Suṣupti | Deep Sleep

Sushupti

Suṣupti (IAST)
Translation: "Deep Sleep"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5, 11)

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy

Sanskrit: सुषुप्ति

Transliteration: Suṣupti

Translation: "deep sleep; sleep without dream"

1. The state of deep-sleep consciousness. There are no objects present – neither of external things of the world nor of internal ideas; thus, there is no apprehension of duality, though ignorance (Avidyā) still persists in a latent state.

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)

Sanskrit: सुषुप्ति, सुषुप्त, सुषुप्तम्

Transliteration: Suṣupti, Suṣupta, Suṣuptam

Translation: "the deep sleep"

Definition: "i.e., neither the awakened state where will is active, nor the dreaming subconscious state, but the unconscious state where all activities of the mind are completely stopped is here referred to."

Mandukya Upanishad (James Swartz)

"The deep sleep state is free of both waking and dream egos and objects because the Vāsanā [Saṃskāra] projecting them have become dormant; hence, it is referred to as the “seed” state. When the “seeds” sprout, one becomes a waker or a dreamer and experiences the appropriate world.

Because we don’t remember being conscious in it, the sleep state is often thought to be a void by metaphysicians and philosophers. In fact, Sanskrit literature refers to it as “the womb,” because our waking and dream worlds emerge from it. When you wake up in the morning, your whole life is neatly laid out consistent with the day before, the same language you spoke yesterday on the tip of your tongue, indicating that previous experience had simply entered a dormant state. The dormant potential of the sleep state containing the macrocosmic Vāsanā [Saṃskāra] is called Īśvara, the Creator, in Vedantic literature. With reference to the microcosmic Vāsanā [Saṃskāra], the sleeper is called Prajñā.

The sleep state is also known as the gateway between the waking and the dream states because it functions as a kind of closet with two doors where the dream can don the guise of the waker to appear on the waking stage. And vice versa. Though a minor point, even in cases where one seems to be awakened directly out of a dream by a noise, for example, the dreamer passes through the sleep state. A motion picture image of a stationary object is actually dozens of individual images passing so fast they seem to be a solid object. Similarly, we can’t trust our experience in this case because the change is so fast we don’t notice it.

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Sanskrit: सुषुप्ति
Transliteration: Suṣupti

Commentary: "The waking world and the dream world, from the point of view of the Jīva, are two aspects of the function of the mind. The mind projects itself in perception, both in waking and dream. The mind is active, and it gets tired of activity. It ceases from activity when it is too much fatigued. The complete cessation of the activity of the mind, due to exhaustion, is sleep, known as Suṣupti.

That is called Suṣupti, or deep sleep, where – Na Kaṃcana Kāmaṃ Kāmayate – one desires nothing, because the mind has withdrawn itself from both the physical and subtle objects. Na Kaṃcana Svapnaṃ Paśyati: It does not dream also, because even psychic activity has ceased. Tat Suṣuptam: This is complete absorption of the mind into itself. But this absorption is of an unconscious nature...."

"The third foot of the Ātman the third phase of its analysis, is deep sleep, where all perceptions and cognition converge into a single mode of the mind – Ekī-Bhūtaḥ. It becomes a mass of consciousness, which is not projected outside – Prajñāna-Ghana. There is no modification of the mind, and so there is no external consciousness. We are not aware of the world outside in the state of sleep because of the absence of Vṛtti, or psychoses, of the mind. Only when the mind becomes extrovert can it have consciousness of the outer world, whether in dream or in waking. But, there is no agitation of the mind, of that nature, in sleep. It is as if there is a homogeneous mass of all perceptions, where all the Saṃskāra, Vāsanas, commingle into a single mode, or condition, instead of there being many cognitive psychoses. Ānanda-Mayo Ānanda-Bhuk Ceto-Mukhaḥ Prajñaḥ: It is all bliss. The happiness of deep sleep is greater than all other forms of happiness or pleasure born of sense-contact. It is filled with Ānanda, bliss, delight, satisfaction.

