(From the Book Yoga: From Confusion To Clarity by Professor Satya Prakash Singh and Yogi Mukesh) Blog:

: http://vedic-yoga.blogspot.com FOUNDATION OF YOGA Every thing emanates from Consciousness Is sustained in Consciousness, Abides in Consciousness, Finally merges in Consciousness, What remains ultimately is Consciousness. 1.2 As countless rays emerge from the sun and ripples from the surface of the sea, so emerge from consciousness infinite worlds, besides our own. In this world the manifestation of consciousness takes two forms, the objective and the subjective. While the objective is the result of objectification of consciousness, the subjective is the consequence of restoration of consciousness to itself. The parallelism between the objective and the subjective gets graded into four as manifest in the four states of mans consciousness, namely, the waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and what in the Veda is called the fourth, turya. The waking consciousness bears correspondence to the gross physical as available to us through our senses, the dream consciousness does so to the subtle, the consciousness of the state of dreamless sleep runs parallel to the cause while the fourth is the epistemic basis of the Ultimate Reality. Due to the parallelism between the subjective and the objective and their coincidence in consciousness, every act of perception presupposes the corresponding sense organ while the latters power of perceiving anything has its source in manas or mind. Mind, in its turn, is dependent on the real cogniser lying behind it. Sense and mind are just tools placed at the disposal of the Cogniser to make contact with the world outside.

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To restore the Cogniser to its integrality is the concern of yoga. Yoga is, thus, a system by which the individual consciousness retraces itself to its original purity and immensity. The Cogniser is essentially self-luminous, self-conscious and free of the limitations of space and time. Everything in this universe is interrelated. The bond of relationship is formed by the consciousness which is called in the Upaniad as the secret stra. Ignorance is caused interrelatedness. by breakage in that bond of

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Study of scriptures and books of the sort facilitates knowledge of consciousness to some extent but falls short of making us realise it as such. Realisation comes only through intense and subtle awareness of ones inmost core of being. In that core, consciousness lies in its undiluted integrity and is known as the fourth, turya, as distinct from the remaining three states known as waking, dream and dreamless sleep (jgrat, svapna and suupti). Inward movement to that core is undertaken successively via the annamaya, pramaya, manomaya, and vijnamaya koas which form different grades of our being. Normally, our states of wakefulness, dream and profound sleep bring interruption in the free flow of consciousness. The interruption is caused by transition from one state of consciousness to the other. All states of consciousness (waking, dream and deep sleep) are ascertained with reference to the Cogniser. 2

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ANNAMAYA KOA AND THE STATE OF WAKEFULNESS 1.18 Waking state is that form of awareness, which prevails when the subjects attention is directed on sensations that come to it through the senses. This state is the result of the projection of consciousness on what is sensed by it from the outside via the organs of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. The body, pra, senses and manas remain active in this state. Perceptibility of the world outside, indeed, is owing to the cumulative activity of the senses, manas and pra. The combination of the three is attended by limitations caused by sensory perception, bodily action and mental modifications leading to obscuration of the true nature of the cogniser. From one point of view, this state is called piastha, that is, the state in which consciousness manifests itself through the body. From a higher point of view, however, it is called sarvatobhadra all-round auspicious, as it represents the state of consciousness manifest as the ubiquitous fullness of the objective being. The waking state has four sub-states depending on the preponderance of anyone of the states of consciousness in it. In the state of preponderance of the objective world on it, the sub-state of the waking is called jgrat-jgrat, the waking in the waking. In this sub-state, the objective aspect of object is prominent. Here the individuals consciousness works under the effect of perception of the world outside while the individual himself remains confined to his bodily sense at the expense of almost total unawareness of his true nature.

