MAN THE UN KNOWN :

 

EVOLUTION OF MAN : A  PERSPECTIVE

 

A biological view of evolution, often described as materialistic view, is that evolution is an accidental transformation of organisms through chance mutations and consequent production of genetic variation. On this genetic diversity natural selection operates to bring about production of superiorly adapted organisms suited to survive in an ever-changing environment. Possibly the organisms possessed only an inherent ‘desire’ to change, to explore new environments. As nature was the selector, the sole arbitrator, organisms obviously did not possess the notions of aim and direction of evolutionary change, except that it made them suitable to survive and reproduce in a given environment. In this scenario the only aim of evolution is survival and reproduction to perpetuate the changes to the next generation.

 

 Vedānta, however, differs from this view of evolution entertained by the biological scientists in that every life is a consequence of the deeds of the organism in its previous births as described through the ‘karma theory.’ As the Upanishads say, “some souls enter the womb to get embodied, others go to the plants according to (their) action and according to (their) knowledge” ( Katha Upanishad, 3.5.). According to Vedānta man is essentially pure consciousness enshrined in a physical body. The subtle body which accumulates all the consequences of the physical existence (samskāras) along with the pure consciousness (the spirit) constitutes the jīvātma or the soul which discards the gross body when it is worn out and takes another body. This process is the rebirth which is a mechanism for the redemption of all fruits of the labour of existence (karma phala) so that the spirit (ātma) will be free to join the Supreme Spirit (paramātma). This process is the liberation or moksha. As per the quality of the samskāras or karma phala to be redeemed the subtle body manufactures a suitable gross body which may be anything from plants, trees, animals and man. This fact is stated in the Bhagavad Gīta as well (Bhagavad Gīta, 2.; 14. - 5). Proper spiritual knowledge and way of life is essential ‘to work out the karma’ or nullify the effects of all worldly activities of the embodied soul. Thus according to Vedānta philosophy the aim and purpose of evolution is the exhaustion of the ‘karma’ and the liberation of the soul. Ancient Indian sages recognised this fact and accepted moksha or liberation as the supreme goal (parama purushārtha) of human life. They formulated a way of life for human beings for this purpose in the form of sanātana dharma or the eternal religion as per the tenets of Vedanta philosophy.

MAN THE UNKNOWN: HUMN CONSCIOUSNESS 

 

A dictionary definition of ‘consciousness’ is, “the state of understanding and realising something” or “the state of being awake, thinking and knowing what is happening around you” (Cambridge dictionary). In other words ‘consciousness’ is equated to ‘awareness,’ as a function of the conscious mind.

Sophisticated techniques of modern science such as refined brain scans and the measurement of patterns of activity in the brain neurons (EEG) do not provide an understanding of how a mind generates the sense of ‘self’ that is the hallmark of the functioning of the conscious mind. The objective analyses that the scientist undertakes to unravel this mystery do not identify an ‘observer’ with any role in the whole process of perception. Although the concept of such an entity was considered quite unscientific earlier, some of the neuroscientists and neurologists recently have started recognising the possibility of the existence of an ‘experiencer’ who is behind all universal phenomena. In his book The Intelligent Universe Fred Hoyle comments about “the strange aspect of science that, until now, it has kept consciousness firmly out of any discussions of the material world.” It is a welcome sign that scientists have slowly started recognising the spiritual dimension of human experience.

 

Sanskrit language has several words that are equivalent to the English word ‘consciousness:’ chit, prajña, jñapti, jñāna, bodha, samvit are a few of them which are to be used as per the context. They all mean infinite Pure Consciousness, knowledge, wisdom and so forth. Vidyāranya, the celebrated author of Panchadaṡi, gives a clear description of samvit as the eternal and non-dual Pure Consciousness, Brahman (1.7).

 

The Ātman/Brahman is the unity of all human experiences. The entire universe being Ātman is of the nature of chit or pure Consciousness. It is the self of all and is chit-svarupam. Modern scientists recognise the inseparable, inter-penetrating inter relationship between the observer and his observation. The knower behind the mind is the consciousness. Although consciousness is limitless and eternal and is the Supreme Truth, it appears limited when perceived through the narrow viewpoint of senses, mind and intellect.

