CONSCIOUSNESS
One of the major contributions of
Indian psychological thoughts is its description of consciousness.
Understanding the states of consciousness which has been given high priority in
most of the ancient Indian literature. While the western theories has limited
its explanation of consciousness to just three states the conscious, the
preconscious and the unconscious Indian system talks about the fourth state of
super consciousness which is also experienced accidently in some human being
and acquired by some through systematic consistent practice of various yogic
systems and meditation.
According to Upanishad,
consciousness (chaitanya) vests not in the body or the mind but in the self.
Consciousness is an attribute of the pure self or the ultimate reality.
Mandukya Upanishad explains four states of the consciousness,
1. Visva, the waking state,
2. Taijasa, the dream state,
3. Prajria, the state of dreamless
sleep
4. State of spiritual consciousness which
is of four types
Ø The wat or transcendental state
Ø The hiranyagarbha –the state of
consciousness which creates and connects all things. The state that gives life
to everything with or without form
Ø The isvara- a state devoid of
desires and bias
Ø The brahman.- The consciousness of
ideal universal self
Consciousness is not an attribute
of mind but of the self, which illuminates both mind and body. The same
consciousness acts at the individual level and is responsible for four marked
states of the universe and of individuality. Actually, according to Upanishads,
Brahmam is the state of absolute consciousness (cit). The Katha Upanishads
declares: "The self conjoined with the sense-organs and mind (manas) is
the experience (bhokta). The self is like a person seated in a chariot; the
body is the chariot; intellectual (buddhi) is the driver; mind (manas) is the
bridle, and the sense organs are the horses.
The self acquires consciousness in
conjunction with the sense organs. The mind is unconscious but active. The self
though omnipresent is conscious and becomes active in conjunction with the manas.
The mind acts when the self, guides it.
The Carvakas rejected the concept
of mind and consciousness and asserted that all our experiences are due to the
coming together of the elements of nature. According to Carvakas, consciousness
arises out of the combination of material elements. It is a mere product of
matter. Consciousness is produced when the four elements earth, water, fire,
and air combine in a certain proportion the same way as the red color is
produced by the combination of betel leaf, nut, and lime. Consciousness is
associated with the functioning of the sense organs and vanishes when the body
disintegrates.
According to Carvakas thought is a
function of tangible material. There is
no evidence of the separate existence of the soul and body. We do not see the
self without a body. Consciousness is invariably found in connection with the
body. Consciousness is the result of emergent and dialectical evolution.
Carvakas do not regard consciousness as the essence of mind or soul; on the
contrary, they regard consciousness to be a product of the body. Vedantasara by
sadanandha describes four different materialistic schools. One identifies the
soul with the gross body (sthula sarira); another with the senses (indriya); another
with vital breaths (prana) and the last with the mental organ (manas). Most of
the schools agree in regarding the soul as a product of matter.
According to Sankaracharya
Consciousness constitutes the essential nature of the self. It is natural or essential
to the self, and not an adventitious or accidental property of it. Sankara
holds that consciousness is neither a substance, nor quality, nor action of the
self. The self is mere consciousness. Though there is no difference between the
self and consciousness, we still draw the distinction between the two and speak
of "consciousness" when we wish to emphasize the relation of the self
to objects, and we speak of the 'self simply when we do not want to emphasize
that relation.
According to Sankara, Brahman is
pure consciousness. Consciousness and Brahman are identical. Atman or self is
nothing but Brahman or pure consciousness. Consciousness constitutes the
essential nature of the self; it is natural or essential to the self, and not
an adventitious or accidental property of it. Sankara holds that consciousness
is neither a substance, nor quality, nor action of the self. The self is mere
consciousness. Though there is no difference between the self and consciousness
yet we draw a distinction between the two and speak of
"consciousness" when we wish to emphasize the relation of the self to
objects, and we speak of the 'self simply when we do not want to emphasize that
relation.
Advaita Vedanta follows the
Upanishads in enumerating four states of consciousness,
Ø The wakeful (jagrat),
Ø The dream state (svapna)
Ø The sleep (sosopti)
Ø The super consciousness (turiya).
If we combine dream and sleep into
one and identify the same with the sub-consciousness state, there remain three
distinct states viz., sub-consciousness, conscious, and super-conscious. The
superconscious is the highest state, the state of self-realization,
identification of self and Brahman, the state of Absolute consciousness.
Sankaracharya's Advaita also
classified consciousness into three kinds:
Ø Content consciousness (visaya
caitanya), i.e., the consciousness defined by the concrete object such as the
pot.
Ø Cognitive consciousness (pramana
caitanya), i.e., the consciousness defined by perceptual factors patterns of
the internal organ (antahkarana - vrttyavacchinna).
Ø Cognizer consciousness (pramatr
caitanya), i.e., the consciousness defined by psycho-physiological factors
associated with an individual.
According to Ramanuja,
consciousness is not a substance and is independent of sense-object contact.
Consciousness is continuous and eternal. It is present in the present
perception, reasoning, and memory. Consciousness is inseparable and is always
present in the subject in all his cognitive activities. Ramanuja regards
consciousness as an act of cognizing the object by the subject. For him,
consciousness is a function of the subject, whether soul or Isvara. He
maintains that consciousness is a quality (visesana) of the self or Isvara. For
Ramanuja, the essential nature of consciousness consists in its manifesting
itself at a present moment through its own being to its substrate, or in being
instrumental in proving its own object by its own being.
Buddhist recognizes six varieties
of consciousness: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and purely
mental. Buddha explains various levels of consciousness.
