VI. Consciousness and Physical Energy
5:46 AM Posted In Psychology of Yoga: Consciousness: States and Grades Edit This 0 Comments »Creativity and luminosity of a unique kind distinguish consciousness from the physical energy. The modern intelligentsia often tends to see consciousness as a form of the physical energy, howsoever unique in itself. The ground it seeks resort to is the Einsteinian formula of convertibility of matter into energy. The convertibility is suggestive of the origin of matter in energy, Matter, in its turn, is supposed to have formed the basis of the evolution of the vital and the mental from within it, as is the case with our planet itself. Now, when the mental itself is an output of the energy, as per this supposition, consciousness cannot but be just a form of energy.
Tenability of this proposition becomes a suspect as soon as we take into consideration the peculiarities of consciousness not to be found in the physical energy. Most prominent among these peculiarities is the factor of self-consciousness. Any product of sheer physical energy, howsoever, developed and complicated structurally, can in no case be self-conscious. It is the consciousness’ peculiarity of being self-conscious which has resulted in the emergence of beings each having a personality of its own besides being connected directly with consciousness as such. It is on account of this connection that the individual has the possibility of entering into that consciousness directly and exclusively.
Physical energy is the force of consciousness but made somehow bereft of consciousness, at least in its manifest form. If consciousness is all-in-all, it cannot afford to exclude physical energy and its product, i.e. matter from itself. It may, however, may arrange things in a manner in which the self-conscious aspect of it may lie so low as to appear to have absented itself totally for the time being; just it happens with us in the state of sound sleep. Such a behaviour on the part of consciousness is a dire necessity of the process of creation. Had consciousness kept its self-consciousness constantly awake throughout at all stages of the process of creation, the world would have comprised only of sentient beings leaving little chance for the objective side of the world to come into being. A world of purely subject beings, absolutely bereft of the objective, would have remained something like a fantasy without any possibility of actualization. If, on the other hand, it has come to combine within it the objective as well as the subjective, that is all due to its capacity to lie low in its self-consciousness in a part of its creative movement.
This psychology of consciousness operative on the pre-creational stage is reflected in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (I.4.10). According to it, Brahman alone was there prior to creation. Brahman, as such, must have been pure consciousness, as it the Atman within us, for instance, if it were taken in its pure spiritual sense absolutely apart from its adjuncts. Then it got conscious of itself as Brahman, since there was nothing else to be conscious of. It was due to this act of being aware of Itself on the part of Brahman, that it became all whatever is there in existence. This statement of the Upanishadic sage at the height of his wisdom indicates his awareness of the problem of emergence of the world of objects out of the utterly subjective being of what is conceived as the original embodiment or Being of consciousness. He attributes it and rightly to the very self-consciousness of the Being.
Consciousness is projective as well as concentrative in its fundamental nature. Both these features of it are complementary to each other. It is the complementarity of these two features of it which is responsible for the emergence of the world from it and the hold of it on the same world as simply its self-awareness. These features of consciousness are obvious on the individual scale also inasmuch as the latter remains conscious of himself as well as of the world around him. In the state of self-consciousness, he considers himself as the object of his consciousness while in the state of his consciousness of the world, the latter serves as the object before him. In any case, any act of consciousness cannot afford to be absolutely shorn of the object of consciousness, be that object in the form of sheer consciousness or anything other than consciousness. Brahman’s making itself as the object of consciousness at the pre-creational stage is the seed of creation as evidenced in the Rigvedic mantra (VIII.6.30). The same order of consciousness evolved by the individual, on the other hand, results in his withdrawal to himself so as to lead to his liberation.
On account of its genesis in consciousness, the physical energy also is not absolutely bereft of consciousness. It is a manifestation of consciousness itself having its self-consciousness kept in abeyance for the time being.
Self-consciousness being the most fundamental feature of consciousness, anything bereft of it, gets rendered inert, leaving only its force to dominate its being. Had consciousness not been inherent in the physical energy, in howsoever latent a form, the earth, as a product of the energy could by means evolved life and consciousness on its surface as it is so abundantly imbued with today. Idea of consciousness having descended on it from some other heavenly body, is a sheer myth having no ground for its viability. It is the physical energy itself which, having revived the consciousness latent in it, assumes the form of the vital force and eventually of consciousness. If the physical energy is prone to be handled by consciousness, as is the case with the human consciousness in particular, that is all owing to the inherence of it in the latter. Between two forces, that which is more powerful, must be more fundamental. Man’s handling of enormous physical forces through manipulation of his consciousness, vindicates the priority of consciousness over the force. The human personality itself is the closest illustration of the verity of the proposition. It lies in the absolutely weightless and dimensionless consciousness of the individual carrying and handling the body with all its weights and dimensions so easily and effortlessly. This has been made possible owing to the Atman, as a concentric formation of consciousness, weaving out the web of body around it along with the organs of action and sense provided for in it, feeding it with nutritious food, producing energy out of the same, as also handling the same in ways desired by it. Rising above its control over the body, the same human consciousness has now come to a position of ewhich, having revived the consciousness latent in it, assumes the form of the vital force and eventually of consciousness. If the physical energy is prone to be handled by consciousness, as is the case with the human consciousness in particular, that is all owing to the inherence of it in the latter. Between two forces, that which is more powerful, must be more fundamental. Man’s handling of enormous physical forces through manipulation of his consciousness, vindicates the priority of consciousness over the force. The human personality itself is the closest illustration of the verity of the proposition. It lies in the absolutely weightless and dimensionless consciousness of the individual carrying and handling the body with all its weights and dimensions so easily and effortlessly. This has been made possible owing to the Atman, as a concentric formation of consciousness, weaving out the web of body around it along with the organs of action and sense provided for in it, feeding it with nutritious food, producing energy out of the same, as also handling the same in ways desired by it. Rising above its control over the body, the same human consciousness has now come to a position of exerting its influence on those forces of nature which earlier were beyond his reach altogether. This ever-increasing domination of man’s intellect over physical forces goes to show the superiority and primacy of consciousness over the physical energy.
