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Part XXIX - Perception at the Cosmic Level
Just as jIva-sAkshI is consciousness with upAdhi-s
as the limiting adjunct, Ishvara-sAkshI or ‘witness
in God’ is consciousness with mAyA as the limiting
adjunct. (mAyA has been translated as cosmic illusion.
Since it does not seem to be an illusion for those who
are affected, we retain the word mAyA itself.) Unlike
in the jIva's case, since mAyA is singular, the limiting
adjunct is also singular. Hence, witnessing consciousness
in God is also singular. In shruti texts plurality is
sometimes used. For example, it is said: "The supreme
Lord is perceived as having manifold forms through His
powers of mAyA (mAyAbhiH)". Here, the plurality
corresponds to the diversity of powers that are present
in the mAyA (mAyAbhiH). Also, the plurality can also
be intended with reference to the three guNa-s that
make up mAyA: serenity (sattva), activity (rajas) and
inertia (tamas). The unity of mAyA can be inferred from
the use of the singular number, supported by the simplicity
of the explanation of shruti and smRRiti statements
such as: 'one should know the mAyA is nothing but prakRRiti
or nature (mAyAntu prakRitim vidyAt mAyinantu maheswaram)
and the ruler of that to be Great Lord - Svet. Up. IV-10;
'Salutations to that unknowable Embodiment of Knowledge
who being established in the heart, a yogin transcends
the mAyA, the all pervasive nescience (tarati avidyAm
vititAm hRidi yasmin nivEshitE| yogI mAyAmamEyAma tasmai
vidyAtmanE namaH|| - Vishnu PuraNa V-27-15); and other,
similar shruti statements. Thus, in all the statements
in both shruti and smRRiti, singularity has to be understood
for simplicity and there is no plurality of mAyA itself.
Ishvara-sAkshI is the upahita chaitanya or limiting
consciousness with the limiting adjunct of mAyA just
as jIva-sAkshI is upahita chaitanya or limiting consciousness
with jIva-upAdhi as its limiting adjunct. It is beginningless,
since the limiting adjunct of mAyA is beginningless.
Having defined the Ishvara-sAkshI, VP now defines Ishvara
itself. The definition follows the format of that for
jIva chaitanya. Just as jIva is the limiting consciousness
identified with the limiting adjunct of upAdhi, Ishvara
or Lord is defined as limiting consciousness identified
with the limiting adjunct of mAyA. Thus, with the qualifying
attribute of mAyA it is Ishvara (or God or Godhead)
and, without the qualifying attribute but just with
the limiting adjunct of upAdhi, it is jIva. Otherwise
there is no other difference between the two in terms
of having different attributes.
Since mAyA is triguNAtmikam, i.e. possessing three
guNa-s, the supreme Lord, although one, is designated
by the terms such as BrahmA (four-headed), ViShNu and
maheshvara or Shiva, according to the dominant guNa – activity
(rajas); serenity (sattva); and inertia (tamas) – which
are the limiting qualifying attributes of mAyA.
Q: If the witness in God is beginningless, then how
is one to explain the beginning of the reflection on
the part of the Supreme Lord just before projecting
the universe, mentioned in texts such as: "It visualized ‘let
me become many, Let me be born (as many)’ - tad
aikshata bahu syAm, prajAyeya" (Ch. Up. VI-2-3).
There seems to be a beginning for Ishvara, sAkShitvam
or the witness in God.
A: The parallelism with jIva-sAkshi is used to explain
this. As a result of the sense organs and the mind coming
into contact with objects, different mental states or
vRRitti-s arise in the mind, which forms the limiting
adjunct of the individual jIva or self. Similarly, particular
states (in analogy with vRRitti-s at individual level)
arise at the cosmic level according to the past karma
or actions of all beings that are ready to germinate.
The projection is according to priorities based on the
karma of those beings. Thus, the thoughts "Now
this has to be projected or originated (brahma), now
this has to be maintained (Vishnu) and now this has
to be destroyed (Shiva)" etc, arise in mAyA, which
is the limiting adjunct of the Supreme Lord. Since these
states have a beginning, the consciousness reflected
in them is also described as having a beginning.
Creation, sustenance and annihilation are in fact a
cyclic process. When the cosmic sleep occurs, all the
beings and the world go into potential form or unmanifest
form. One can say that Ishvara is in yoga nidrA, just
as when a jIva goes into deep sleep all the world of
objects and the attributive knowledge goes into potential
or unmanifest form or pure vAsanA state. vAsanA-s, which
are nothing but consolidated ignorance, are illuminated
and hence 'I do not know' is the only knowledge without
any place-wise, time-wise or object-wise discriminative
attributive knowledge. mAyA at the cosmic level and
ignorance at the individual level, with names and forms
in potential or unmanifest form, constitute deep sleep
states at each level.
When Ishvara and jIva get up they start projecting,
Ishvara at the cosmic level and jIva at the individual
level. This is the waking state, with the unmanifest
forms manifesting based on previous knowledge before
they went into the unmanifest state. Thus, micro and
macro levels operate in parallel. The only difference
is that the jIva has ignorance as the cause for projection,
with his own vAsanA-s forming the basis for projection,
while Ishvara does not have His own vAsanA-s
but only the collective vAsanA-s of all beings. Hence,
Ishvara is not affected by the projection and is called
mAyAvi or wielder of mAyA. The jIva is ignorant of his
own nature and therefore he gets affected by the projection
when that projection is taken as real.
Proceed to the next
essay.
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