Ø Sub-liminal consciousness is the
subconsciousness,
Ø Kima-citta is the normal
consciousness
Ø Mahaggata Citta is the super
conscious state.
The subliminal consciousness is the
sub-consciousness below the threshold of consciousness, while the super-liminal
is above it. Kima-citta is the consciousness confined to the ordinary world. It
is a normal consciousness. The supernormal consciousness, higher than this
level has three phases. Roopa citta is the consciousness concerned with visible
objects, Arupa with invisible, and Lokottara is the transcendental, over and
above both. Rupa citta roughly corresponds to Dhyana, and Lokottara to samadhi
of yoga.
According to Jainism, consciousness
is the essence of the soul or jiva but it is not the essence of mind. The mind
is only the internal sense organ, which is composed of a group of atoms. The
Jainas regard the soul as the subject of consciousness and maintains that
consciousness is present only in the body. So, consciousness cannot be present
without the body.
According to Sankhya, consciousness
is the essence of Purusa, the universal self but not the essence of mind or
manas. Purusa is itself the pure and transcendental consciousness.
Consciousness is self's very essence and not a mere quality of it. For Sankhya,
the self or Purusa is not the brain, nor mind (manas) nor ego (ahamkara) nor
intellect (buddhi) nor the aggregate of conscious states. It is a conscious
spirit, which is the knower, the subject. The self is not a substance whose
attribute is consciousness, but it is the pure consciousness as such.
The Sankhya regards the self to be
the subject of consciousness. The self is a stable persistent consciousness in
which there is neither any change nor activity. All change and activity, all
pleasure and pains belong really to Prakirti or matter and its products like
the body, mind, and intellect. Sankhya philosophers are of the opinion that
consciousness is an independent entity that arises out of the interaction
between Purusa and Prakirti. The Sankhya regards the self as a conscious spirit
and an inactive knower. Only Prakirti is active. The interaction of Purusa with
Prakirti makes the conscious Purusa active.
Yoga system follows the same order
of the states of consciousness as mentioned in the Upanisads and Sankhya. The
states of consciousness are - The wakeful state, the dream state, the deep
sleep, and the superconscious state. The first three states are regarded as
normal states for every human being. The fourth, the superconscious or Samadhi
state is the privilege of the yogin only. In other words, the yoga recognizes
conscious, subconscious, unconscious, and super consciousness.
According to Nyaya, consciousness
is a stream of awareness. Consciousness is an accidental property of the soul.
The individual soul is the substratum of the quality of consciousness and hence
it is not an essential property of the soul. Here Nyaya differs from the other
system s of Indian Philosophy. Nyaya regards the soul as a real knower, a real
enjoyer, a real active agent and an eternal substance. But the soul is not
transcendental consciousness. Nyaya admits that through the self's connection
with the mind and body that consciousness results, still Consciousness is an
attribute of the self which happens inadvertently.
According to Vaishegika, consciousness
is 'awareness' found in all animate beings, consciousness has no independent
existence of its own. The Vaishegika regards the self as the subject of
consciousness. Hence consciousness cannot be a property of the body, sense
organs, or the manas. Consciousness is sustained by the Atman, though it is not
essential, it is an inseparable characteristic of it. Consciousness is not the
essence of the soul. It is not even an inseparable quality of the self.
Consciousness is an adventitious (aupadhika) quality of the soul. But
Vaishegika does not regard the mind to be the subject of consciousness,
although the mind is regarded as a dravya or substance. The Vaishegika
philosophers are in the opinion that the soul is an external and all-pervading
substance and it is the substratum of the phenomenon of consciousness.
Saivism enumerates the
characteristics of consciousness. The five sheaths or limitations of
consciousness, being time (kaala), space (niyati), selectivity (raga),
awareness (vidya), creativity (kala), selfforgetting (maya), which are in
correlation with the five principles of the universal experience, which are the
universal experience (sad-vidya, ´suddha-vidya), identification of the
universal (ıshvara), the principle of being (sad¯akhya), the principle of
negation and potentization (´sakti), and pure awareness by itself (´siva).
Aurobindo regards consciousness to
be a force or power. Consciousness force is inherent in the matter and
therefore it can ascend and transform into higher forms of reality. According
to him there are many grades of consciousness higher than the mind. The mind is
the lowest principle of consciousness. The higher grades of consciousness
gradually dispel ignorance and provide knowledge. Aurobindo holds that the
consciousness of mind passes towards infinite consciousness through a higher
mind, illumined mind, and intuition, and over the mind.
According to Dr.Radhakrishnan,
consciousness emerges from life just as life emerges from matter. He finds a
difference between consciousness and the material body. He also believes in the
gradation of consciousness. For him, plants are unconscious; in animals and
child we observe lower consciousness, and in man, self-consciousness is
observed. Self-consciousness is the higher principle of consciousness, which is
characterized by reflective and discursive knowledge and capacity for
invention. Dr.Radhakrishnan rightly observes: "The reflective capacity of
the human mind and its power of free invention are not a mere complication of
lower instincts. It is the essence of self-conscious intelligence to look
before and after and vary actions according to circumstances."
Our exposition of the concept of
consciousness in the Indian perspective has made it clear that Indian
philosophers have deeply emphasized the problem and tried to offer every
possible solution to the same. Except for the Carvaka, all the system s of Indian
philosophy agree in various points regarding the nature of consciousness and
have given a thoughtful appreciation of the concept of consciousness.
In short, Indian philosophers are
not lagging in comparison with the western psychologist when it comes to the
most exceptional problem of mind and consciousness.
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