Tracts on Foundation of Yoga & States of Consciousness - II

ANNAMAYA KOSA OR THE STATE OF WAKEFULNESS

1.18 Waking state is that form of awareness, which prevails when the subject’s attention is directed on sensations that come to it through the senses.

1.19 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, prana, senses and manas remain active in this state.

1.20 Perceptibility of the world outside, indeed, is owing to the cumulative activity of the senses, manas and prana.

1.21 The combine 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.

1.22 From one point of view, this state is called pindastha, 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.

1.23 The waking state has four sub-states depending on the preponderance of anyone of the states of consciousness in it.

1.24 In the state of preponderance of the objective world on it, the sub-state of the waking is called jagrat-jagrat, the waking in the waking. In this sub-state, the objective aspect of the object is most prominent.

1.25 Here the individual’s consciousness works under the effect of perception of the world outside while the individual himself remains confined to his bodily sense at the cost of almost total unawareness of his true nature.

1.26 As such, this state is considered by yogins as abuddha, totally unawakened.

1.27 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 own thoughts.

1.28 This sub-state is characterised by the prominence of consciousness of the knower in place of that of the world outside.

1.29 This is the Awakened or buddha state for the yogin. It is also known as jagrat-svapna.

1.30 When in the waking state, the knower’s consciousness becomes completely free of the objectivity; there arises a complete blankness.

1.31 This is the sub-state of jagrat-susupti or deep sleep in waking state.

1.32 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.

1.33 From the yogin’s viewpoint this sub-state is known as prabuddha or intensively awakened.

1.34 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 jagrat-turiya, the fourth in the waking state.

1.35 Here the entire objective world appears as a sheer play of Consciousness.

1.36 The annamaya kosa is the proper receptacle of the waking state, as the individual remains engrossed in his body and the corresponding view of the world outside.

1.37 The individual lying in the state of the annamaya, may fruitfully use the subject-object contact as a means to the sadhana for entry into his real nature as is represented by the fourth and the most fundamental state of consciousness.

1.38 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.

1.39 This is why meditation is practised on certain crucial points in the body or outside the body. Such techniques are known as sarira-sthana-kalpana, meditation with reference to a particular point in the body.

1.40 These points can be anyone of the five organs of senses or five organs of action, muladhara, navel, heart, throat and the central point between the eyebrows, on account of the cakras formed there.

(To be Continued....)