Hiraṇyagarbha | The Golden Egg

Hiranyagarbha

Hiraṇyagarbha (IAST)
Translation: "The Golden Egg"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: हिरण्यगर्भ
Transliteration: Hiraṇyagarbha

Translation: "“golden egg”; gold germ; the cosmic form of the self; cosmic womb; creator of the subtle universe"

Definition:

1. It is the thread self or the subtle vesture. It is the form of all the individuals together or the only individual. It is the seed of the universe. It is also known as Sūtrātman. The Ṛg Veda (X.121) says, “Hiraṇyagarbha arose in the beginning; born, he was the one lord of things existing.”
2. A name of God, the Creator (Saguṇa Brahman) as born from a golden egg. This egg was formed from the seed deposited in the primordial waters by the self-existent Brahman on the eve of creation. The seed took the form of a golden egg, out of which Brahman was born as Brahmā, the creator. It also means the soul invested by the subtle body. Various synonyms for this term include Mahat, Virāt, Īśvara, Saguṇa Brahman.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga

Hiraṇyagarbha – "the Golden Embryo of life and form,” Brahman manifest in the second of the three states symbolized by the letters of AUM as “the Spirit in the inner planes;” the Self (Ātman) supporting the dream state (Svapna) or subtle (Sūkṣma) consciousness, “the Dream-self which is the continent of all subtle, subjective or supraphysical experience.”

Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)

Commentary: "Even as you have the state of individual dream animated by a consciousness called Taijasa, there is, from the cosmic point of view, Hiraṇyagarbha, pertaining to the cosmic dreaming state. While the dream world of Taijasa may be regarded, tentatively speaking, as an effect of the waking world of Viśva, we cannot say that Hiraṇyagarbha is an effect of Virāt. This is the difference between individualistic perception and Cosmic Knowledge. While Viśva may be said to precede Taijasa, Virāt does not precede Hiraṇyagarbha. On the other hand, the reverse is the case in the cosmic state. The dream consciousness which is Taijasa has certain characteristics of Viśva, also. The subtle body has the same contour as the physical body. If the physical body is a form, the subtle body is the mold in which this form is cast. The subtle body has, thus, a reference to the physical body, and, almost in every respect, it corresponds in form, shape and structure to the physical body. This is why the words, Saptāṅga and Ekonaviṃśati-Mukhaḥ, are repeated, both in the waking and the dream descriptions.

The Viśva, or the Jāgarita-Sthāna, is Saptāṅga and Ekonaviṃśati-Mukhaḥ; and so is Taijasa, or the Svapna-Sthāna. Hiraṇyagarbha and Virāt seem to have the same structural formation, though Hiraṇyagarbha is subtler than Virāt. Hiraṇyagarbha and Virāt are both cosmic, and their difference is one of a degree of subtlety, but not of structural formation. Hiraṇyagarbha also would be beheld by us in the state of realization as the Virāt only with the distinction that Hiraṇyagarbha is subtler than the Virāt. The seven heads described of Viśva or Vaiśvānara can also be described as of Hiraṇyagarbha or Taijasa. Taijasa individually and Hiraṇyagarbha cosmically are Antaḥ-Prājñaḥ, internally conscious because of their objects being not physical but subtle, constituted of Tanmātra: Śabda, Sparśa, Rūpa, Rasa, and Gandha. Though waking and dream have their similarity of character in respect of Saptāṅgatva and Ekonaviṃśati-Mukhatva, the dream consciousness is Pravivikta-Bhuk, both individually and cosmically, it absorbs subtle things into itself in both cases. And that distinction we draw between Viśva and Vaiśvānara, we can also draw between Taijasa and Hiraṇyagarbha. The relation between the Virāt and Viśva, and the relation between Hiraṇyagarbha and Taijasa are the same. The dream world is very complex when it is judged from the point of view of the Jīva, the individual; but it is simple from the point of view of Cosmic Experience."

The Upanishads: Volume I (Swami Nikhilananda)

"Hiraṇyagarbha, or Brahmā, is mentioned in the Rig-Veda as the first-born when Brahman becomes conditioned by Māyā. He is the first entity endowed with the consciousness of individuality. "Who creates the God Brahmā in the beginning and who communicates to Him the Vedas also." He is called Brahmā (masculine) and is differentiated from Brahman (neuter). He is the "Golden Egg," containing in potential form the future manifold universe. In contrast with the Jīva, the individualized consciousness, who is conscious only of his own soul, Brahmā is conscious of all souls. The totality of all beings is His individuality (Sarvābhimāni).