From where has this happiness come? From where has this Ānandamayatva come to you? This subject is dealt with in the Mantra which describes the third phase of the Ātman. Your real nature is aloneness, not sociability. Your real nature is Kevalata, not Indriya-Saṃyoga with Viṣaya, objects. Your real nature is singularity, not multiplicity. Your real nature is a total transcendence of all sensory and mental phenomena, not contact with objects. Therefore you are Ānandamaya, Ānanda-Bhuk: filled with bliss, enjoying bliss.

Consciousness of sleep is equal to Samādhi. If sleep is to be coupled with consciousness, it becomes Ātma-Sākṣātkāra, the realization of the Ātman. This is what they call Superconsciousness. This is Nirvāṇa, Mokṣa, Kevalata - Liberation. This is your real nature. This is why you are full of Ānanda in sleep. You go to the blessedness of eternity and infinity in sleep, but you are not aware of it...."

"Ānanda-Mayo Ānanda-Bhuk Ceto-Mukhaḥ: What is the instrument through which you enjoy this Ānanda? Not the senses, not the mind. While there were nineteen mouths for you in the waking and dreaming states, there are no such mouths in deep sleep. Here, the mouth is not the mind or the senses, but consciousness alone is the mouth – Ceto-Mukhaḥ. Consciousness enjoys bliss. Who enjoys bliss? Consciousness alone is the answer. It is Cit that experiences Ānanda, not the Indriya or the Mānās, the senses or the mind. In deep sleep there is only Ānanda experienced by Cit. You experience Saccidānanda, here, Consciousness-Being, as such."

Lessons on the Upanishads (Swami Krishnananda)

"There is a third state called sleep, where not only are you not aware of the body, but even the psychological functions are not there. The mind does not think, the intellect does not decide and you do not know that you even exist there. Your existence itself is abolished, as it were. It is a state of nothingness, but you are not even aware that it is nothing. To be aware that it is a nothing would be something, but you are not even aware that it is nothing. It is pure, unadulterated nothing. But, what is happening there? Are you dead? No, you are very much alive. Who told you that you were alive in sleep, when it was a nothing and your awareness was totally obliterated by something? You are totally oblivious of all things happening there. When you did not even know that you were existing, how did you come to the conclusion that you were alive at that time? Nobody told you. You yourself conclude, “I am the same person now that I was before I slept yesterday. I am not another person. Therefore, I must have been existing during sleep.” But how do you know that you are the same person? You may be another person. Every day you could change and become somebody else, but this does not happen.

A continuity of consciousness is maintained between yesterday’s experience and today’s experience. Is this not interesting and surprising? You are very certain that today you are the same person that you were yesterday and your consciousness continues through even the sleep condition, making you feel that you exist today in the same way as you existed yesterday. That is to say, you did exist in the state of deep sleep. The proof of it is only your conviction that you are the same person today as you were yesterday. You have a memory of having slept. Now, if consciousness must have existed in the state of deep sleep, you must have existed as consciousness only. You did not exist as a body, mind, intellect or anything else. You were not even aware of the act of breathing at that time. You existed as consciousness only.

So, do you believe that your essential nature is consciousness? Even minus all these appurtenances of body, mind, intellect, if you can exist nevertheless, why should you imagine that you are the body, mind, intellect, etc.? If I can exist minus something, that thing from which I am withdrawn is not me, really speaking. If I can be safe without something, that something is redundant. Therefore, the body is a redundant thing, and the mind and intellect are also not us. You are pure Śuddha Caitanya, as it is called – Pure Consciousness. In that state you existed. There is no other thing that can be regarded as an attribute of your being in that condition. Consciousness was your essential nature.

What were you conscious of? You were conscious of nothing; it was conscious of consciousness only. It was a consciousness of existence, about which we discussed earlier. It was not a consciousness of something; it was a consciousness of consciousness existing. You were aware that you were aware, that is all – nothing more, nothing less. It was Being-Consciousness, and you were very happy, so it was Bliss also. You know how happy you are after having gone into a good sleep. You rub your eyes and you would like to continue to sleep a little more. You were so free in sleep that you would like to go to sleep again. All the botheration, the turmoil of this world is no longer there. Sometimes you feel: “Let me go to bed and forget the devil of this world.” Thus, in the state of deep sleep you existed as Pure Consciousness. Saccidānanda was your real nature in the state of deep sleep.