 

Many modern scientists believe in the inter relationship between the subjective mind and the objective matter. Sir Arthur Eddington, Sir James Jeans, Max Plank, Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Neil Bohr and Werner Heisenberg are a few brilliant minds who included the observer in the observable and they considered such concepts necessary for the  advancement in their methods of scientific reasoning. In 1981, Nobel laureate and father of physics Max Plank said, “Consciousness I regard as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing postulates consciousness.” Since then many eminent physicists echoed the sentiments of Max Plank and emphasized the importance of the observer in the observed phenomena.

In his Mandukyopanishad Kārika Gaudapāda Āchārya refers to Brahman as pure Consciousness: “The knowledge (jñānam) which is unborn and free from all imagination is ever inseparable from the knowable” (3.33).

 

This is the Vedāntic view of consciousness and its role in perception or cognition. Modern science systems especially atomic physics and neurology are also approaching the same viewpoint. Professor Capra writes, “In modern physics, the question of consciousness has arisen in connection with the observation of atomic phenomena. Quantum theory has made it clear that these phenomena can only be understood as links in a chain of process, the end of which lies in the consciousness of the human observer” ( The Tao of Physics, p.300). The physicist John Wheeler calls such an ‘observer’ the ‘participator.’ 

 MAN THE UNKNOWN:WORKING OF THE MIND: VEDANTIC VIEW 

 

Thousands of years ago Indian sages conducted elaborate in-depth explorations of the human mind, its function and relation to the gross body. The oldest accounts of these psychological studies have been detailed in the Sānkhya System of philosophy of Sage Kapila and the Upanishads which are the essence of Vedic wisdom. As per ancient Indian wisdom mind belongs to the subtle body which is formed out of the fundamental particles (tanmātras) of the five essential elements called panchabhūtas. The grossification (panchikaranam) of the tanmātras gives rise to the panchabhūtas or five elements namely space (ākāṡa), air (vāyu), fire or energy (Tejas or Agni), water (apas) and earth (pṛthvi). Materials of all living and nonliving entities in the universe are made of these five elements. Thus the physical basis of the mind is the subtle aspect of the body and the difference between brain and mind is  only in terms of a measure of subtlety. Subtle matter is more pervasive and that explains the presence of a conscious mind in each and every cell of the body complex in a multicellular body and in the subtle realms of the body of a unicellular organism. According to Vedānta thoughts are vibrations (energy?) as a reaction to the impact of sensory stimuli brought to the mind by the sensory system more or less like the impact of stone creating waves of water in a lake. These thoughts are analysed in deeper realms of the mind called intellect (buddhi) and the discriminated thoughts are recognised by the soul which is but the reaction of the light of the Spirit or Ātman, the Supreme Consciousness. This concept of awareness of the conscious mind is first enunciated by the Sānkhya system and adopted by the Vedāntic system.

 

. Vedānta subscribes to the same philosophy and psychology when it says, “It (the Ātman) is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of the speech, the prāṇa of the prāṇa, and the eye of the eye. Wise men separating the Ātman from these (sensory system) rise out of sense-life and attain immortality” (Kenopanishad, ).

 

Modern physiology also would vouch for the fact that external sense organs are not the real organs of sense, but that they are in the various nerve centres of the brain. Modern science also agrees on the fact that subtle centres which constitute the mental apparatus are also formed of the same material (the embryonic ectoderm) as the brain itself. The Sānkhyas arrived at this truth centuries before modern science had any

 MAN THE UNKNOWN:

MIND IN DEATH, REBIRTH AND LIBERATION 

 What happens to the mind at the time of the death of the individual? Does it survive or perish along with the body as such? Indian sages have discovered that it is only the gross body composed of the seven ingredients namely marrow, bones, fat, nerves, flesh, blood, skin and consisting of parts such as legs, arms, head, chest and back which are the products of the five fundamental elements namely space (ākāṡa), air (vāyu), energy (Tejas), water (Apah) and earth (pṛthvi) that perishes at the time of death. The subtle body composed of the five great elements which have not undergone grossification, and consisting of the five sense organs, the five organs of action, the five prāṇas, the mind and the intellect, survives death and destruction to be carried to the next life.