It is implicit in the Upanishadic teachings that the entire objective universe is possible only in so far as it is sustained by a knowing subject. Though this knowing subject is manifested in all individual subjects, yet it is not, by any means, identified with them. Individual subjects come into existence and die, but the universe continues to exist. Who, then, is its perceiver or knower? It is Brahmā, or Hiraṇyagarbha, who is the eternal Knowing Subject by which the universe is sustained. All living beings respond in more or less like manner to the outside world, and experience the same sensations, because their individual minds are controlled by the cosmic mind of Brahmā, and also because they are part and parcel of Him. When, at the end of a cycle, Brahmā dies, the universe dies with Him."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
3. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 65-66.
4. Nikhilananda, Swami (1949). The Upanishads: Volume I—Katha, Iśa, Kena, and Mundaka. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. p. 69.

Virāt | Cosmic Consciousness

Virat

Virāt (IAST)
Translation: "Cosmic Consciousness"

Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)

Commentary: "Virāt (the Cosmic waking state) is a name that we give to Consciousness as animating the physical universe. Just as we have consciousness animating our physical body, there is a Consciousness animating the physical universe. This vast cosmos; with all its stellar and planetary systems, with all its milky ways, with all its space-time and causal laws, is the physical cosmos, and this is animated by a Consciousness, just as our bodies are animated. This animating Consciousness is the Antaryāmin, so called because of His being immanent in all things, hidden behind all things, secretly present in everything, whether conscious or unconscious. For this Virāt-Puruṣa, there is no difference between living being and dead matter. There is no such thing as inorganic substance and biological stuff, the distinctions that scientists do make, because inanimate matter, the vegetable kingdom, the animal world, and the human species are distinctions made on account of the observation of degrees in the manifestation of Reality, by us, as human beings. No such distinction obtains to the Virāt Himself. He is present in the inanimate as well as in the animate by means of what are called the Guṇa of Prakṛti – Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas – composure, activity, and inertia – properties of matter. When He manifests Himself through Tamas alone, we call it inanimate existence. Such objects as stone, rock, which, from our point of view, do not seem to have any consciousness animating them, are revelations of the Virāt-Puruṣa through Tamoguṇa Prakṛti, a quality of Prakṛti in which Rajas and Sattva are hidden, Tamas predominating over Rajas and Sattva. When Rajas and Sattva slowly reveal themselves more and more in larger quantity and extent, there is animation, life creeps into existence, and from the inanimate we come to the animate. The first manifestation of life is through what we call Prāṇa – the vital sustaining power in all living beings. While Prāṇa does not operate in inanimate objects like stone, there is Prāṇa functioning in the world of plants, vegetables, etc. Plants breathe; they do not merely exist like rock. But plants do not think as animals do. The function of thinking belongs to a higher order of Reality we call the animal world, with all its instincts and sensations. Here we have a still greater degree of the manifestation of Reality. There is an approximation to Sattva in the human level, where we have not only functions of breathing and thinking, but also of understanding, ratiocination, and logical discrimination. This is the condition of Vijñāna as distinguished from Manas, to which alone the animal world is confined, and from Prāṇa, to which alone the vegetable kingdom is constrained, and from Annā, to which alone the inanimate world is restricted. But the Vijñāna, to which we have reached at the human level, the fourth degree, we may say, of the revelation of Reality, is not all. There is a higher step that we have to take above the human, beyond the Vijñāna. That step which is above Vijñāna or the human level is the realm of Ānanda or divine delight. So, from Annā we come to Prāṇa, from Prāṇa to Mānās, from Mānās to Vijñāna, from Vijñāna to Ānanda.

This Ānanda is equivalent to Cit and Sat – Consciousness and Being. All that was in the lower levels gets absorbed into this Ānanda. Whatever meaning we saw in the inanimate level, in the levels of the plants, animals, and humans, all this meaning is found in the level of Reality as Ānanda; and here, existence, consciousness, and bliss become one, while in the lower levels they get separated. There is only existence or ‘Sat’ in rocks, no Cit and Ānanda. Rocks exist, but they do not think; they do not feel; they do not understand; and do not experience joy. But a slow process of the revelation of thought-functioning takes place in the higher levels, until it reaches a kind of perfection in the human consciousness. Here we have Sattva mixed up with Rajas and Tamas, on account of which we are very active; sometimes lethargic, and due to the element of Sattva manifest as a fraction, we feel happy at times, though not always. But happiness at times is of no use, being undependable[...]

...to the Virāt, the Consciousness is, “I am; there is no world outside Me”. The whole world is ‘I’; therefore He is called Vaiśvānara, the Cosmic Being, the Person who feels, and has the Consciousness that He is all-this-cosmos. According to the Upaniṣad, the description is as if He has seven limbs. He has, indeed, infinite limbs. Thousands of arms has He. He is Viśva Mūrti, omni-faced is this Lord of the cosmos; and when we say He has seven limbs, we only give a broad outline of His Cosmic Personality, just as we can describe a human being as one with seven limbs – head, heart, arms, nose, eyes, ears, feet, etc. But if we give a more detailed description, we may go into the minutiae of the personality."

