Book Reviewed: Nature of consciousness in Hindu philosophy, by Shri Krishna Saksena

The wisdom of Vedic sages and their understanding of the untethered Soul

In the last several decades physicists and neurobiologists have made strides to fit in the concept of consciousness in one whole picture of physical reality. How do we reconcile the classical (relativistic) and quantum realities together in one big picture? Does this bring us closer to the ideas of Vedanta philosophy? The very nature of space and time are being investigated at the most fundamental level and it appears that space is not a static continuous fabric on which matter (energy) play according to the laws of physics. Time is folded up with space into a malleable four-dimensional spacetime and its passage depends on how fast you are moving and the strength of gravitational field you are in. Spacetime warping is also needed to accommodate the constancy of the speed of light that adds another dimension to the fabric of spacetime. Special relativity states that nothing in the universe moves faster than light. Moving clock tick slower (time goes slowly) and moving ruler appear shorter (space gets shorter) and hence there is no objective measure of space and time. Recently detected gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime that propagate as waves at the speed of light. Space is discontinuous fabric at quantum scales and exist in discrete quanta (small bits) contrary to our experience that space is a continuous fabric. Space can stretch, rip & tear, but also repair. Our consciousness is entangled in this spacetime-speed of light-matter-energy framework.

In this book, consciousness is discussed in light of the teachings of six schools of Hindu philosophy with an emphasis on Vedanta and Sankhya Schools. It is a clear, discernable, perceptible and engaging presentation. The author has considered in separate chapters the nature of consciousness in terms of ontology, epistemology (discusses consciousness of self-illuminance), psychology (discusses consciousness and self-consciousness), and the transcendental nature of consciousness. Consciousness appears to be a dynamic principle quickly succeeding one state of fluctuation after another and yet strangely bound and limited to the self-same principle of individuality and ego which owns them all as its own. The unchanging and the changing aspects of consciousness exist in a mysterious condition. The question is which of the two consciousness is true. The unchanging consciousness unites with its changing transcendental part. It is like a light that continues to illuminate the stage even after the performers have left the building. The transcendental consciousness is therefore free from the sense of personality and experience both in the Advaita Vedanta and dualistic Sankhya Yoga.

In Hindu idealism, the Absolute is inconceivable in human terms, it is simply absolute and the universe do not exist without it, but Absoluteness exist without the universe. The nature of transcendental consciousness cannot be realized logically, because it is not a concept but a supra-rational reality of being. It may be experienced but it is not an abstraction. Human reasoning cannot take us to the point of understanding the Absolute Reality. The Pure Consciousness, The Brahman, as it is referred to in Vedanta Philosophy. Logic works only so long as the distinction of the subject and the predicate last. And beyond this is the world of transcendental consciousness.

The first issue of consciousness has been the independence of its existence. The Vedanta and the dualistic Sankhya yoga both inspired by Upanishads have expounded the existence of the absolute principle of consciousness which is Conscious by its inherent nature. Consciousness exists independently from body and mind. The phenomenon of deep sleep and being awake fires up the argument that its existence is independent of mind. The Nyaya Varttika realists supported by Prabhakara and Ramanuja declare that consciousness is only the dharma of the Atman, and not its inherent swarupa. Shankara and Sankhya Yoga postulate that a relationship exists between Atman and cit (perceiving/seeing/noticing/observing/knowing/understanding/ remembering, thinking, etc.), and between Purusha and material experience. It postulates that if no relationship is assumed then consciousness is reduced to unconscious state. Conscious state is a self-luminous light which illuminates itself, cognition would never start and the whole universe is plunged in the darkness of non-apprehension despite the fact it has matter (energy) in spacetime

We have uniqueness attributed to consciousness by the idealist and known to be the ultimate authority of all presentations. Consciousness is self-revealing and the source of all light in the universe without which the universe is enveloped into the unconsciousness. Consciousness would not be comprehended by the logical see-saw of an infinite regress of perceptions of fundamental particles, reductionist concepts, physical forces and the operation of laws of physics between matter and energy in spacetime. The concept of consciousness as self-revealing and as the source of all revelations goes a step further than the idea of consciousness in Greek mythology.

Consciousness is neither changing nor unchanging but it is the combination of the two that is the basis of experienced within which distinctions of the subject and the object, drsta and the drsya or the experience and the experienced. The changing and the unchanging unites in its transcendental aspect. In Hindu thought, the pure consciousness is Absolute. The universe cannot exist without it, but it exists in its Absoluteness and in Undiminished State in spaceless-timeless existence. The transcendental consciousness is not realized by logic and intellect for the truth. It is not a concept but a supra-rational reality of being. The transcendentalism is considered in Western philosophy as the highest level of the base empiricism and everything is measured at the anthromorphocentric standpoint of man as the measurer and observer to comprehend the universe by deductions and mathematical/computational models. It is not the way the Hindu transcendentalism of either the Brahma-jnana of Advaita or the Kaivalya of the Sankhya Yoga teaches us. This type of reasoning is better understood with other considerations in neurobiology and the operations of laws of physics. For example, to understand the mouse’s behavior we must know about a mouse’s brain, its nervous system and perhaps its genome, but we cannot understand how it feels to be a mouse. Brain not only creates an illusion of reality and also a separate immaterial feeling of “I” having conscious experience. As we make more progress in physics and neurobiology, it becomes increasingly clear that the reality is an illusion, like Maya Advaita Vedanta.