numerical score they call an index of consciousness.There are two types of consciousness: Chaitnya, pure spiritual consciousness and Chetna, the materially contaminated consciousness. Philosophers seem to divide consciousness into `phenomenal conscious ness' which is experience and `access consciousness' which is processing of the experience.
Many cultures place the seat of consciousness in a soul separate from the body .
Scientists link it to neural function of the brain, the way the world is experienced. Freud says. “Properly speaking, the e is the real psychic: its inner universe is the real psychic: its inner nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world and it is as imperfectly reported to us through the data of consciousness as is the external world through the indications of our sensory organs.“
Consciousness can be raised in more ways than one. It is simply the process of shedding our load of baggage and lightening up in order for us to move freely as light beings. Tantric literature is replete with references to the subtleties of levels of consciousness and their relationship to the physiological vital energy centres within the body . Tantras also explain how, by manipulating various physiological factors through specific meditative yogic practices, one can bring about various states of consciousness. Reiki, `the art of tapping universal life force energy' is found to be quite effective in manipulating vital energy centres in the body known as chakras, for holistic healing and tuning of the soul. The moment your body , mind and consciousness begin to dance in togetherness, you begin to experience harmony and the divine.
Brahmn is the universal source of consciousness
Deepak Ranade, February 3, 2022: The Times of India
The writer is a neurosurgeon
Consciousness is a universal attribute of all life forms. The assumption that consciousness is produced by the brain is no longer viable. New theories, such as panpsychism that consciousness exists throughout the physical universe, are gaining momentum. The brain is more likely a device to process or modulate consciousness rather than manufacture consciousness.
A New Age ‘Filter Theory’ proposes that the subset of consciousness, ‘supraliminal’ consciousness is a derivative from the superset of the subliminal sea of consciousness, mediated by the modulating activity of matter – or more specifically the brain and nervous system. These act as a filter that determines specific subliminal content to produce a unique supraliminal consciousness. In Aldous Huxley’s words, the brain and nervous system act as a ‘reducing valve’ through which Mind at Large is ‘funnelled’. The subliminal content is tailored and finalised by utilitarian and survival needs. The supraliminal content, unique to every organism and necessary for its survival, will thus be provided.
Perception usually has to be kept narrow and focussed. This filtration process has a protective function too. It avoids overwhelming the subject by the sheer volume of available content that could be potentially distressing. This filter could be expanded by meditative quietening of mind chatter, or the scope of the survival imperative be enhanced by psychoactive drugs resulting in previously excluded contents entering the supraliminal consciousness. This could account for a range of transcendental or metaphysical phenomena like out-of-body experiences. Oriental philosophies have all along maintained that the universe is a manifestation of intelligent consciousness. Max Planck, father of Quantum Theory, said, “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness. ”
Quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger proclaimed that consciousness is only one, singular, identifiable with its universal source – Brahmn. He believed that the perceived spatial and temporal plurality of consciousness is merely maya, illusion.
Theoretical physicist David Bohm believed that there was a deeper reality beneath the quantum level, a ‘wholeness’ that connects the entire micro and the macrocosm. “The notion of a separate organism is clearly an abstraction, as is also its boundary. Underlying all this is unbroken wholeness, even though our civilisation has developed in such a way as to strongly emphasise the separation into parts. ”
This wholeness is very aptly described in the Upanishads: ‘Om poornamadah poornamidam poornaat poornamudachyate/ Poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaavashishyate’ – That is complete, this is complete, from the completeness comes the completeness/ If completeness is removed from completeness, only completeness remains.
The human brain with all its complexities might be equipped with the ability to transcend the restrictive filter and expand its cognitive horizons to an integrative epiphany of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’. It could facilitate a phase shift, of expanding one’s consciousness from a localised personal level to that all pervasive impersonal ‘super consciousness’.