The Yoga of the Vision of the Cosmic Form

From the 11th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita translated by Sri Swami Sivananda

Summary of Eleventh Discourse

Arjuna’s doubts having been removed through a clear description of the nature of the Ātman and the origin and destruction of all created things, he is now ready to behold the Cosmic Vision.

Krishna grants him the divine sight by means of which Arjuna beholds the Lord as the vast Cosmic Manifestation. The vision is at once all-comprehensive and simultaneous. In every direction Arjuna sees the Lord as the entire universe. All the created worlds, gods, beings, creatures, and things stand revealed as the one gigantic body of the Lord.

Arjuna further sees that the great cosmic drama is set in motion and controlled by the all-mighty power of the Lord. His Will alone prevails in all things and actions, both good and bad. The Lord exhorts him to fight, he being only an apparent cause of the destruction of his enemies.

Arjuna is unable to bear the pressure of the sudden expansion of consciousness and is filled with fear. He begs the Lord to assume once more His usual form.

Krishna reiterates that this vision cannot be had through any amount of austerities, study, sacrifices, or philanthrophic acts. Supreme devotion is the only means by which one can have access to His grand vision.

Arjuna said:
1. By this explanation of the highest secret concerning the Self, which Thou hast spoken out of compassion towards me my delusion is gone.
2. The origin and the destruction of beings verily have been heard by me in detail from Thee, O lotus-eyed Lord, and also Thy inexhaustible greatness!
3. (Now), O Supreme Lord, as Thou hast thus described Thyself, O Supreme Person, I wish to see Thy Divine Form!
4. If Thou, O Lord, thinkest it possible for me to see it, do Thou, then, O Lord of the Yogis, show me Thy imperishable Self!
The Blessed Lord said:
5. Behold, O Arjuna, My forms by the hundreds and thousands, of different sorts, divine and of various colours and shapes!
6. Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Asvins and also the Maruts; behold many wonders never seen before, O Arjuna!
7. Now behold, O Arjuna, in this, My body, the whole universe centred in the one—including the moving and the unmoving—and whatever else thou desirest to see!
8. But thou art not able to behold Me with these, thine own eyes; I give thee the divine eye; behold My lordly Yoga.
Sanjaya said:
9. Having thus spoken, O king, the great Lord of Yoga, Hari (Krishna), showed to Arjuna His supreme form as the Lord!
10. With numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, with numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted (such a form He showed).
11. Wearing divine garlands and apparel, anointed with divine unguents, the all-wonderful, resplendent (Being), endless, with faces on all sides,
12. If the splendor of a thousand suns were to blaze out at once (simultaneously) in the sky, that would be the splendor of that mighty Being (great soul).
13. There, in the body of the God of gods, Arjuna then saw the whole universe resting in the one, with its many groups.
14. Then, Arjuna, filled with wonder and with hair standing on end, bowed down his head to the Lord and spoke with joined palms.
Arjuna said:
15. I behold all the gods, O God, in Thy body, and hosts of various classes of beings; Brahma, the Lord, seated on the lotus, all the sages and the celestial serpents!
16. I see Thee of boundless form on every side, with many arms, stomachs, mouths, and eyes; neither the end nor the middle nor also the beginning do I see, O Lord of the universe, O Cosmic Form!
17. I see Thee with the diadem, the club and the discus, a mass of radiance shining everywhere, very hard to look at, blazing all round like burning fire and the sun, and immeasurable.
18. Thou art the Imperishable, the Supreme Being, worthy of being known; Thou art the great treasure-house of this universe; Thou art the imperishable protector of the eternal Dharma; Thou art the ancient Person, I deem.
19. I see Thee without beginning, middle or end, infinite in power, of endless arms, the sun and the moon being Thy eyes, the burning fire Thy mouth, heating the entire universe with Thy radiance.
20. The space between the earth and the heaven and all the quarters are filled by Thee alone; having seen this, Thy wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds are trembling with fear, O great-souled Being!
21. Verily, into Thee enter these hosts of gods; some extol Thee in fear with joined palms: “May it be well.” Saying thus, bands of great sages and perfected ones praise Thee with complete hymns.
22. The Rudras, Adityas, Vasus, Sadhyas, Visvedevas, the two Asvins, Maruts, the manes and hosts of celestial singers, Yakshas, demons, and the perfected ones, are all looking at Thee in great astonishment.
23. Having beheld Thy immeasurable form with many mouths and eyes, O mighty-armed, with many arms, thighs and feet, with many stomachs, and fearful with many teeth, the worlds are terrified and so am I!
24. On seeing Thee (the Cosmic Form) touching the sky, shining in many colors, with mouths wide open, with large, fiery eyes, I am terrified at heart and find neither courage nor peace, O Vishnu!
25. Having seen Thy mouths, fearful with teeth, blazing like the fires of cosmic dissolution, I know not the four quarters, nor do I find peace. Have mercy, O Lord of the gods! O abode of the universe!