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As such, this state is considered by yogins as abuddha, totally unawakened. When the focus of consciousness is shifted from the object to its knowledge, that state is called dream in the waking state which is kindred to the state born of mental impressions or thinking or visualisation where one finds oneself staring at anything absent-mindedly under the effect of absorption in his thoughts. This sub-state is characterised by the prominence of consciousness of the knower in place of that of the world outside. This is the Awakened or buddha state for the yogin. It is also known as jgrat -svapna. When in the waking state, the knowers consciousness becomes completely free of the objectivity, there arises a complete blankness. This is the sub-state of jgrat -suupti or deep sleep in waking state. In this state of absence of objectivity, the yogin remains self-absorbed for a considerably long time enjoying the bliss of oneness of consciousness with everything. From the yogins viewpoint, this sub-state is known as prabuddha or intensively awakened. With the preponderance of pramiti, suchness, in it, there arises the fourth sub-state of witnessing consciousness known as suprabuddha or fully awakened. In other words, this sub-state is known as jgrat- turya, the fourth in the waking state. Here the entire objective world appears as a sheer play of Consciousness.

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The annamaya koa is the proper receptacle of the waking state, as the individual remains engrossed in his body and the corresponding view of the world outside. The individual lying in the state of the annamaya, may fruitfully use the subject-object contact as a means to the sadhan for entry into his real nature as is represented by the fourth and the most fundamental state of consciousness. It can happen only if the experiencing subject is free of the purposive attitude towards the objective world on account of being satisfied with its sheer knowledge and rests within itself after the rise of cognition. This is why meditation is practised on certain crucial points in the body or outside the body. Such techniques are known as arra-sthna-kalpan, meditation with reference to a particular point in the body. These points can be anyone of the ten senses, muldhra, navel, heart, throat and the central point between the eyebrows. PRAMAYA KOA AND THE STATE OF DREAM The dream state is the result of interiorisation of consciousness while tending to take rest inside after moving outside for some time. In this state of rest, consciousness withdraws itself inward having dissociated itself from the world of organs of sense and action. Here the individual consciousness, ceasing to be the perceiver, turns towards ideation on the basis of mental impressions formed in his consciousness by objects of the external world in the state of wakefulness. This state occurs not only while one is asleep but also during the phase of perception in which the external object is represented by its ideas. 5

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The impurity of karma persists here only as traces while the objects perceived inwardly are illusory creations generated by consciousness in the mind and hence are confined to the dreamer vis-a-vis their perceptibility. From the point of view of yoga, this state is higher and subtler than the state of waking consciousness and, as such, it is easier to rise from this to higher states of consciousness. On account of this feature of it, it is called, established in itself, padastha or vypta, pervasive. It corresponds to the autonomous cognitive awareness, which is free to pervade everywhere, and is no longer conditioned by the object of knowledge. Pra and manas, however, remain active in the state of dream too, which has four sub-states. First one of these sub-states is svapna jagrat, waking in the state of dream. It is the state of vikalpas ideas, fancies, reveries independent of the external world and confined only to the dreamer. This state is also experienced when one is overcome with grief, passion, fear or madness, in which the dreamer mistakes his mental projections for actual objects. The individual is caught sometime in the flux of objective perceptions and at others by the waves of his own mental impressions without being able to differentiate between the two. This state of dream appears as real on account of acceleration in the action of the pra and apna. On account of its flexibility, this sub-state is also called gatgata, coming and going or rather that of blinking of consciousness.

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The second sub-state of the state of dream is known as svapna-svapna, one of dreaming in dream. It begins with the dream becoming hazy, disorderly and vague. Here the dreamer remains afloat in the flux of consciousness where one thing may be transformed into another without looking strange. As such, it is also known as suvikipta, the sub-state of complete dispersion. The third sub-state in this row is known as svapna-suupti, dreamless sleep in the state of dream resulting in enjoyment of peaceful sleep on the part of the dreamer. In this state, the subjectivity or pramtbhva of the cogniser is intense and he is able to examine the situation he finds himself in and realises that the objects before him are not really any part of the external world and that he is only dreaming. Put in this state, the dreamer exercises better control over the series of his dreams by eliminating incongruity or inconsistency in the motifs of his dream. He is able to experience a subtle touch of integrated consciousness while dreaming. As such, it is also known as sagata or consistent. When the dreamer remains fully aware throughout the whole phantasmagoria of dream and knows that he is only dreaming, the sub-state is known as one of witnessing or integrated consciousness, svapna-tur turya. It is also called the state of witnessing consciousness or integrated consciousness sahita. While the common man considers all these states together as one of simply dream and views various vikalpas of his as lacking in contact with the external world as a whole, the yogin experiences the state of dream as pervaded by his own consciousness.

