Mind, Body, Awareness, Chittam, Memory, God, Soul, Intelligence

What did you say? And what did you mean by it?

Moderators: AMod, iMod

Post Reply
dattaswami
Posts: 653
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 11:42 am

Mind, Body, Awareness, Chittam, Memory, God, Soul, Intelligence

Post by dattaswami »

MIND, BODY, AWARENESS, CHITTAM, MEMORY, GOD, SOUL, Intelligence

Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Devadatta scolding his son called Rāma for his foolish act said, “O Rāma! You are the biggest idiot!” The same Devadatta, while sitting in his prayer room was saying “O Rāma! You are the greatest God”. Here, the word Rāma has two meanings, as per the context. In the first context, Rāma is a foolish boy, whereas, in the second context, Rāma is the past Human Incarnation of God. A word has different meanings, suitable to the different contexts, in which it is used. Similarly, the word śārīraka, which basically means the ‘possessor of the body’, can have several meanings, depending on the context:

(1) The first meaning can be the unimaginable God after He has entered into His creation as an Energetic or Human Incarnation and is surrounded by the world, which itself is like a body for Him (Viśvarūpam). (2) The second meaning can be an Energetic Incarnation, in which the soul with God already merged in it, is present with the energetic body surrounding it. (3) The third meaning can be a Human Incarnation, in which the soul with God already merged in it, is present in a material body surrounding it. (4) Śārīraka could also mean an energetic being (without God) in which the soul is surrounded by an energetic body. (5) It could also mean a human being (without God) in which the soul is surrounded by a material body. We have to take one of these five meanings for the word śārīraka or the possessor of the body, as per the context and we cannot generalize it to only one meaning, in all contexts.

Brahma Sūtras

Sage Vyāsa only named His aphorisms as the Brahma Sūtram. Later on, scholars introduced this name, Śārīraka Sūtram. The very first sūtram, declares that the text is beginning the inquiry about God. In the second sūtram, it is said that God is that unimaginable item from which this creation emerged, in whom it sustains and into whom it dissolves, in the end. If the God referred to in the first sūtram were the mediated God, i.e., God present in a body, the second sūtram would have given a detailed description of His body, which would have been the direct identity marks of the mediated God (svarūpa lakṣaṇam). But the second sūtram only says that God is the creator of this world, which is only an indirect identity mark (taṭastha lakṣaṇam). This means that the God referred to in the first sūtram is the unimaginable God, without any medium or body.

In the same first pāda (quarter) of the first chapter, there are some sūtrams, which reject the idea that the soul itself is God (Bhedavyapadeśācca). Here, the word śārīra means an energetic being or a human being. When God merges with the soul of a being or sometimes, when He merges with the entire body and soul of that being, that particular being becomes the unimaginable God. In that case, there is no trace of any difference between the unimaginable God and His Energetic or Human Incarnation. Therefore, the word śārīra only indicates an energetic or human being and not an Energetic or Human Incarnation. There is no difference between the non-mediated unimaginable God and the mediated unimaginable God. A letter given to you straight or the same letter given to you, enveloped in a cover, is one and the same. The word śārīra may mean either the mediated God or the mediated soul, as per the context.

The second sūtram says that God is He from whom this world is created. If you take Kṛṣṇa, the Human Incarnation or mediated God, He showed the miracle of the cosmic vision. In this vision, the world appeared from Him as created. It was maintained for some time and it disappeared into Him, after some time. The Vedic definition for the unimaginable God is He from whom this world is created, by whom this world is maintained and into whom this world dissolves (Yato vā imāni bhūtāni...). This definition applies straight to Kṛṣṇa, who showed the cosmic vision in which this world emerged from Kṛṣṇa, was maintained by Kṛṣṇa for some time and it dissolved back into Kṛṣṇa, after some time. This is the best proof for the absence of any difference between the non-mediated God and the mediated God. Sage Vyāsa is the same author of the Brahma Sūtrams, the Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad Gītā in which both the non-mediated unimaginable God (Brahman) and the mediated God by the name Kṛṣṇa were described. While composing the second sūtram of the Brahma Sūtrams, sage Vyāsa’s mind must have been influenced by the cosmic vision of Kṛṣṇa also, which He had described in the Gītā.