26. All the sons of Dhritarashtra with the hosts of kings of the earth, Bhishma, Drona and Karna, with the chief among all our warriors,
27. They hurriedly enter into Thy mouths with terrible teeth and fearful to behold. Some are found sticking in the gaps between the teeth, with their heads crushed to powder.
28. Verily, just as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean, even so these heroes of the world of men enter Thy flaming mouths.
29. As moths hurriedly rush into a blazing fire for (their own) destruction, so also these creatures hurriedly rush into Thy mouths for (their own) destruction.
30. Thou lickest up, devouring all the worlds on every side with Thy flaming mouths. Thy fierce rays, filling the whole world with radiance, are burning, O Vishnu!
31. Tell me, who Thou art, so fierce in form. Salutations to Thee, O God Supreme! Have mercy; I desire to know Thee, the original Being. I know not indeed Thy doing.
The Blessed Lord said:
32. I am the mighty world-destroying Time, now engaged in destroying the worlds. Even without thee, none of the warriors arrayed in the hostile armies shall live.
33. Therefore, stand up and obtain fame. Conquer the enemies and enjoy the unrivaled kingdom. Verily, they have already been slain by Me; be thou a mere instrument, O Arjuna!
34. Drona, Bhishma, Jayadratha, Karna and all the other courageous warriors—these have already been slain by Me; do thou kill; be not distressed with fear; fight and thou shalt conquer thy enemies in battle.
Sanjaya said:
35. Having heard that speech of Lord Krishna, the crowned one (Arjuna), with joined palms, trembling, prostrating himself, again addressed Krishna, in a choked voice, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.
Arjuna said:
36. It is meet, O Krishna, that the world delights and rejoices in Thy praise; demons fly in fear to all quarters and the hosts of the perfected ones bow to Thee!
37. And why should they not, O great soul, bow to Thee who art greater (than all else), the primal cause even of (Brahma) the creator, O Infinite Being! O Lord of the gods! O abode of the universe! Thou art the imperishable, the Being, the non-being and That which is the supreme (that which is beyond the Being and non-being).
38. Thou art the primal God, the ancient Purusha, the supreme refuge of this universe, the knower, the knowable and the supreme abode. By Thee is the universe pervaded, O Being of infinite forms!
39. Thou art Vayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, the moon, the creator, and the great-grandfather. Salutations, salutations unto Thee, a thousand times, and again salutations, salutations unto Thee!
40. Salutations to Thee from front and from behind! Salutations to Thee on every side! O All! Thou infinite in power and prowess, pervadest all; wherefore Thou art all.
41. Whatever I have presumptuously uttered from love or carelessness, addressing Thee as O Krishna! O Yadava! O Friend! regarding Thee merely as a friend, unknowing of this, Thy greatness,
42. In whatever way I may have insulted Thee for the sake of fun while at play, reposing, sitting or at meals, when alone (with Thee), O Achyuta, or in company—that I implore Thee, immeasurable one, to forgive!
43. Thou art the Father of this world, unmoving and moving. Thou art to be adored by this world. Thou art the greatest Guru; (for) none there exists who is equal to Thee; how then can there be another superior to Thee in the three worlds, O Being of unequaled power?
44. Therefore, bowing down, prostrating my body, I crave Thy forgiveness, O adorable Lord! As a father forgives his son, a friend his (dear) friend, a lover his beloved, even so shouldst Thou forgive me, O God!
45. I am delighted, having seen what has never been seen before; and yet my mind is distressed with fear. Show me that (previous) form only, O God! Have mercy, O God of gods! O abode of the universe!
46. I desire to see Thee as before, crowned, bearing a mace, with the discus in hand, in Thy former form only, having four arms, O thousand-armed, Cosmic Form (Being)!
The Blessed Lord said:
47. O Arjuna, this Cosmic Form has graciously been shown to thee by Me by My own Yogic power; full of splendor, primeval, and infinite, this Cosmic Form of Mine has never been seen before by anyone other than thyself.
48. Neither by the study of the Vedas and sacrifices, nor by gifts, nor by rituals, nor by severe austerities, can I be seen in this form in the world of men by any other than thyself, O great hero of the Kurus (Arjuna)!
49. Be not afraid nor bewildered on seeing such a terrible form of Mine as this; with thy fear entirely dispelled and with a gladdened heart, now behold again this former form of Mine.
Sanjaya said:
50. Having thus spoken to Arjuna, Krishna again showed His own form; and the great soul (Krishna), assuming His gentle form, consoled him who was terrified (Arjuna).
Arjuna said:
51. Having seen this Thy gentle human form, O Krishna, now I am composed and restored to my own nature!
The Blessed Lord said:
52. Very hard indeed it is to see this form of Mine which thou hast seen. Even the gods are ever longing to behold it.
53. Neither by the Vedas, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifice, can I be seen in this form as thou hast seen Me (so easily).
54. But by single-minded devotion can I, of this form, be known and seen in reality and also entered into, O Arjuna!
55. He who does all actions for Me, who looks upon Me as the Supreme, who is devoted to Me, who is free from attachment, who bears enmity towards no creature, he comes to Me, O Arjuna!

Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the eleventh discourse entitled:

“The Yoga of the Vision of the Cosmic Form”

References:

1. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 45-48.
2. Sivananda, Swami (2000). Bhagavad Gita. Uttar Pradesh, Himalayas: The Divine Life Society. p. 84-95.

Turīya | The Fourth

Turiya

Turīya (IAST)
Translation: "The Fourth"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 7, 12)

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: तुरीय
Transliteration: Turīya

Translation: "“the fourth”; the transcendental Self; the supreme Reality; the state of witness consciousness"

Definition:

1. It is the fourth state of consciousness, according to Advaita Vedānta, which is beyond the states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep and which pervades and transcends all these states. However, it is not really a state but the underlying substratum of the other three states, the waking, dreaming, and deep-sleep states.
2. It is the real Self which is beyond the changing modes of existence. It is indivisible, ungraspable, unthinkable, and unnameable. Each of the other three states have their own names (Vaiśvānara, Taijasa, and Prajñā), but not the Absolute, which is merely referred to as the Fourth. It is Amātrā or modeless.

Sanskrit: तुरीयतीत
Transliteration: Turīyatīta

Translation: "the state of the individual soul in which it is in a totally blissful condition; beyond the fourth; the highest stage according to some Hindu schools"

Definition:

1. The state beyond the “fourth” (Turīya). It is the supremely blissful state of complete freedom from all duality and the awareness of the one Self in all, the final attainment.
2. This is a term used for the individual in Śaiva Siddhānta.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)
Transliteration: Turīya
Translation: "fourth"

Definition: “the incommunicable Self or One-Existence... which is the fourth state of the Self” (Ātman), symbolized by the syllable AUM as a whole, “the supreme or absolute self of being” of which the waking self, dream-self and sleep-self (Virāt, Hiraṇyagarbha, and Prajñā) “are derivations for the enjoyment of relative experience in the world;” Brahman in its “pure self-status” about which “neither consciousness nor unconsciousness as we conceive it can be affirmed...; it is a state of super-conscience absorbed in its self-existence, in a self-silence or a self-ecstasy, or else it is the status of a free Superconscient containing or basing everything but involved in nothing.”

The Upanishads: Volume II (Swami Nikhilananda)

Selected from Gauḍapāda's Kārikā, Chapter I: Āgama Prakaraṇa:
"It is one alone that is thus known in the three states. The one Ātman is perceived threefold in the same body. Turīya, the changeless Ruler, is capable of destroying all miseries. All other entities being unreal, the non-dual Turīya alone is known as effulgent and all-pervading. Neither cause nor effect exists in Turīya. Turīya is ever existent and all-seeing. Non-cognition of duality is common to Turīya. But Prajñā is associated with sleep in the form of cause and this sleep does not exist in Turīya. Knowers of Brahman see neither sleep nor dreams in Turīya. Dreaming is the wrong cognition and sleep the non-cognition, of Reality. When the erroneous knowledge in these two is destroyed, Turīya is realized. When the Jīva, asleep under the influence of beginning-less Māyā, is awakened, it then realizes birth-less, sleepless, and dreamless Non-duality. Meditation on the “soundless” brings no attainment."

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Sanskrit: तुरीय
Transliteration: Turīya
Translation: "“the fourth”

Commentary: "This Absolute is known as the Turīya, or the fourth state of Consciousness, transcending all relational manifestations – causal, subtle, and gross. While the waking consciousness is external and the dream consciousness is internal, this Consciousness is neither external nor internal, because it is not either waking or dreaming. It is neither internally conscious nor externally conscious, Nāntaḥ-Prajñaṃ, Na Bahiṣ Prajñaṃ – not internal consciousness like dream, nor external consciousness like waking. One may think that it is a consciousness simultaneously of both the states. No; It is something different from a simultaneity of consciousness. It is not external, not internal, not a simultaneity of both, either – Nobhayataḥ-Prajñaṃ. It is not also a mass of consciousness like a homogeneous heap of water in the ocean – Na Prajñā-Ghanaṃ. It is not quantitative in its essence. Quantity is spatial, mathematical and Consciousness is not such. Hence, it cannot be called a mass of consciousness, also, because when you think of mass, you think of a heap, a body, indistinguishable, though. Not so is Consciousness – Na Prajñā-Ghanaṃ. It is not featureless Consciousness without any awareness, Na Prajñaṃ. You may think that it is awareness without an object before it. It is not even that, because the object is contained in that Consciousness. It is not Consciousness bereft of objects. It is Consciousness into which the objects have been absorbed. So, it cannot be regarded as a featureless transparency of an ethereal consciousness. It is not also absence of consciousness – Nāprajñam. It is not a state of inert perfection which the schools of thought like the Nyāya and the Vaiśeṣika describe. It is not unconsciousness; it is not absence of consciousness; it is not bare consciousness; it is not a mass of consciousness; it is not external consciousness; it is not internal consciousness; it is not both-ways consciousness. What is this? Such is God in His essence, the Absolute in its True Being."