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The state of dream can be transcended through pra vayu-sthna-kalpan or pra-sadhna. It refers to the fixing of consciousness on the exhalation and inhalation of breath from the centre of the body. While breathing-in and breathing-out, the individual is advised to maintain his awareness continuously at the meeting point of the incoming and outgoing breaths. Alternatively, he can direct the focus of his attention to the point where the expiring and inspiring breaths stop for a split of a second outside the body. This sdhan brings subtlety and refinement to the process of breathing with the result that manas or mind becomes cooled down. Once one is settled down mentally and the pra becomes refined, one feels as if one were going into the state of sleep or torpor. That, however, is not really so. It is rather the beginning of entrance into the manomaya, the state of deep sleep. MANOMAYA KOA AND THE STATE OF DREAMLESS SLEEP

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When consciousness ceases to play the dual role of the subject and the object and withdraws itself entirely to itself, it is known as complete sleep or suupti. Here the cogniser is devoid of all contents, supports and relation to objects. It is called the seed of the universe where everything is merged in consciousness in the form of latent impressions which in the state of wakefulness give rise to the world of differentiated perceptions. It is the microscopic equivalent of the state of universal destruction where all experiences of the realm of diversity melt into one or sameness. Although the same cognising subject as present in waking and dreaming states, persists here also, yet he appears to be absent on account of the object and the means of 8

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knowledge, with which he formerly identified himself, are no longer there in this state. 1.83 In this state, the impurity of individuality continues to prevail and contracts the consciousness leaving it in a state of abysmal emptiness. The individual consciousness in this state is called unyapramt. The manas is set at rest leaving only pra to function. Here memory and its objects remain in the latent form. For the yogin, the state of dreamless sleep lies quite close to the integral consciousness, quite different from the waking or the dreaming, since here the subject alone exists. It is called rpastha or restored to its original form because the Cogniser, who is the creator of forms, lies in its pure form here. While an average human being understands this state as one of absence of consciousness, for a yogin it is a kind of samdhi in which he is free of distinction between the subject and the object. It is also known as the state of mahvypti, the state of complete pervasion of consciousness in comparison to the dream state where the pervasion is partial. Dreamless sleep, suupti, also has four phases. When one is about to enter the state of deep sleep, there is a vague awareness akin to that of wakefulness, as it is potent with the residual impressions of the objective world. This is called the emergent, udita, state a state of suupti-jgrat or waking in dreamless sleep. When latent impressions begin to proliferate and mature, subtle traces of perception appear as one with ones own true nature. This leads to greater self-awareness and brings one closer to higher consciousness. This is the state 9

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of suupti-svapna, dream in deep sleep. It is also known as vipula or extensive. 1.93 When residual traces of objective experiences get completely subsided, one has subtle and uninterrupted awareness. That is the state of suupti-suupti known as nta, tranquil. On waking from this state, what the subject has lingering in his mind is a faint experience of sheer blessedness. Repeated entry into the bliss of the state of deep sleep within deep sleep makes the experience more and more intense and vivid. Finally, one reaches the state of deep sleep, suuptiturya, a sub-state of the transcendent consciousness, and is highly blissful, suprasanna. If the individual continues to dwell in this sub-state fully aware of his subjective being and its nature, it has the potentiality of getting matured into samdhi or the state of blessedness. Normally, in the case of an individual, manas follows senses in their getting entangled with objects. But in the state of manomaya, the order is reversed inasmuch as here the senses follow manas. It results in further intensification on the focal point of consciousness leading to complete elimination of obstructions in the course of the flow of consciousness. This is vijnamaya, the state of pure and higher consciousness. If an individual were able to retain his awareness on the point between waking and sleeping, he is sure to have the experience of the supreme bliss of Consciousness. It serves as the point of entry into the fourth state of consciousness, known as turiya.