Tenability of this proposition becomes a suspect as soon as we take into consideration the peculiarities of consciousness not to be found in the physical energy. Most prominent among these peculiarities is the factor of self-consciousness. Any product of sheer physical energy, howsoever, developed and complicated structurally, can in no case be self-conscious. It is the consciousness’ peculiarity of being self-conscious which has resulted in the emergence of beings each having a personality of its own besides being connected directly with consciousness as such. It is on account of this connection that the individual has the possibility of entering into that consciousness directly and exclusively.
Physical energy is the force of consciousness but made somehow bereft of consciousness, at least in its manifest form. If consciousness is all-in-all, it cannot afford to exclude physical energy and its product, i.e. matter from itself. It may, however, may arrange things in a manner in which the self-conscious aspect of it may lie so low as to appear to have absented itself totally for the time being; just it happens with us in the state of sound sleep. Such a behaviour on the part of consciousness is a dire necessity of the process of creation. Had consciousness kept its self-consciousness constantly awake throughout at all stages of the process of creation, the world would have comprised only of sentient beings leaving little chance for the objective side of the world to come into being. A world of purely subject beings, absolutely bereft of the objective, would have remained something like a fantasy without any possibility of actualization. If, on the other hand, it has come to combine within it the objective as well as the subjective, that is all due to its capacity to lie low in its self-consciousness in a part of its creative movement.
This psychology of consciousness operative on the pre-creational stage is reflected in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (I.4.10). According to it, Brahman alone was there prior to creation. Brahman, as such, must have been pure consciousness, as it the Atman within us, for instance, if it were taken in its pure spiritual sense absolutely apart from its adjuncts. Then it got conscious of itself as Brahman, since there was nothing else to be conscious of. It was due to this act of being aware of Itself on the part of Brahman, that it became all whatever is there in existence. This statement of the Upanishadic sage at the height of his wisdom indicates his awareness of the problem of emergence of the world of objects out of the utterly subjective being of what is conceived as the original embodiment or Being of consciousness. He attributes it and rightly to the very self-consciousness of the Being.
Consciousness is projective as well as concentrative in its fundamental nature. Both these features of it are complementary to each other. It is the complementarity of these two features of it which is responsible for the emergence of the world from it and the hold of it on the same world as simply its self-awareness. These features of consciousness are obvious on the individual scale also inasmuch as the latter remains conscious of himself as well as of the world around him. In the state of self-consciousness, he considers himself as the object of his consciousness while in the state of his consciousness of the world, the latter serves as the object before him. In any case, any act of consciousness cannot afford to be absolutely shorn of the object of consciousness, be that object in the form of sheer consciousness or anything other than consciousness. Brahman’s making itself as the object of consciousness at the pre-creational stage is the seed of creation as evidenced in the Rigvedic mantra (VIII.6.30). The same order of consciousness evolved by the individual, on the other hand, results in his withdrawal to himself so as to lead to his liberation.
On account of its genesis in consciousness, the physical energy also is not absolutely bereft of consciousness. It is a manifestation of consciousness itself having its self-consciousness kept in abeyance for the time being.
Self-consciousness being the most fundamental feature of consciousness, anything bereft of it, gets rendered inert, leaving only its force to dominate its being. Had consciousness not been inherent in the physical energy, in howsoever latent a form, the earth, as a product of the energy could by means evolved life and consciousness on its surface as it is so abundantly imbued with today. Idea of consciousness having descended on it from some other heavenly body, is a sheer myth having no ground for its viability. It is the physical energy itself which, having revived the consciousness latent in it, assumes the form of the vital force and eventually of consciousness. If the physical energy is prone to be handled by consciousness, as is the case with the human consciousness in particular, that is all owing to the inherence of it in the latter. Between two forces, that which is more powerful, must be more fundamental. Man’s handling of enormous physical forces through manipulation of his consciousness, vindicates the priority of consciousness over the force. The human personality itself is the closest illustration of the verity of the proposition. It lies in the absolutely weightless and dimensionless consciousness of the individual carrying and handling the body with all its weights and dimensions so easily and effortlessly. This has been made possible owing to the Atman, as a concentric formation of consciousness, weaving out the web of body around it along with the organs of action and sense provided for in it, feeding it with nutritious food, producing energy out of the same, as also handling the same in ways desired by it. Rising above its control over the body, the same human consciousness has now come to a position of ewhich, having revived the consciousness latent in it, assumes the form of the vital force and eventually of consciousness. If the physical energy is prone to be handled by consciousness, as is the case with the human consciousness in particular, that is all owing to the inherence of it in the latter. Between two forces, that which is more powerful, must be more fundamental. Man’s handling of enormous physical forces through manipulation of his consciousness, vindicates the priority of consciousness over the force. The human personality itself is the closest illustration of the verity of the proposition. It lies in the absolutely weightless and dimensionless consciousness of the individual carrying and handling the body with all its weights and dimensions so easily and effortlessly. This has been made possible owing to the Atman, as a concentric formation of consciousness, weaving out the web of body around it along with the organs of action and sense provided for in it, feeding it with nutritious food, producing energy out of the same, as also handling the same in ways desired by it. Rising above its control over the body, the same human consciousness has now come to a position of exerting its influence on those forces of nature which earlier were beyond his reach altogether. This ever-increasing domination of man’s intellect over physical forces goes to show the superiority and primacy of consciousness over the physical energy.
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