Laghu Yoga Vaśiṣṭha (K. Narayanaswami Aiyer)

"This is that Principle which is denominated Void by atheists, Parabrahman by Brahmavadins, Vijñāna by Vijñāna doctrinists, Puruṣa by Sāṅkhya, Īśa by Yogins, Śiva by persons upholding Śaivagama, Kala (Time) by Kala doctrinists, the Madhyama by Mādhyamika and the all-pervading Principle by those who look equally upon all." 

Kundalini: The Secret of Yoga (Gopi Krishna)

“According to the Indian scriptures, Turīya is the state of self-knowledge or illumination in which the identity of the Ātman and Brahman or Jiva or Īśvara is realized. It is the indescribable state of existence experienced in the highest form of Samādhi or the ecstatic "State," as Eliade calls it.... in actual fact, Turīya is the modality of consciousness present in Asamprajñāta, Nirvikalpa, or Nirbīja Samādhi, and also characterizes the consciousness of a Jīvanmukta, or one liberated in life. This is clear on the authority of Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (7) wherein it is said: "They consider the Fourth (Turīya) to be that which is not conscious of the internal world nor conscious of the external world....That is the Self and that is to be known." Again (in 12) it says: "The partless Om is the Fourth (Caturtha, i.e., Turīya) – beyond all conventional dealings, the limit of the negation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Om is thus the Self to be sure. He who knows thus enters the Self through the Self." The position has been clarified beyond doubt by Gauḍapāda in his Kārikā (PI.14 and 15). "The earlier two (Viśva and Taijasa) are endowed with dream and sleep, but Prajñā is endowed with dreamless sleep. People of firm conviction do not see either sleep or dream in Turīya....Dream belongs to one who sees falsely, and sleep to one who does not know Reality. When the two errors of these two are removed, one attains the state that is Turīya.

The point here is whether these four modalities of consciousness are characteristic of the embodied spirit or whether they have an independent existence of their own. The first three, it is hardly necessary to argue, have no independent existence, that is, they do not exist as cosmic planes of wakefulness, dreaming, and dreamless sleep, but represent different states of human consciousness. They are mutually exclusive, that is, as argued by Gauḍapāda, when one is dreaming, he cannot be awake and when in dreamless slumber, he can neither dream nor be awake. Similarly, when one is awake, he cannot dream, in the real sense of the term, nor can he be in dreamless slumber. It is, therefore, obvious that the moment a Yogi enters the dream state with lucidity, that is consciousness, dreaming must cease forthwith, and when one enters the state of dreamless slumber, it too must vanish instantly, for the simple reason that as darkness and light cannot exist together, in the same way the oblivion of the dream state and dreamless slumber cannot co-exist with lucidity for any length of time. It might be contended that the so-called ecstatic "state" (Samādhi), being a transhuman plane of consciousness, can "penetrate" the other three. In reply to this, it is enough to point out that at the very moment when transhuman consciousness penetrates any modality of human consciousness, it must at once transform and illumine it. It can neither assume the modality into which it enters nor co-exist with it."

The Atman Project (Ken Wilber)
SVABHAVIKAKAYA: THE FINAL TRANSFORMATION

"Passing through Nirvikalpa Samādhi, Consciousness totally awakens as its Original Condition and Suchness (Tathatā), which is, at the same time, the condition and suchness of all that is, gross subtle, or causal. That which witnesses, and that which is witnessed, are only one and the same. The entire World Process then arises, moment to moment, as one's own Being, outside of which, and prior to which, nothing exists. That Being is totally beyond and prior to anything that arises, and yet no part of that Being is other than what arises.

And so: as the center of the self was shown to be Archetype; and as the center of Archetype was shown to be final-God; and as the center of final-God was shown to be Formlessness—so the center of Formlessness is shown to be not other than the entire world of Form. "Form is not other than Void, Void is not other than Form," says the most famous Buddhist Sūtra (called the "Heart Sūtra").  At that point, the extraordinary and the ordinary, the supernatural and mundane, are precisely one and the same. This is the tenth Zen oxherding picture, which reads: "The gate of his cottage is closed and even the wisest cannot find him. He goes his own way, making no attempt to follow the steps of earlier sages. Carrying a gourd, he strolls into the market; leaning on his staff, he returns home.

