IV. Luminosity of Consciousness
4:30 AM Posted In Psychology of Yoga: Consciousness: States and Grades Edit ThisLuminosity is another feature of consciousness which is scarcely taken note of in practical life but has been dealt with most exuberantly in the Vedas. We see many things in the external world by virtue of this feature of consciousness. Physical light, be it solar or electrical, only helps us in the act of seeing by just removing the darkness around the object concerned. Any luminous object does not require any such aid for its being seen. The real power of seeing rests in the consciousness of the seer himself. Visualisation of objects around him by the blind and seeing of objects in the state of dream by ourselves are direct proof of the luminosity of consciousness.
Luminosity of consciousness, however, needs to be sharply distinguished from that of the luminaries around us. Had both been kindred, the luminosity of the luminaries might very well have served as the substitute of consciousness. This, however, is not the case at all. Bereft of consciousness, one cannot see anything made howsoever luminous by the luminaries. As against this, the converse of it is a full possibility, as is evident from the behaviour of the blind on the human level itself. The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (IV.3.1-6) has raised and answered the question of the luminosity of consciousness through a dialogue between sage Yajnavalkya and King Janaka. The king asks the sage as to what light which serves man in his seeing the objects. In response to this question, the sage points to the solar light. The King asks him again as to what serves man as the source of the light when the sun is set. Sage Yajnavalkya points to the lunar light. The King asks him as to what serves the source of light when the moon also has set. The sage responds in terms of fire. The King asks him again as to what serves as the source of light when fire also is not available to the person concerned. In response to this query, the sage indicates Vak, word or speech, as that light. By way of elucidating this queer response, he refers to a situation in which someone perchance is groping his way in dense darkness in total absence of light, be it solar, lunar or of any artificial kind. He says that under such a circumstance even a word from someone may help him out of that precarious situation by showing him which way to move. The King, however, displays a still higher ingenuity in asking the sage about any possible source of light in the state of total absence of word or speech. Being asked so, the sage eventually indicates to the light of consciousness as enshrined in one’s self as the last resort of the person concerned in the event of failure of all sorts of light including what figuratively he had described as the light of speech.
By turning to speech as a light, he had crossed the threshold of the physical in his search for light. The deliberately spoken word of indication is obviously a manifestation of consciousness. In this act of embodiment, however, consciousness takes the help of the electro-magnetic wave passing through ether or space, sound is the attribute of space itself. Thus the wave of sound is the direct connecting link between consciousness and the physical light.
This suggestion of the sage abounds in wisdom of the highest order in regard to the luminosity of consciousness. By visualizing the wave of sound as the direct link between consciousness and the physical light, he shows the possibility of transformation of consciousness into the physical light itself via the electro-magnetic wave. This is exactly in keeping with the postulate of the Taittiriya Upanishad (II.1) and stating summarily how it is from Atman that has emerged space, from space air, from air fire, from fire water and from water the earth. In this account of the genesis of the five elements the universe is made of, earth stands for matter solidified, water for the same in the liquid state while fire for the same in the gaseous form. Air, therefore, must mean not simply what we breathe in and breathe out but the electro-magnetic wave passing through space. As regards akasa, it obviously stands for what in modern terminology we understand the space. It is also now clear that space without time is an impossibility. It is only with the addition of time as the fourth dimension to it that the space-time continuum comes to be formed and serves as the medium of transmission of consciousness to the products of the continuum. The Upanishadic akasa, rendered as the space-time continuum in modern terminology, is in itself a product of consciousness, the products of that akasa also, in the last analysis, cannot afford to be anything but consciousness. As such, the physical light also must be nothing but the light of consciousness.