This Consciousness, which is Saccidānanda, was not merely inside the body, as you may wrongly imagine once again, even after having deduced this wonderful conclusion that you were Pure Consciousness. It is a wonderful conclusion, indeed, that you are essentially Pure Consciousness, but again you may commit the mistake of thinking that it is inside the body. Pure Consciousness is not inside anything; it is all things. We have already concluded in earlier sessions that consciousness is all-pervading; it cannot be confined to one individuality only. To be conscious that it is only in one place and not in another place is to virtually accept that consciousness is in another place also. Otherwise, how would consciousness know that it is not in some other place unless it has already been there? Hence, the negation of consciousness in some other place is actually an affirmation of it in that place. Negation is determination.

Therefore, the second conclusion that we draw by this analysis is that in the state of deep sleep we existed as Pure Consciousness – not a little consciousness inside the body, but a pervading consciousness which is everywhere. Cosmic consciousness was there; Universal-consciousness was our essential nature in deep sleep."

The Upanishads: Volume IV (Swami Nikhilananda)
Chāndogya Upaniṣad: Chapter VIII, Verses 1 and 2

"Uddalaka, the son of Aruna, said to his son Svetaketu: "Learn from me, my dear, the true nature of sleep. When a person has entered into deep sleep, as it is called, then, my dear, he becomes united with Pure Being (Sat), he has gone to his own Self. That is why they say he is in deep sleep (Svapiti); it is because he has gone (Apita) to his own (Svam)."

"Just as a bird tied by a string to the hand of the bird-catcher first flies in every direction and then finding no rest anywhere, settles down at the place where it is bound, so also the mind (i.e. the individual soul reflected in the mind), my dear, after flying in every direction and finding no rest anywhere, settles down in the Prāṇa (i.e. Pure Being); for the mind (the individual soul) is fastened to the Prāṇa (Pure Being)."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. 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
3. 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/.
4. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. 71-74.
5. Krishnananda, Swami (1991). Lessons on the Upanishads. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/upanishad.html. p. 104-106.
6. Nikhilananda, Swami (1959). The Upanishads: Volume IV - Taittiriya and Chhāndogya. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers

Suṣupta-Sthāna | "the state of deep sleep"

Sushupta-Sthana

Suṣupta-Sthāna (IAST)
Translation: "the state of deep sleep"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5, 11)

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: सुषुप्ति
Transliteration: Suṣupti
Translation: "deep sleep; sleep without dream"
Sanskrit: स्थान
Transliteration: Sthāna
Translation: "position; proximity"
   
Translation by Swami Sharvananda
Sanskrit: सुषुप्तस्थान
Transliteration: Suṣupta-Sthāna
Translation: "whose field is the deep sleep state"


References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. 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

Prajñāna-Ghana | "a mass of consciousness"

Prajnana-Ghana

Prajñāna-Ghana (IAST)
Translation: "a mass of consciousness"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: प्रज्ञानघन
Transliteration: Prajñāna-Ghana

Translation: "consciousness involuted, i.e., consciousness gathered within (unconscious or subconscious)"

Commentary: "the consciousness of the deep-sleep is without content and of the negative kind. When a man comes out of the deep sleep, he says, ‘I slept well and was not conscious of anything.’ This experience of man testifies to the fact that there was the consciousness of “nothing else,” i.e., the consciousness of negation. So, in that respect, the consciousness of the deep-sleep can be said to be Ghanibhūta, concentrated, inasmuch as it does not cognize any object whether internal or external."

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Sanskrit: प्रज्ञानघन
Transliteration: Prajñāna-Ghana
Translation: "an undifferentiated mass of consciousness"


References:

1. 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
2. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html.

Prajñā | Wisdom / The Self of the Sleep State

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:

1. The intuitive wisdom, the highest knowledge, according to Mahāyāna Buddhism.
2. It is one of the six virtues of Buddhism. 
3. 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:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. 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
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
5. 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/
6. 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.