Pañca Kośas: The Five Systems

The five systems of the human being (pañca kośas) are: food, which is called annamaya kośa, oxygen-containing air, which is called prāṇamaya kośa, mind, which is called manomaya kośa, intellect, which is called vijñānamaya kośa and continuous happiness, which is called ānandamaya kośa. The sequence in which these systems are described shows that the soul’s final goal is to be continuously happy. All these five systems have been said to be Brahman, in the Veda. This simply means that all of them are very great, as per the root meaning of the word Brahman (bṛhi vṛddhau). Although each of the five are very important, the soul gives the topmost importance to the attainment of permanent happiness.
Let us see why each of the five are important: (1) Food (annam) is very important because, without it, the person cannot even survive. Hence, the analysis of food for its components like carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals etc., is to be kept in mind, so that all these nutrients can be consumed in order to maintain the body and the brain in good health. (2) Non-polluted and richly-oxygenated air (prāṇaḥ) for respiration is again very good for the health of the body and the brain. Oxygen releases energy in the body for all the bodily functions. About 20% of inhaled oxygen goes to the brain to maintain it in good health. Sages left cities and stayed in forests for this good air. The body and the mind are linked and if one is spoiled the other also gets spoiled. (3) The mind (manaḥ) should be kept under strict control with certain rules, as it interacts with the external world. The mind and the intellect constitute the form of the soul.

The mind creates one idea (saṅkalpa) and immediately creates an alternative idea (vikalpa) also. The mind is the reins that control the sense-horses. The mind cannot make any decision on its own since it is in the hands of the intellect. (4) The intellect (buddhi) forms the (vijñānamaya kośa) and it is the driver of the chariot. It keeps the mind-reins under its control. Logical analysis is the strength of the intellect, with the help of which it controls the senses through mind. The ideas decided by the intellect are stored in the cittam, which is like the GPS system in the hands of the driver of the car. The basic ego is the I-thought. It is part of the individual soul (jīva). The individual soul is sometimes, simply called soul and it is the owner sitting in the car. The body is like the car. The entire cluster of systems is in the hands of the driver, which is the intellect. The fate of the owner is also in the hands of the intellect-driver. (5) Continuous happiness (ānanda) is the final goal to be reached by the owner or the individual soul (jīva), who is travelling in the body-vehicle.

Some think that the soul is bliss or continuous happiness. They think that the soul is a modification of bliss. But the soul is pure awareness and it is called ānandamaya, only when it is mixed with bliss. The word maya (mayaṭ pratyaya) denotes not only modification (vikāra), but also predominance (prācurya). Therefore, bliss is not the soul. Neither is the soul modified bliss. When this pure awareness (śārīra ātmā) is mixed with sharp analysis, it is called intelligence. Hence, pure awareness or soul is the soul of intelligence (vijñānamaya) and of continuous happiness (ānandamaya). This is the meaning of “Yaḥ pūrvasya”. Intelligence is like a golden chain in the neck, whereas, bliss is like the golden crown on the head. The close association of these two indicates that the soul having intelligence becomes continuously happy because intellectual analysis always leads the soul in the right direction of getting permanent happiness. It is like the driver of the car leading the owner on the correct path to reach the destination of happiness. When even the imaginable soul is not bliss, how can the unimaginable God be bliss?

Bliss is only a quality of the soul and not the soul itself. The soul is sometimes associated with grief also, which is not happiness. If you say that the soul is associated with bliss, it must have also previously been associated with intelligence (Yaḥ pūrvasya) because intellectual analysis alone makes the soul attain happiness. Unless the soul or pure awareness is separate from happiness, there is no need for the soul to associate with bliss in order to become happy. If bliss were an independent item, there would be no need of a previous association with intelligence to become bliss. For more clarification, this means that awareness or the soul is an independent item that can be associated with the mind or intelligence. The soul or awareness can be associated with bliss or with the mind or with intelligence. Without the association of awareness, mind, intelligence or bliss cannot exist. The thinking activity of awareness is mind.

The activity of awareness involving analysis to reach a conclusion is intelligence and the activity of awareness producing extreme happiness is bliss. Awareness by itself is not bliss. If it were so, no soul (awareness) would ever be unhappy. Awareness associated with intelligence leads to extreme happiness or bliss, which is the next step after intelligence. If awareness itself were bliss, then intelligence associated with awareness would have meant that the intelligence is already associated with bliss. In that case, there would be no need of a separate system called bliss (ānandamayakośa). But bliss is said to come only after crossing intelligence (Vijñānamayam ātmānam upasaṅkrāmya…—Veda).

In that case, even the mind associated with awareness would mean that the mind is always associated with bliss. Then there would be no need of intelligence and bliss separately, after the mind because mind itself would be bliss. Therefore, awareness by itself is not bliss, but that awareness is associated with bliss. The pure awareness (śārīra ātmā), when associated with analysis is intelligence, when associated with varying ideas is mind and when associated with continuous happiness is bliss.

