PSYCHOLOGY OF YOGA – X X. STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Its presence in the subhuman beings apart, consciousness obtains in different states of human life itself in different forms. The Upanishads take note of those forms in keeping with the nature of those states. The variety of the states of consciousness manifesting through one and the same brain bears out the flexibility and creativity of consciousness. The states are known as waking, dream, dreamless sleep and the transcendent fourth. The waking consciousness is that which is manifest in the state of wakefulness. This state of consciousness is connected with the world outside through the senses. Senses are receptive to the stimulus coming from outside and falling within the range of their receptive power. They convert the stimulus into sensation and submit the same to the mind in its graded steps of mentation and intellection. Thus processed, the stimulus keeps us aware of the world outside constantly till we are awake. The Maëòukya Upanishad enumerates connecting links between the waking consciousness and the external world as nineteen which supposedly are inclusive of the five organs of sense, five organs of action, five vital forces and the four aspects of the inner sense, namely, manas, buddhi, citta and ahankara (Mandukya Up. 3). Its creativity is still more evident in the state of dream. In this state it operates through the same group of nineteen channels of its manifestation as in the waking state but having been interiorised due to snapping of their connection with the external world. In his state of dream, the dreamer is no more being fed with stimuli from the world outside and yet he feels within him as if he is playing different roles in that world (Mandukya Up.4). This is made possible by his consciousness recreating objects and events out of the impressions of them received from the world outside during the waking state. Thus, the difference in the creativity of the two states is that while the waking consciousness pieces out the world around it out of petty patches of stimuli received from diverse objects and events taking place there actually, the dreaming consciousness accomplishes the same feat in total absence of any such stimulus being received actually from outside. This marked difference between the two states brings to the fore the point that the more the consciousness is interiorised, the more creative it becomes. The third state of consciousness is the dreamless sleep. It is described as that state in which the individual does not desire anything nor does he have any dream (Mandukya Up. 5). It is interesting to note in this context that in modern psychology also dream is supposed to have behind it as its cause of unfulfilled desires of the person concerned. Immensity of desire is one of the characteristic features of the human mind. This has been noted even by a Rigvedic seer, namely, Lopamudra (Rigveda, I.1796). To become shorn of desires is a great success of consciousness in its restoration to its innate status. That is why this state of consciousness has been characterised by the Upanishadic sage as a lump of consciousness itself lying blessed in the experience of self-delight and thus knocking at the door of self-consciousness (Mandukya Up. 5). To be continued.... Source of synopses Yoga From Confusion To Clarity, Psychology of Yoga, Vol. 2 (published 2010) by Professor Satya Prakash Singh and Yogi Mukesh.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 17:58:58 +0000
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