This is also Sahaja Samādhi, the Turiya state, the Svabhāvikakaya—the ultimate Unity, wherein all things and events, while remaining perfectly separate and discrete, are only One. Therefore, this is not itself a state apart from other states; it is not an altered state; it is not a special state—it is rather the suchness of all states, the water that forms itself in each and every wave of experience, as all experience. It cannot be seen, because it is everything which is seen; it cannot be heard, because it is hearing itself; it cannot be remembered because it only is. By the same token, this is the radically perfect integration of all prior levels—gross, subtle, and causal, which, now of themselves so, continue to arise moment to moment in an iridescent play of mutual interpenetration. This is the final differentiation of Consciousness from all forms in Consciousness, "whereupon Consciousness as Such is released in Perfect Transcendence, which is not a transcendence from the world but a final transcendence as the World. Consciousness henceforth operates, not on the world, but only as the entire World Process, integrating and interpenetrating all levels, realms, and planes, high or low, sacred or profane."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
3. Nikhilananda, Swami (1952). The Upanishads: Volume II - Śvetāśvatara, Praśna, and Māndukya with Gauḍapāda's Kārikā. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers
4. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 82.
5. Aiyer, K. Narayanaswami (1975). Laghu Yoga Vasishtha: English Translation. Theosophical Publishing House. p. 480.
6. Krishna, Gopi (1972). Kundalini - The Secret of Yoga. Ontario, Canada: F.I.N.D. Research Trust. p. 103-104.
7. Wilber, Ken (1996). The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development. Quest Books. p. 67.

Īśvara | The Lord

Ishvara

Īśvara (IAST)
Translation: "The Lord"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: ईश्वर
Transliteration: Īśvara

Translation: "Lord; God; the Great God (from the verb root īś – “to rule”); a quality (Tattva) in Shaivism"

Definition:

1. The Divine with form (Saguṇa-Brahman).
2. According to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, He is the supreme Ruler and Controller. He is full of auspicious qualities. He is both transcendent and immanent. The world of animate and inanimate entities emerges from His body. He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. He is all-merciful and by His grace, individual souls attain liberation. He is the author of the universe, both as its material and efficient causes. He manifests himself in five forms as transcendent (Parā); emanations (Vyūha); incarnations (Vibhava); indweller (Antaryāmin); and sacred icons (Arcā). As Parā, he possesses six divine qualities: knowledge (Jñāna), strength (Bala), lordship (Aiśvarya), potency (Śakti), virility (Vīrya), and splendour (Tejas).
3. According to Advaita Vedānta, God (Īśvara) is the Absolute (Brahman) as conditioned by ignorance or illusion (Avidyā / Māyā). The Absolute knows no distinctions; yet in relation to the world, the Godhead becomes its source and ground. Īśvara is both the material and efficient cause of the world. The Saguṇa-Brahman (Īśvara) is said to be omnipotent, omniscient, and the creator, etc.
4. The fourth category (Tattva) in the process of universal manifestation. In this Tattva, “I” and “this” are equally prominent. The consciousness of Sadāśiva is “I am this.” The consciousness of Īśvara is “This am I.” Knowledge (Jñāna) is predominant in this Tattva.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)
Transliteration: Īśvara

Meaning: "lord; the supreme Being (Puruṣottama) as the Lord, “the omniscient and omnipotent All-ruler” who by his conscious Power (Śakti) “manifests himself in Time and governs the universe”, ruling his self-creation with “an all-consciousness in which he is aware of the truth of all things and aware of his own all-wisdom working them out according to the truth that is in them;” identified with Kṛṣṇa; the individual soul (Puruṣa or Jīva) as the master of its own nature."

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Sanskrit: ईश्वर
Transliteration: Īśvara

Commentary: "In correspondence with this Prājña, or the causal condition of Ānandamayatva of the Jīva, there is a Universal Causal Condition, known as Īśvara. While the waking consciousness, individually, is called Viśva, it is called Taijasa in dream, and Prājña in the deep sleep state. Correspondingly, from the cosmic level, we have Virāt in waking, Hiraṇyagarbha in dreaming, and Īśvara in deep sleep. While we, ordinarily, hold that the impressions of waking create dream and an adjournment of all the activities of these impressions is sleep, thus deducing dream from waking and sleep from both, in the cosmic level we cannot make such deductions, because a reverse process takes place there which seems to be a prior condition to the individual state: Īśvara being the cause of Hiraṇyagarbha, and Hiraṇyagarbha being the cause of Virāt. The relationship between the individual and the cosmic, between Viśva and Virāt, Taijasa and Hiraṇyagarbha, Prājña and Īśvara is one of organic integrality, and a realization of this organic connection of being will land the Jīva in Īśvaratva and make it at once omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent."