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VIJNAMAYA KOA OR THE STATE OF THE TURYA 1.102 The fourth state of consciousness is altogether distinct from the other three states, namely those of waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. It represents the vijnamaya koa. It, indeed, is the creative throb of Consciousness meditated on particularly with reference to the Heart or the centre of ones being, as per the Vedic accounts. It tends to take possession of the normal consciousness and becomes its constant associate. It is prabhava or the point of birth of a new consciousness. It is called the state of manonmana or turya-jgrata and is characterised by complete cessation of mental activities. In fact, it is the state in which the yogin crosses the boundary of finitude and enters into infinitude, ananta. The second sub-state of the turya is called sarvrtha and is supposed to be the playground of Aditi, Infinity, in which everything appears as a creative throb of Consciousness and delight. The way to entry into this state is perusal of the inner awareness, surrender or exercise of the Will Power, icchakti. NANDAMAYA KOA OR THE TURYTTA 1.109 On getting entry into it, the fire of inner consciousness gets lit resulting in the unification of the pramat, prameya, prama and pramiti that is the knower, object of knowledge, means of knowledge and the act of knowing. 11

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Hence onwards, the consciousness of non-difference shines constantly in all the three states of wakfulness, dream and dreamless sleep. This is how the yogin enters finally into the state of nandamaya or the climax of the turya. After having got established in this state, he becomes free of all the fetters interrupting the flow of consciousness. For such a sdhaka, the objective world becomes a means of redemption instead of that of bondage. Getting his attitude towards the world thus transformed, he becomes dhra, perfectly established in meditativeness. This he achieves by discovering the gap between one state and the other through which he catches the glimpse of the fourth state and expands it until he crosses all levels and states in his experience through uninterrupted selfawareness. By virtue of having a glimpse of the fourth state, he becomes master of his senses and the real enjoyer of the three lower states. Looked from this high pedestal of consciousness, the entire observable world on the one hand and the subconscient and inconscient realms of ones inner being on the other, appear as a form of consciousness itself. Unified practice of meditation on the levels of the annamaya, pramaya, and manomaya is the Vedic way to ascension to this high pedestal of consciousness. Dhraas are different ways to pinpointed focusing of consciousness on any particular object, inner or outer. They are the methods to remove obstructions to the realisation of the integrality of consciousness particularly in the waking state. 12

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Dhyna is continuous flow of consciousness. When dhyna reaches the state of climax, prama, prameya and pramiti that is the means of knowledge, object of knowledge and the act of knowing, get dissolved into the subjectivity shorn of differentiation. It is kindred to the state of dreamless sleep inasmuch as in this latter state also everything merges into awareness of the self making it possible to have a sound sleep. By virtue of getting established in dhyna, the sdhaka grasps all external objects through the integrated power of consciousness which otherwise moves out through his sense-organs. He pours all his percepts into the fire consciousness that has already been lit up. of inner

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No more does any reflection of the external world on manas hinder the flow of his consciousness. It results in the removal of the difference between the inner and the outer, between consciousness and its object leading to the awareness of the all-inclusive pervasiveness of consciousness. Yoga is, thus, expansion of the individual consciousness to the infinity of consciousness symbolised by Aditi in the Veda. Samdhi is the culmination of dhyna and restoration of consciousness to its original state of unity, integrality and infinitude. Turiyam svid, samdhi, unman, manoman, amartyatva, layatva, unya, aunya, amanaska, advaita, nirlamba, niranjana, sahaja, and turytta are synonyms of the state of nandamaya.

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