Incessant cogitation of the mind regarding the objects of desire prompts generation of intense desire for them and results in the execution of various activities to fulfil such desires. These actions, reactions and impressions of the unfulfilled desires create impressions (vāsanas) in the subtlest recesses of the body called causal body and this is the cause of transmigration of the soul to other bodies, in other words the cause of rebirth.

 

The Bṛhadāranyaka Upanishad vividly describes the process of detachment of the subtle body from the gross body at the time of death (4..5-6). The Upanishad brings out the essential difference between death and deep sleep very clearly. In deep sleep although the mind and senses are withdrawn from the gross body to the subtler realms, the prāṇas remain in the gross body so that it is kept alive whereas in death, along with the mind and senses, the prāṇas are also withdrawn from the gross body. The gross body is completely separated from the subtler body and there is no connection whatsoever between the subtle and the physical bodies at the time of death. In sleep this connection is maintained and the individual returns to the waking life once again through this body. The sensation one feels in the body is the sensation conveyed through the agency of the physical body to the subtle body whose ‘presiding deity’ is the mind. In death the mind is withdrawn along with the prāṇas from the gross body.

 MAN THE UNKNOWN: 

 

PSYCHOLOGY OF DEEP SLEEP:

 

 

The complete cessation of the activity of the mind, due to exhaustion, is deep sleep known as sushupti. Āchārya Ṡankara defines this state thus: “The state about which one says that ‘I did not know anything, I enjoyed good sleep’ is the deep sleep state” (Tattvabodha). In both the waking and dream states the ‘ego’ interacts with objects either of the waking world or the objects conjured up in the dream world. In the deep sleep state the human personality does not experience the feeling of egoism and is not aware of the objects. Actually the sense of “I” gets temporarily suspended. That is why a person in deep sleep is completely oblivious of his surroundings and even his own body. However, when he wakes up his report about his sleep is “I slept soundly and I knew nothing.” In this state which is normally described as unconscious state from the reports of the deep sleep later, it is obvious that the person was conscious of a blissful experience deep within the recess of his mind. As Ṡankarāchārya says in Vivekachūdāmani (0), “In profound sleep we experience the bliss of the Ātman independent of sense objects. This fact is clearly attested by ṡruti, direct perception, tradition and inferenc

1. The mind, which appears to be a little conscious in dream, and more conscious in waking, is not conscious at all in deep sleep. The erroneous conclusion of the Nyāya and Vaiṡeshika schools of philosophy, that consciousness is possible only when there is contact of the mind with objects, is an offshoot of this observation. In deep sleep all perceptions and cognitions converge into a single mode of the mind. It becomes a mass of consciousness, which is not projected outside. Mind in deep sleep is without any modifications so that there is no external consciousness. Man is not aware of the world outside in the state of deep sleep, because of the absence of agitations, psychoses (vṛttis) of the mind. When mind becomes extrovert it regains consciousness of thexternal world. The happiness one experiences in deep sleep is greater than all other forms of happiness or pleasure generated by the contact of the mind with sense objects, and this bliss is the same experienced by a king or a beggar. This bliss or ānanda one experiences is the reason for the feeling of refreshment and renewal that one feels when one gets up from such a sleep. “Consciousness of sleep is equal to Samādhi. If sleep is to be coupled with consciousness, it becomes ātma- sakshātkāra, the realization of Ātman. This is what they call super-consciousness. This is nirvāṇa, moksha, kevalata - liberation” (Swami Krishnānanda, Mandukya Upanishad, p.0).
2. In deep sleep one does not know whether one is a man or woman, tall or short, black or white, learned or otherwise. All miseries of the waking or dream state are forgotten along with the worldly joys. There is only a uniform state of unconscious bliss. It is said that during deep sleep the personality is withdrawn and it merges in the Absolute Bliss, as rivers go into the ocean, a mental state akin to the state of samādhi attained by spiritual seekers at the end of their spiritual endeavour, where the individual spirit merges into the Absolute Spirit.