Makāra | "the letter M"

Makara

Makāra (IAST)
Translation: "the letter M"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 8, 11)

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: मकार
Transliteration: Makāra
Translation: "the letter M"

Commentary: "it marks the completion of the three relative states of consciousness even as M completes the sound Om. So, in one sense, it determines the other two states."

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Sanskrit: मकार
Transliteration: Makāra

Commentary: "There is, then, the comparison between Makāra and the deep sleep state of consciousness. Suṣupta-Sthānaḥ Prājño Makāras-Tṛtīya Mātrā: Makāra is the third Mātrā of Om, and it is comparable with Prājña, the third state, causal, of the Ātman. Miter-Apīter-Vā: It is the measure of all things, and it is the dissolver of all things. When we chant Om, Akāra and Ukāra merge in Makāra, as all the impressions of waking and dream merge in Prājña, deep sleep, the causal state. Just as you end the chant with Makāra, you end all experience in deep sleep; and as you can repeat the chant subsequent to the closure of the recitation by Makāra, waking life commences once again as an offshoot of the deep sleep state, which is the cause of waking. Deep sleep can be called the cause of waking in one sense, the effect of it in another sense. The waking is due to the agitation of the unfulfilled impressions lying buried in the deep sleep state. In this sense we may say that waking is an effect of the state of deep sleep. Deep sleep is the cause, and all experiences in waking and dream are its effects. As Īśvara is the cause of all things, the deep sleep state seems to be the cause of our waking and dreaming, in one sense, namely, that we wake up from sleep on account of unfulfilled desires. If all our desires are fulfilled, we would not be waking up from sleep, at all. Why should we wake up? What is the purpose? There is something unfulfilled, unexecuted, and therefore we wake up. The Prārabdha-Karma agitates, urges us into activity, and wakes us up into the world of objects. Thus, in one sense, Prājña (sleep) is the cause of experience through Viśva (waking) and Taijasa (dreaming). But, in another sense, Prājña may be regarded as the effect, because Prājña is nothing but that state of consciousness where all the impressions, unfulfilled, unmanifested, lie latent, and these impressions are nothing but the consequences of perception and experience in the waking state. In that sense, the condition of deep sleep is an effect of waking. Makāra is of that nature in Om. We may say that the chant commences with Makāra or closes with Makāra, as in the series of chants of Om. Just as we can have a series of chants or recitations of Praṇava, we have a series of waking and sleeping, and waking and sleeping. The sleep state measures (Miteḥ) all things in the sense that the waking and dreaming experiences are determined by the impressions that are there as Sañcita-Karma in the Ānandamaya-Kośa (causal state), manifesting itself in the sleep state. The Sañcita-Karma are those group of unfulfilled Saṃskāra and Vāsanas which are there in the state of deep sleep, Prājña, and which sprout forth shoots in the form of experiences in waking and dream. In this sense we measure our experiences in terms of tendencies present in the deep sleep state. The dream and the waking experiences are measured by the potencies already present in the state of sleep, as unfulfilled Vāsanas and Saṃskāra. It is, therefore, the measure (Miti) of experience. And so is Makāra regarded as the container of the processes of chants. Just as the contained is supported by the container, Akāra and Ukāra seem to be contained in Makāra with which one closes the chant. Just as all experiences get submerged in the deep sleep state, even as all our efforts cease when we go to sleep, the recitation of Praṇava ceases when Makāra commences. ‘A’ and ‘U’, merge themselves in ‘M’. Minoti Ha Vā Idaṃ Sarvaṃ: One, who meditates thus, has the capacity to measure all things, that is, to know everything – he becomes Sarvajña. He becomes Īśvara Himself. He becomes the measure of all things; he becomes the yardstick for the cognition of everything in creation. Everything is referred to him; he does not refer himself to other things. He becomes the reference for the whole of creation, the center of all experience in the cosmos. Apītiś-Ca Bhavati: Everything merges in him; as the verse in the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā says, everything enters into him, as rivers enter the ocean. Īśvara is the Merger of all creation, and when you become Īśvara, the whole creation merges in you. You realize this state by this meditation on the unity of Makāra and Prājña, the causal state of Praṇava and the causal state of Consciousness, both individually and cosmically."