People say that the soul is sat-cit-ānanda. Sat means existence. The soul only has a relative existence. God alone has an absolute existence. So, in the context of the soul, sat only means relative existence and not absolute existence. Cit means awareness. It means that the soul is pure awareness. Ānanda means continuous happiness. It is only a quality with which the soul is associated. Hence, the soul is not continuous happiness or ānanda itself. If you try to apply this term sat-cit-ānanda to God, sat means the absolute reality or absolute existence, which is unimaginable. But that unimaginable reality cannot be the imaginable awareness or cit.

Ānanda or continuous happiness is also neither God nor even the soul since it is only a state or quality that can be associated with either God or soul. Soul is imaginable awareness and God is unimaginable awareness. Both soul and God have awareness in common, in a qualitative sense. It means that both have the ability to know oneself and other things. But in a quantitative sense, both are different because God knows everything while the soul knows very little. Since no soul can know everything, this quantitative difference makes the soul imaginable, whereas, God is unimaginable.
Analysis of the Soul or God?

The analysis of five systems (pañca kośa) applies to the human being because, in an energetic being, there is no respiration (prāṇamaya kośa). They do not consume material food either (annamaya kośa). The food consumed by energetic beings is inert energy, which is directly taken from cosmic energy. That inert energy directly transforms into nervous energy in the energetic beings, without the need of a materialised nervous system, through an unimaginable arrangement made by God. The other three systems (manomaya, vijñānamaya and ānandamaya) are common to both energetic and human beings. This Vedic analysis of the five systems can be applied to an ordinary human being and there is no reference to God in this topic. The analysis concludes with the identification of pure awareness as the soul. The word Brahman used in this context is only in the sense of greatness, whereby each of the systems are merely said to be great (Brahman).

If you take the word Brahman used in this context to mean God, then it becomes the analysis of the Human Incarnation of God. The Human Incarnation also contains the same ordinary human being as the medium. The human medium is one component and the unimaginable God is the other component of the Human Incarnation. In the case of the human medium of the Incarnation, starting from the body (annamaya), all the five systems, including the pure awareness-soul become God. This is because the unimaginable God merges into the medium to become one single entity. Thus, each of the systems in the Human Incarnation can be called Brahman or God. Unless we agree that the body also becomes God in an Incarnation, we cannot explain the tender finger of the body of the small boy called Kṛṣṇa lifting the huge Govardhana hill.

Remember that nowhere in this topic, is it directly said that the body is not Brahman. Analyzing one system after another, as done in the Veda, each is declared to be Brahman. This means that in the Incarnation, each one of the systems is found to have become God. After analyzing one system, just because we proceed to analyze the next, it does not mean that each of the systems are not found to be God. Even elsewhere, the Veda supports this concept that both the internal and external systems of the human medium of the Incarnation become God (Antarbahiśca...). The internal systems include the mind (manomaya), intelligence (vijñānamaya) and happiness (ānandamaya). The external systems include the body, which is the modification of food (annamaya) and the energy released through respiration (prāṇamaya).

If your goal is to arrive at the soul, this investigation becomes the investigation of an ordinary human being. But if your goal is to arrive at God, the Human Incarnation becomes the subject of this investigation. The Human Incarnation consists of the God-component and the human being-component, which is the medium. Since the medium of God in the Incarnation is a selected human being, taking the Human Incarnation as the subject of this investigation, automatically covers even the case of the ordinary human being.
Three Components of the Five Systems

There are three basic component-materials of these five systems and they are: (1) inert energy, (2) inert matter and (3) the non-inert awareness. Of course, inert matter can be considered to be a condensed form of inert energy, whereas, the non-inert awareness is a specific work-form of inert energy. Thus, the five systems can be classified into these three categories, based on their three basic components. When we say inert matter, even though the matter is a condensed form of energy and even though it contains inert energy in the form of bond energy, binding energy, rotational energy, vibrational energy etc., these energies are neglected. We simply use the word matter. When we say the word inert energy, the rest mass of the fundamental unit of energy like a photon is neglected and we simply use the word energy. When we say non-inert awareness, even though the awareness is a specific work-form of inert energy, it is simply called the non-inert awareness.

The souls and the bodies of human beings, energetic beings, Human Incarnations and Energetic Incarnations can be classified into the three categories as follows: (1) Non-inert relative and imaginable awareness includes the souls of human and energetic beings. It also includes the souls of human and energetic Incarnations, before the merging of the unimaginable God with them. The souls include the mind, intellect, happiness and so on. (2) Inert energy includes the bodies of energetic beings and energetic Incarnations.

(3) Inert matter includes the bodies of human beings and Human Incarnations which contain the various material systems like the digestive system, lungs, kidneys, heart, brain, nervous system etc.