Image by: One Cosmic Mind

Image by: One Cosmic Mind

"This Consciousness as the cause of all things is also the Lord over everything – Eṣa Sarveśvaraḥ. Now, this epithet Sarveśvaraḥ as also the other qualification, Sarvajña, omniscient, cannot be attributed to the Jīva, because the Jīva is not Sarveśvaraḥ, and so not also Sarvajña. The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad seems to make no palpable distinction between the individual and the cosmic, and it harmonizes the relation between Jīva and Īśvara. The causal condition of the Jīva, namely Prājña, is regarded only as a part of the Cosmic Causal State of Īśvara. To this Upaniṣad, there is only one Reality, and the distinctions that we usually make between the Cosmic and the individual, between Īśvara and Jīva, are overcome in the higher analysis of the Upaniṣad. It is all God, and God alone, Īśvara everywhere, and the Jīva has no place to exist apart from the Being of Īśvara. So, when you describe the nature of God, you have also described the nature of all creation including the contents thereof, together with all the Jīva. We need not describe the drop separately when we describe the ocean; and so, the ocean is being described here, the ocean of causality that is designated as Īśvara, from whom proceed Hiraṇyagarbha and Virāt. Eṣa Sarveśvaraḥ: This is the Overlord of all; the Master of all things; supremely powerful. Eṣa Sarvajña: This Being is all-knowing, omniscient. Nothing can be hidden from the perception of this Being. Īśvara is omnipresent and so He is also omniscient; therefore, also, He is omnipotent. The All-pervading Presence of Īśvara explains His omniscience. The Jīva is not characterized by this knowledge because of its being localized in spots in space, because of the mind of the Jīva not being capable of moving outside its own body, because of our thoughts being confined to our personalities. We are, as Jīva, Aikadeśika, present only in one place, while Īśvara is Sarvagata, present everywhere. The knowledge of Īśvara is not ‘cognition’ of objects, and no ‘cognition’ or ‘perception’ can be regarded as a part of omniscience, because the objects of cognition do not come under the control of the cognizer, necessarily. Though we cognize objects outside, we cannot be said to have power over them fully. We see the whole world with our eyes, but what power have we over the world. Our knowledge does not bring us power, though it is often said that knowledge is power. Knowledge is power, but not sensory knowledge. It is some other knowledge altogether that can be equated with power. Sarvajñatva becomes identical with Sarvaśaktimatva only under a given condition and not always. Though we may have vast knowledge in the sense of learning or information, we cannot be said to have power over the things or objects of this type of knowledge. While the Jīva’s knowledge is sensory, perceptual and cognitional, Īśvara’s knowledge is intuitional. While the Jīva’s knowledge cannot be identified with the existence of its objects, Īśvara’s knowledge is identical with the existence of everything. While ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ unite in the Being of Īśvara, they get separated in the case of the Jīva. This is the reason why the Jīva is neither Sarvajña nor Sarveśvaraḥ, the reason being that the world is outside the knowledge of the Jīva, though the Jīva seems to have a cognition of the objects by a process artificially brought about through the relation of space and time. The knowledge of Īśvara is above space and time, and is non-relational. The Jīva’s knowledge is relative; Īśvara’s knowledge is absolute. Īśvara is, and His Being itself is all knowledge and power, while the Jīva’s being cannot be equated with knowledge and power. The Jīva’s existence is separated from its knowledge, and knowledge from power, while all these are one in the case of Īśvara. So, it is only Īśvara who can be called Sarveśvaraḥ and Sarvajña; and the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, while describing the third Pāda or phase of the Ātman as the cause of all things and qualifying it with the epithets Sarveśvaraḥ and Sarvajña, obviously refers to the Universal Īśvara."

The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)
Sanskrit: ईश्वर
Transliteration: Īśvara

Translation: Part 1, Verses 24-32
"Īśvara is a particular spirit (Puruṣa) who is untouched by the afflictions of life, actions and the results and impressions produced by these actions. In Him is the highest limit of Omniscience. Being unconditioned by time, He is Teacher even of the Ancients. His designator is ‘Om.’ Its constant repetition (Japa) and meditation (Bhāvana) on its meaning. From it (result) the disappearance of obstacles and turning inward of consciousness. Disease, languor, doubt, carelessness, laziness, worldly-mindedness, delusion, non-achievment of a stage, instability, these (nine) cause the distraction of the mind, and they are the obstacles. (Mental) pain, despair, nervousness, and hard breathing are the symptoms of a distracted condition of mind. For removing these obstacles, there (should be) constant practice of one truth or principle."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga.
3. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 74-75, 76-78.
4. 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