Prajna
Prajñā (IAST)Translation: "Wisdom / The Self of the Sleep State"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verses 5, 11)
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: प्रज्ञा,
Transliteration: Prajñā
Translation: "wisdom; intuitive wisdom; gnosis"
Definition:
- The intuitive wisdom, the highest knowledge, according to Mahāyāna Buddhism.
- It is one of the six virtues of Buddhism.
- The individual form of the self as the witness of the bare nescience in the state of sleep. It is also known as Ānandamaya. The experience in deep sleep is called the Prajñā when there is no determinate knowledge, but only pure bliss and pure consciousness.
Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: प्रज्ञा, प्रज्ञः, प्रज्ञं
Transliteration: Prajñā, Prajñaḥ, Prajñaṃ
Translation: "lit. one who knows properly"
The Upanishads: Volume II (Swami Nikhilananda)
Selected from Gauḍapāda's Kārikā, Chapter I: Āgama Prakaraṇa: "Prajñā is a mass of consciousness. Prajñā is the Ākāśa in the heart. Prajñā experiences the blissful. The blissful satisfies Prajñā. Prajñā is conditioned by cause alone. Prajñā does not know anything of self or non-self, of truth or untruth. Non-cognition of duality is common to Prajñā. But Prajñā is associated with sleep in the form of cause and this sleep does not exist in Turīya. Prajñā is associated with Sleep bereft of dreams. The indisputable reason given for the identity of Prajñā and M is the common feature that both are the measure. The other reason for such identity is another common feature, namely, that both represent the state of mergence. Through meditation on M, the seeker attains Prajñā."
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Sanskrit: प्रज्ञा, प्रज्ञः, प्रज्ञं
Transliteration: Prajñā, Prajñaḥ, Prajñaṃ
Commentary: "The third quarter of the Ātman, called Prājña, is identified with the third quarter of the Universal Consciousness called Īśvara. Īśvara is omnipotent and, therefore, He is regarded as the source and the end of all creation. This Prājña is the causal state of the universe, both outwardly and inwardly. Macrocosmically, we regard this consciousness as the Creator of the whole universe, while microcosmically the very same consciousness is the creator of this internal world of the Jīva."
Mandukya Upanishad (James Swartz)
"The sleeper is called Prajñā or mass of consciousness. In the other states, consciousness flows outward and inward, but in sleep, it loses direction and becomes formless. The sleeper ego is extremely subtle, its presence indicated by the fact that we experience limitlessness and bliss. In the waking and dream states, bliss is sporadic because it is broken by many divisions of thought and feeling. We know of the sleeper’s experience because it reports a good sleep after transforming into a waker. Were the waker actually a different ego from the sleeper, or the dreamer, it wouldn’t recall the experience of sleep or dream."
The Science of Yoga (I. K. Taimni)
Definition: "higher state of consciousness (experienced in Samādhi)"
Commentary: "The word Prajñā in Sanskrit stands for the higher consciousness working through the mind in all its stages. It is derived from Pra which means high and Jñā which means to ‘know’. The distinctive characteristic of this higher consciousness which unfolds in Samādhi is that the mind is cut off completely from the physical world and the consciousness is centered in one or the other of the set of vehicles beginning with the lower mental body and ending with the Atmic vehicle. The consciousness is thus free from the burden and interference of the physical brain." (p. 37)
Prajñā is the higher consciousness which appears in the state of Samādhi. But as the word Samādhi covers a wide range of states of consciousness, so Prajñā stands for all the states of consciousness in Samādhi beginning with the Vitarka stage and ending with the Asmitā stage. There are two critical stages in the subtilization of Prajñā. One of these is....where the light of spirituality irradiates the mental consciousness. The other is....when the consciousness of the Puruṣa begins to illuminate the Yogi’s consciousness. The role of Prajñā comes to an end when Viveka Khyāti or the pure awareness of Reality takes its place as indicated in Part 4, Sutra 29." (p. 255)
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
- Nikhilananda, Swami (1952). The Upanishads: Volume II - Śvetāśvatara, Praśna, and Māndukya with Gauḍapāda's Kārikā. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers
- Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html
- Swartz, James (1996). Mandukya Upanishad: An ancient Sanskrit text on the nature of Reality. Retrieved from https://www.holybooks.com/mandukya-upanishad-an-ancient-sanskrit-text-on-the-nature-of-reality/
- Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 37, 255.