Let us analyse a Human Incarnation like Lord Krishna. Datta is the first Energetic Incarnation with which the unimaginable God or Parabrahman is merged. God Datta became another Energetic Incarnation called God Viṣṇu. God Viṣṇu merged with Vāsudeva, the Son of Vasudeva, to become God Kṛṣṇa, the Human Incarnation. The unimaginable God, the soul of God Datta, the soul of God Viṣṇu and the soul of Kṛṣṇa are found to be merged with each other as one. The unimaginable God, the energetic body of God Datta and the energetic body of God Viṣṇu are found to have merged with the material body of Kṛṣṇa. The annamaya and the prāṇamaya, which are the material body and the respiratory system that releases energy, belong to the human being-component called Kṛṣṇa. The energetic bodies of God Datta and God Viṣṇu have merged with the material body of God Kṛṣṇa. The souls of all the three—God Datta, God Viṣṇu and God Kṛṣṇa—have merged together.

The unimaginable God has merged with all the components and hence, finally, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and the unimaginable God. The mind, intellect and happiness of all the three have merged, resulting in the divinised mind, intellect and happiness of Kṛṣṇa, due to the merging of the unimaginable God. Due to the same reason of the merging of the unimaginable God, the body of Kṛṣṇa, which is merged with the energetic bodies of God Datta and God Viṣṇu, is also divinised. Thus, God Kṛṣṇa is the direct Incarnation of God Viṣṇu and an indirect Incarnation of God Datta. God Datta is the direct Incarnation of the unimaginable God. If you see through a microscope or through the capability of the imagination of the intellect, you can grasp all the components, except the unimaginable God.

We can say that the unimaginable God is the possessor of the body (śārīraka) and all the rest of Kṛṣṇa, is the body (śarīram). Setting the unimaginable God aside for some time, you can also take each of the Incarnations one by one. The energetic body of Datta is the śarīram and the soul of Datta is the śārīraka. Similarly, the energetic body of Viṣṇu is the śarīram of Viṣṇu that covers the soul of Viṣṇu, which is the śārīraka. Similarly, the material body of Kṛṣṇa is the śarīram that covers the śārīraka, which is the soul of Kṛṣṇa. All the miraculous knowledge and miracles of Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu and Datta are due to the invisible and unimaginable God (Parabrahman) alone. He is the ultimate Śārīraka.

Ego and Memory

The nervous system including the brain comes under the category of inert matter. But its functioning comes under the non-inert awareness, which includes mind, intelligence and bliss. Apart from the mind, intelligence and bliss, which have been discussed, memory (cittam) and the basic ego (ahaṅkāra) also exist. But both these were not mentioned in the five systems. The reason is that the basic ego is always associated with the general awareness that is produced upon waking up from deep sleep. Anyway, during the above analysis, the general awareness has been established as a separate entity, other than mind, intelligence and bliss. It has been named as the soul or more precisely, as the individual soul. Hence, the basic ego does not come under the five systems, due to its constant association with the general awareness, which acts as the individual soul. Coming to the faculty of memory called cittam, it has two inherent functions (Citi saṃjñāne smaraṇe ca):

(1) It functions as the process of knowing some object including the self and

(2) It functions as the process of storing the decisions made by the intellect. The first function is the inherent characteristic of the general awareness and hence, it need not have an independent place. The second function of storing decisions as pulses in the ‘memory chip’ of the brain is an extended faculty of the intellect itself. It is like the electromagnetic disk or memory chip of an electronic device that stores information. When this memory, comes in contact with the general awareness, upon waking up from deep sleep, the stored information is displayed, just as the stored information in the electronic device gets displayed when the power is turned on. Hence, the five systems along with the individual soul gives the total picture of the soul, which is a tiny part of the imaginable creation.

Conclusion

Vedic statements are multi-dimensional and they have the possibility of multiple interpretations which are perfectly logical and correct. Even in the epics written by human poets a verse could be interpreted in different ways. In the above topic, the śārīraka or the ‘embodied one’ present in the five systems, can be broadly interpreted to be the mediated God (Human Incarnation) or an ordinary ignorant human being. Let us look at both interpretations.

Śārīraka as an ignorant human being

The ignorant human being initially misunderstood the materialised gross body (annamaya kośa) to be the mediated God. Then it realised its mistake and crossed the gross body, but instead, wrongly identified the materialised respiratory system (prāṇamaya kośa) to be the mediated God. Upon analysis, it crossed this second system also and misidentified the third system called mind (manomaya kośa) as mediated God. This third system is physically based on the brain and nervous system. Similarly, it crossed this system also and misidentified the fourth system called intelligence (vijñānamaya kośa) as mediated God. This fourth system is also physically based on the brain and nervous system. This is also crossed and the final system called the ānandamaya kośa, which is not materialized and which is associated with the individual soul as a quality, is identified as the mediated God.

