Bahish-Prajnah
Bahiṣ-Prajñaḥ (IAST)Translation: "consciousness is outward"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 3)
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: बहिःप्रज्ञा
Transliteration: Bahiḥ-Prajñā
Translation: "outer knowledge"
Definition
- In the waking state, an individual’s awareness extends outside. One operates (knows) through one’s ten senses (Indriya), five vital airs (Prāṇa), and the internal organ (Antaḥ-Kāraṇa). Through these, one receives stimuli from the external world and reacts to them in diverse ways.
Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: बहिष्प्रज्ञः
Transliteration: Bahiṣ-Prajñaḥ
Translation: "whose consciousness is outward"
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Transliteration: Bahiḥ-Prajñā
Commentary: "Now, we consider the meaning of Bahiḥ-Prajñā: outwardly conscious. While both the Jīva and Īśvara may be regarded as outwardly conscious, there is a subtle distinction between them. The Jīva is outwardly conscious in the sense that it is aware of things, substances, objects, outside it. But Vaiśvānara’s consciousness of externality is of a different kind. It is a Universal Affirmation of ‘I-am,’ ‘I-am-ness,’ ‘Aham Asmi.’ This is the first manifestation of Self-consciousness – Cosmic Ahaṅkāra. Therefore, it has no opposing objects in front of it. This Ahaṅkāra does not wage a war with others. It has no misunderstandings with other persons or things, and it has, therefore, no pains of any kind. It has, also, no dealings with other persons and things, because it is Vaiśvānara, and not Viśva. We cannot even imagine this state of the “I-am-ness” of the Virāt. We have never been in that state, and so our minds are not capable of imagining that condition. To some extent, they say, this condition may be compared to the initial state of our becoming aware of ourselves immediately after we wake up from deep sleep. Generally, we do not think of this condition when we get up from sleep. We remain in a state of half-consciousness, and we plunge into our usual activities afterwards; so that we do not meditate upon this intervening period between deep sleep and waking consciousness in terms of the outer world. We have a subtle feeling of our ‘being,’ before we become aware of the world outside. We are not asleep; we have woken up; and yet we are not fully aware of the Saṃsāra that is outside us. This state of consciousness where it is aware that it is, and yet not aware that other things are, is the state of I-am-ness, Asmitā, Aham Asmi, that can be a feeble apology for Reality. A perpetual establishment of oneself in this consciousness would land us in the experience of the Cosmic. When this consciousness relates itself to other objects and persons, it becomes the individual, Jīva. The Bahiḥ-Prājñata or the externality-consciousness of Īśvara is not a binding factor to Him, because of there being no dealings of this consciousness with outer things, while this Bahiḥ-Prājñata or externality consciousness of the Jīva binds it to what is called Saṃsāra, and this bondage is due, not merely to its being aware of the world outside, but because of its evaluating the world, judging the world, wanting it or not wanting it in some way. There is no desire in the Virāt, while in the Jīva there is desire. This is the only difference, if at all, between Jīva and Īśvara. Jīva, without desire, becomes Īśvara; and Īśvara, with desire, becomes Jīva."
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Sharvananda, Swami (1920). Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads: With Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-For-Word Literal Translation, English, Rendering and Comments. Mylapore, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math
- Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 53-54.