While taking cognizance of the luminosity of consciousness, the Vedic seers and Upanishadic sages have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the physical and the spiritual. It lies in the description of the physical as simply a light but of the spiritual as the light of lights. This is evident from the very first mantra of the Yajurvedic Siva-sankalpa Hymn where ht higher mind has been characterized as the light of lights (YV. XXXIV.1). Light of mind is the light of consciousness while the rest is that of the physical luminaries, including the sun, moon etc. While making this statement the seer is absolutely clear about the primacy of consciousness vis-à-vis the physical in regard to the luminosity on the psychological level as well as in the terms of the genesis. This is most comprehensively evident from a statement made in the Aitareya Upanishad (V.1-3) which states that all the psychological faculties and functions, such as knowing, insight, wisdom, desire, power of retention, super intellection, memory, determination, etc., on the one hand and the five basic elements along with all their products, organic and inorganic both, on the other, are nothing but different forms, formulations and products of consciousness.
The Chandogya Upanishad (III.13.7) indicates the same status of consciousness in a different way. It lies in seeing oneness between the trans-heavenly and the intra-psychic light. To translate the statement, ‘Now the light shining beyond the heaven, behind everything, in the highest of the worlds as also in the world next to the highest, is the same as is shining in the inner being of the individual.’ The light beyond the heaven is the light serving as the source of the universe in all its physicality. The intra-psychic light, on the other hand, is evidently conscious in all its psychic luminosity. The equation of the extra-cosmic with the intra-psychic is clear enough in its indication that the former also is nothing but consciousness.
This idea underlying this equation is not an Upanishadic innovation but is rooted in the Rigvedic (VIII.6.30) mantra wherein the Seer refers to seeing the light of the primeval seed of creation shining beyond the heaven which is loveliest to dwell in. Kindred is the import of the hymn seen by Seer Bharadvaja in the same Samhita (Rigveda VI.9.4). While invoking Vaisvanara, the universal luminary of consciousness, the Seer describes Him also as the invoker of virtue of lying within mortals as the light of their consciousness. Further, he characterizes Vaisvanara as embedded in all eternally and yet as taking birth through the extension of Himself bodily. Characterisation of the light as the primeval seed of creation refers to the origin of the latter in some sort of light. Seeing the presence of the same light in the human self, makes it clear that this must be the light of consciousness. Similarly, feeling the presence of Vaisvanara within his own self by the Seer in the capacity of the invoker to the sacrificial ground amounts to the cognizance of Him as of the nature of consciousness.
Luminosity of consciousness, however, needs to be sharply distinguished from that of the luminaries around us. Had both been kindred, the luminosity of the luminaries might very well have served as the substitute of consciousness. This, however, is not the case at all. Bereft of consciousness, one cannot see anything made howsoever luminous by the luminaries. As against this, the converse of it is a full possibility, as is evident from the behaviour of the blind on the human level itself. The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (IV.3.1-6) has raised and answered the question of the luminosity of consciousness through a dialogue between sage Yajnavalkya and King Janaka. The king asks the sage as to what light which serves man in his seeing the objects. In response to this question, the sage points to the solar light. The King asks him again as to what serves man as the source of the light when the sun is set. Sage Yajnavalkya points to the lunar light. The King asks him as to what serves the source of light when the moon also has set. The sage responds in terms of fire. The King asks him again as to what serves as the source of light when fire also is not available to the person concerned. In response to this query, the sage indicates Vak, word or speech, as that light. By way of elucidating this queer response, he refers to a situation in which someone perchance is groping his way in dense darkness in total absence of light, be it solar, lunar or of any artificial kind. He says that under such a circumstance even a word from someone may help him out of that precarious situation by showing him which way to move. The King, however, displays a still higher ingenuity in asking the sage about any possible source of light in the state of total absence of word or speech. Being asked so, the sage eventually indicates to the light of consciousness as enshrined in one’s self as the last resort of the person concerned in the event of failure of all sorts of light including what figuratively he had described as the light of speech.
