The Mandukya Upanishad 7.1 Swami Krishnananda

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Monday, December 028, 2020. 11:51. AM.
Section 7: The Transcendent Presence-1.

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We have made an analysis of the three relativistic phases of the Atman, both in its individual and cosmic aspects. But, Reality, as such, is neither individual nor cosmic. To say that it is cosmic is also to limit it to a certain extent, to bring it to the level of what we call creation. The Supreme Brahman, the Absolute, is not a cause, and not also an effect. It has no effects, and, therefore, it is no cause. We cannot call The Supreme Being as even a cause of things, especially when we consider that everything is identical with It. The Mandukya Upanishad describes not merely the gross, subtle and causal conditions of the manifested consciousness, but also Consciousness, as such. There is something called Reality in itself, independent of relation. Even Isvaratva is a description by means of a relation to the universe. We call God Sarvesvara, Sarvajna and Sarvasaktiman, because we relate Him to the creation. God is omnipresent, pervading everywhere, which means that we recognise Him in terms of space. He knows 'all' things, means that there are things which He knows; and He has power over all things, means that He can exercise power over something which is external to Him. All definitions, even the best ones, such as Creatorship, Preservership and Destroyership of the universe; omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence, are relative. They are Tatastha-lakshanas of God, accidental definitions; – not Svarupa-lakshana, the essential nature of Reality. What was God before creation? That would be His Svarupa-lakshana or essential characteristic. God, in His own essence, is something more than a Creator, Preserver or Destroyer, more than a cause of things, more than even an Overlord, All-knowing and All-powerful. What is that essential essence which is by its own right, and abides in its own Greatness, in its own Majesty? What is that Light which cannot be beheld by others, the Light which shines, but shines not upon anything? That is the state of Pure Consciousness, which is neither causal, nor subtle, nor gross. It is neither outside nor inside. It has no external nor internal. That grand Reality is described in the seventh Mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad.

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This Absolute is known as the Turiya, or the fourth state of Consciousness, transcending all relational manifestations – causal, subtle and gross. While the waking consciousness is external and the dream consciousness is internal, this Consciousness is neither external nor internal, because it is not either waking or dreaming. It is neither internally conscious nor externally conscious, Nantah-prajnam, na bahih-prajnam – not internal consciousness like dream, nor external consciousness like waking. One may think that it is a consciousness simultaneously of both the states. No; It is something different from a simultaneity of consciousness. It is not external, not internal, not a simultaneity of both, either; – No-'bhayatah-prajnam. It is not also a mass of consciousness like a homogeneous heap of water in the ocean – Na prajnana-ghanam. It is not quantitative in its essence. Quantity is spatial, mathematical and Consciousness is not such. Hence, it cannot be called a mass of consciousness, also, because when you think of mass, you think of a heap, a body, indistinguishable, though. Not so is Consciousness – Na prajnana-ghanam. It is not featureless Consciousness without any awareness – Na prajnam. You may think that it is awareness without an object before it. It is not even that, because the object is contained in that Consciousness. It is not Consciousness bereft of objects. It is Consciousness into which the objects have been absorbed. So, it cannot be regarded as a featureless transparency of an ethereal consciousness. It is not also absence of consciousness – Na-aprajnam. It is not a state of inert perfection which the schools of thought like the Nyaya and the Vaiseshika describe. It is not unconsciousness; it is not absence of consciousness; it is not bare consciousness; it is not a mass of consciousness; it is not external consciousness; it is not internal consciousness; it is not both-ways consciousness. What is this? Such is God in His essence, the Absolute in its True Being.

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To be continued ...

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