References:

1. 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
2. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 95-97.

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

Ekī-Bhūtaḥ | "unified experience"

Eki-Bhutah

Ekī-Bhūtaḥ (IAST)
Translation: "unified experience"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)

A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Monier-Williams)
Sanskrit: एक
Transliteration: Eka
Translation: "one"
Sanskrit: भूत
Transliteration: Bhūta
Translation: "become, been, gone, past (n. the past)"
Sanskrit: एकभूत
Transliteration: Eka-Bhūta
Translation: "become one, concentrated (as the mind)"

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: एकीभूतः
Transliteration: Ekī-Bhūtaḥ
Translation: "unified"

Definition: "i.e., where the consciousness is not identified with any kind of precept or concept or memory, but remains in its own single unmixed state; this state of subconsciousness or unconsciousness where Tamas predominates is compared to night. As all objects being covered under the pall of gloom in the night appear as if united and the world appears as if undifferentiated existence, so in the deep sleep, the mind is completely enveloped in Tamas and assumes an undifferentiated existence although holding the unmanifested germs of infinite differentiation of the awakened state and dreaming state."

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Transliteration: Ekībhūtah

Commentary: "The third foot of the Ātman, the third phase of its analysis, is deep sleep, where all perceptions and cognition converge into a single mode of the mind – Ekībhūtah."

References:

1. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. 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
3. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 72.

Ceto-Mukhaḥ | "whose mouth is consciousness"

Cheto-Mukhah

Ceto-Mukhaḥ (IAST)
Translation: "whose mouth is consciousness"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: चेतोमुखः
Transliteration: Ceto-Mukhaḥ
Translation: "gateway to cognition"
Definition:

1. It is used as a name for deep sleep (Suṣupti).

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: चेतोमुखः
Transliteration: Ceto-Mukhaḥ
Translation: "mouth of knowledge (or one who is the cause of knowledge)"

Definition: "i.e., who is at the back of all mentation and cognizance, who is the root of the other two states of consciousness viz., the awakened and the dreaming states. That is why it is also called the causal state."

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)

Commentary: "Ānanda-Mayo Ananda-Bhuk Cetomukhah: What is the instrument through which you enjoy this Ānanda? Not the senses, not the mind. While there were nineteen mouths for you in the waking and dreaming states, there are no such mouths in deep sleep. Here, the mouth is not the mind or the senses, but consciousness alone is the mouth – Cetomukhah. Consciousness enjoys bliss. Who enjoys bliss? Consciousness alone, is the answer. It is Cit that experiences Ānanda, not the Indriya(s) or the Mānās, the senses or the mind. In deep sleep there is only Ānanda experienced by Cit. You experience Satchidānanda, here, Consciousness-Being, as such."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. 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
3. Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html. p. 74.

Ānanda-Bhuk | "enjoyer of bliss"

Ananda-Bhuk

Ānanda-Bhuk (IAST)
Translation: "enjoyer of bliss"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: आनन्दभुक्
Transliteration: Ānanda-Bhuk
Translation: "enjoyer of bliss (or peace)"


Reference:

1. 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

Ānanda-Mayo | "of the form of bliss"

Ananda-Mayo

Ānanda-Mayo (IAST)
Translation: "of the form of bliss"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)

A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Monier-Williams)
Sanskrit: आनन्दमय
Transliteration: Ānanda-Maya
Translation: "blissful, made up or consisting of happiness"

Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: आनन्दमयो
Transliteration: Ānanda-Mayo
Translation: "of much peace, of the form of bliss"

Commentary: "in that state, the Ātman of the pure principle of consciousness remains in the Ānandamaya Kośa, identifying itself with the Kāraṇa-Śarīra. This Ānanda or bliss is not the bliss of the transcendental or the supreme state of absolute unity, but it is called bliss because in deep-sleep there is a feeling of composure and perfect rest, and mind is not agitated by any activity, desire, or thought. So this bliss is the bliss of quiescence and peace only and not that transcendental joy of Mukti.

The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)

Commentary: "The five Kośa have been classified into three groups: the physical, the subtle, and the causal. In the waking state in which we are now, for instance, the physical body is intensely operative and we always think in terms of the physical body, physical objects and physical sensations.