By turning to speech as a light, he had crossed the threshold of the physical in his search for light. The deliberately spoken word of indication is obviously a manifestation of consciousness. In this act of embodiment, however, consciousness takes the help of the electro-magnetic wave passing through ether or space, sound is the attribute of space itself. Thus the wave of sound is the direct connecting link between consciousness and the physical light.
This suggestion of the sage abounds in wisdom of the highest order in regard to the luminosity of consciousness. By visualizing the wave of sound as the direct link between consciousness and the physical light, he shows the possibility of transformation of consciousness into the physical light itself via the electro-magnetic wave. This is exactly in keeping with the postulate of the Taittiriya Upanishad (II.1) and stating summarily how it is from Atman that has emerged space, from space air, from air fire, from fire water and from water the earth. In this account of the genesis of the five elements the universe is made of, earth stands for matter solidified, water for the same in the liquid state while fire for the same in the gaseous form. Air, therefore, must mean not simply what we breathe in and breathe out but the electro-magnetic wave passing through space. As regards akasa, it obviously stands for what in modern terminology we understand the space. It is also now clear that space without time is an impossibility. It is only with the addition of time as the fourth dimension to it that the space-time continuum comes to be formed and serves as the medium of transmission of consciousness to the products of the continuum. The Upanishadic akasa, rendered as the space-time continuum in modern terminology, is in itself a product of consciousness, the products of that akasa also, in the last analysis, cannot afford to be anything but consciousness. As such, the physical light also must be nothing but the light of consciousness.
While taking cognizance of the luminosity of consciousness, the Vedic seers and Upanishadic sages have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the physical and the spiritual. It lies in the description of the physical as simply a light but of the spiritual as the light of lights. This is evident from the very first mantra of the Yajurvedic Siva-sankalpa Hymn where ht higher mind has been characterized as the light of lights (YV. XXXIV.1). Light of mind is the light of consciousness while the rest is that of the physical luminaries, including the sun, moon etc. While making this statement the seer is absolutely clear about the primacy of consciousness vis-à-vis the physical in regard to the luminosity on the psychological level as well as in the terms of the genesis. This is most comprehensively evident from a statement made in the Aitareya Upanishad (V.1-3) which states that all the psychological faculties and functions, such as knowing, insight, wisdom, desire, power of retention, super intellection, memory, determination, etc., on the one hand and the five basic elements along with all their products, organic and inorganic both, on the other, are nothing but different forms, formulations and products of consciousness.
The Chandogya Upanishad (III.13.7) indicates the same status of consciousness in a different way. It lies in seeing oneness between the trans-heavenly and the intra-psychic light. To translate the statement, ‘Now the light shining beyond the heaven, behind everything, in the highest of the worlds as also in the world next to the highest, is the same as is shining in the inner being of the individual.’ The light beyond the heaven is the light serving as the source of the universe in all its physicality. The intra-psychic light, on the other hand, is evidently conscious in all its psychic luminosity. The equation of the extra-cosmic with the intra-psychic is clear enough in its indication that the former also is nothing but consciousness.
This idea underlying this equation is not an Upanishadic innovation but is rooted in the Rigvedic (VIII.6.30) mantra wherein the Seer refers to seeing the light of the primeval seed of creation shining beyond the heaven which is loveliest to dwell in. Kindred is the import of the hymn seen by Seer Bharadvaja in the same Samhita (Rigveda VI.9.4). While invoking Vaisvanara, the universal luminary of consciousness, the Seer describes Him also as the invoker of virtue of lying within mortals as the light of their consciousness. Further, he characterizes Vaisvanara as embedded in all eternally and yet as taking birth through the extension of Himself bodily. Characterisation of the light as the primeval seed of creation refers to the origin of the latter in some sort of light. Seeing the presence of the same light in the human self, makes it clear that this must be the light of consciousness. Similarly, feeling the presence of Vaisvanara within his own self by the Seer in the capacity of the invoker to the sacrificial ground amounts to the cognizance of Him as of the nature of consciousness.
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