Tag Archives: Gaudapapada

Avasthā-Traya

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The Three States of Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta

In Western philosophy and modern neuroscience, investigations into human consciousness almost exclusively take their stand in the waking state. The waking world of physical objects, people, time, and space is assumed to be the primary reality, while dreams are viewed as mere psychological or neurological by-products, and deep sleep is regarded as a passive state of unconsciousness. Traditional Advaita Vedānta, as expounded in the Upaniṣads and systematised by Ādi Śaṅkara, identifies a fundamental flaw in this approach: examining reality solely through the lens of waking experience provides only a fraction of the overall picture.

To arrive at an unobstructed understanding of the Self (Ātman), Advaita employs a rigorous analytical methodology known as avasthā-traya-prakriyā—the systematic enquiry into the three states of consciousness. By analyzing the waking state (jāgrat), the dream state (svapna), and the deep-sleep state (suṣupti), Advaita demonstrates how our sense of identity shifts across different realms of experience. Each state possesses its own unique field of operation, its own distinct ‘experiencer’ ego, and its own subjective universe.

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Creation Theories in Advaita

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In Advaita Vedānta, the explanation of how the universe came to be is not presented as a single, static fact, but as a series of increasingly refined theories (vāda-s) designed to lead a seeker from a dualistic worldview to the ultimate non-dual truth. This pedagogical technique is known as adhyāropa-apavāda—initially attributing qualities or a creation to Brahman (adhyāropa) and later rescinding them (apavāda) as the student’s understanding matures.

The following is an overall summary of these theories, progressing from the “common-sense” view to the radical absolute truth.

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jnAna through vicAra

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  [Note:  Dennis posted at the other thread a cryptic comment that says, “… whether self-enquiry can reveal the true self. If you say it can, then what is the pramANa?”  My response to it has become too long and because I expect that there could be questions or more comments  on my comment, I have taken the liberty to make my comment into a separate Post.]

The remark that was recently posted by Dennis hinting that vicAra cannot possibly be a valid  means for Self-realization leaves one rather nonplussed. It, at one stroke, blunts the entire approach of jnAna mArga, which is a highly valued and respected method for liberation in Shankara tradition. Or in order not to make that statement invalid, one has to force oneself to assign a very narrow meaning to the word pramANa conforming to the concept that the author has in his mind rather than what is understood to be a pramANa in scriptural literature.

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Interpreting shruti vAkya for eka jIva

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eka jIva vAda – Part – VI

upanishad  The Upanishads are the records of the “Knowledge” gained by the supremely dedicated Sages and Seers in the distant times through their incisive questioning and unbiased inquiry. They are written in the idiom and style of the day, at the same time taking a great care to see that the purity and pristine nature of the message is preserved for the posterity without getting mutilated by the passage of time. Hence, access to them was highly restricted. Their wording is very cryptic, symbolical and often too profound to be apparent to a casual reader. The Knowledge Itself, however, does not come with any tags of intellectual property rights or authorship claims. But expounding the real meaning of the text (called as ‘mantras’) demands expertise in many auxiliary fields like logic (nyAya), grammar(vyAkaraNa), prosody (chandas), orthology (nirukta) and linguistics in addition to a familiarity of the cultural milieu of the times. The Upanishads were transmitted orally to a closed group of eligible and committed students either by a father to son or teacher to disciple tradition. This method of imparting the Upanishadic Knowledge is known as sampradAya. In the absence of a Guru explicating them, it is impossible to make sense of them or understand clearly the meaning in-depth. Prakashananada’s interpretation of the svetaswatara Upanishad mantra IV – 5 following a dialectical approach of taking the thesis of the opponent and then providing its rebuttal to establish the eka jIva vAda typically illustrates the point made above. It is presented here as a conversation between an opponent and Swami Prakashananda Saraswati. Continue reading →