This physical sensation is absent in the state of dream, but three of the Kośa operate in dream. All the five are operative in the waking condition, concentrating their action mostly on the physical body. The physical body is not operative in the dream state, but the vital, the mental, and the intellectual sheaths are active. The Prāṇa is there, the mind is there, and the intellect is there, in a diminished intensity. We breathe, we think and we understand in the state of dream. That means the Prāṇa, Manas, and Buddhi are all active in the state of dream minus the physical element – namely, the body consciousness. In the state of deep sleep, none of these are active. Neither the body is operative there, nor the mind, nor the intellect, nor is there any consciousness that we are even breathing. The consciousness is withdrawn entirely from all the sheaths – physical, vital, mental, and intellectual. There is only one sheath operating in the state of sleep. That is the causal sheath – the Ānandamaya Kośa as it is called in Sanskrit."

References:

1. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. 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
3. Krishnananda, Swami (1991). Lessons on the Upanishads. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/upanishad.html. p. 97-98.

Ānanda | Bliss

Ananda

Ānanda (IAST)
Translation: "Bliss"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5)

A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Monier-Williams)
Sanskrit: आनन्द
Transliteration: Ānanda

Translation: "happiness, joy, enjoyment, sensual pleasure; 'pure happiness,' one of the three attributes of Ātman or Brahman in the Vedānta philosophy"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: आनन्द
Transliteration: Ānanda

Translation: "bliss; delight; a type of Samādhi in which the mind concentrates on the intellect (from the verb root nand – “to rejoice”)"

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

Translation: "delight, bliss, ecstasy, beatitude; “a profound concentrated intense self-existent bliss extended to all that our being does, envisages, creates, a fixed divine rapture”; same as Sama Ānanda, the universal delight which constitutes active/positive Samatā, “an equal delight in all the cosmic manifestation of the Divine,” whose “foundation is the Atmajñāna or Brahmajñāna by which we perceive the whole universe as a perception of one Being that manifests itself in multitudinous forms and activities”; the highest of the three stages of active/positive Samatā, “the joy of Unity” by which “all is changed into the full and pure ecstasy” of the Spirit; the third and highest state of Bhukti, consisting of the delight of existence experienced “throughout the system” in seven principal forms (Kāmānanda, Premānanda, Ahaituka Ānanda, Cidghanānanda, Śuddhānanda, Cidānanda, and Sadānanda) corresponding to the seven Kośa or sheaths of the being and the seven Lokas or planes of existence; physical Ānanda or Śārīrānanda in its five forms, also called Vividhānanda (various delight), the fourth member of the Śārīrā Catuṣṭaya; (especially in the plural, “Anandas”) any of these forms of Ānanda; same as Ānandaṃ Brahma, the last aspect of the fourfold Brahman; bliss of infinite conscious existence, “the original, all-encompassing, all-informing, all-upholding delight”, the third aspect of Saccidānanda and the principle manifested in its purity in Janaloka or Ānandaloka, also present in an involved or subordinated form on every other plane."

The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)
Sanskrit: आनन्द
Transliteration: Ānanda
Translation: "bliss, joy, delight"

Commentary: Ānanda stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi and the Liṅga stage of the Guṇa
"Liṅga-Mātra means a state of consciousness in which particular objects and even principles are mere marks or signs which serve to distinguish them from other objects. This stage of the Guṇa corresponds to the supra-mental consciousness which transcends the intellect and is expressed through Buddhi or intuition. The corresponding stage in Samādhi is accompanied by Ānanda which confirms the conclusion that this stage of the Guṇa corresponds to the functioning of consciousness through the Buddhic vehicle or Ānandamaya Kośa as it is called in Vedantic terminology.

In the corresponding state of consciousness, all objects and universal principles become part of a universal consciousness. They are seen, embedded as it were, in one consciousness, as parts of an indivisible whole, but they still have their identity and are still distinguishable or recognizable. Each object is itself and yet part of a whole. It is a condition of unity in diversity."

References:

1. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press 
2. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
3. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
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. p.166.