Bliss can even be taken as a mode of energy because the individual soul itself is awareness, which is a specific work-form of energy. Bliss can act as a medium for the unimaginable, non-mediated God. However, in the case of the ignorant human being, this bliss remains as only the medium—without God. It is important to note that a soul need not always be associated with bliss. Sometimes, the soul may also be associated with grief, due to the intellect working in the wrong direction.

When the association of the soul with bliss itself is not permanent, we can never say that the soul is bliss. However, bliss is taken to be the final goal that the soul seeks to attain since every soul always tries to get bliss or extreme happiness. In this way, bliss, which is the ultimate goal, can serve as a representative model (pratīka) for God. Even though the brain and the nervous system are the common physically-visible system responsible for mind, intelligence and bliss, the three differ in the nature of awareness associated with the brain and the nervous system. The mind thinks, the intelligence analyzes in order to make a decision and bliss is an optional quality of awareness. Thus, these three modes of awareness differ from each other.

Food gives inert energy that gets converted into awareness and hence, the digestive system in which food is digested, is the first system. Hence, it is linked to awareness directly. It is linked to bliss indirectly since bliss is an optional quality of awareness or soul. The second system of respiration is also similarly directly linked to the awareness.

In this way, all the systems existing in the body are directly or indirectly linked to awareness. Without these systems, awareness is not produced. It disappears in their absence. Thus, awareness depends on several systems of the body. The third system and the fourth system are both the result of the functioning of the brain and the nervous system, which is directly responsible for producing awareness. It is in the brain and the nervous system that inert energy gets converted into a specific work-form of energy called awareness. That awareness acts in the modes of mind and intelligence.

Awareness is the soul, but the soul is neither the non-mediated God nor the mediated God. God is independent and does not depend on any system. He is the ultimate substratum of the whole creation. Hence, this topic from the angle of soul is the topic of a soul trying to achieve bliss, which is not God, but is only a quality of the soul. Hence, even the ānandamaya kośa is only accepted as a kośa or a medium in which God can potentially enter. It is not God directly. The soul does not wish to attain grief.

Hence, bliss is only an optional quality of the soul which is mentioned as the soul’s ultimate goal. The mind thinks whether a particular way to get bliss is proper or not since the nature of mind is to propose one thing (saṅkalpa) and dispose of it in order to propose something else (vikalpa). This constantly changing mind cannot be God and it cannot even be the ultimate goal of the soul. Next comes intelligence, which analyses and reaches the correct decision (niścaya). If this intelligence goes wrong, the result is grief. If it proceeds in the right direction, the result is bliss. But since there is a possibility of the intelligence making wrong decisions, it cannot be God. It can only be a tool to attain bliss which is the ultimate goal of the soul. Even though bliss is the ultimate goal of the soul, it cannot be God since it is only an optional quality of the soul. It can disappear in case the intelligence goes wrong.

Śārīraka as a Human Incarnation (Mediated God)

In the Human Incarnation, all the above systems exist just like in the case of an ordinary human being, as described above. The difference is that, in the Human Incarnation, the intelligence never goes wrong to produce grief as the ultimate result. You may say that the Human Incarnation also suffers with grief as in the case of Rāma who wept for Sītā when she was stolen by Rāvaṇa. Rāma means the one who is always entertained (Ramate iti Rāmaḥ). He is blissful even in grief. Just as one enjoys both happy and tragic incidents while watching a movie, the mediated God enjoys the happy and tragic incidents in creation. This is because, the mediated God is basically the absolute reality.

The unimaginable God has perfectly merged with the medium of the Incarnation. So, the Incarnation is the absolute reality while creation is only a relative reality. Such equal enjoyment of happiness and tragedy in life is called yoga (Samatvaṃ yoga ucyate—Gītā). It is not possible for the soul to attain it since the soul is only a part of the relatively-real creation. The soul can get bliss or continuous enjoyment provided the intelligence is always functioning in the right direction. Such continuous right functioning of the intelligence is also not possible due to the powerful influences of the external atmosphere of the divine play called māyā and also due to the influence of the soul’s inherent atmosphere of ignorance, which is called avidyā.

In the case of the Human Incarnation, the crossing of all the five systems can be explained in the following way: The unimaginable God merges with the body as well as the soul of a selected devotee (Antarbahiśca…—Veda) to become an Incarnation. Hence, all the systems of the Incarnation’s body become the unimaginable God (Annaṃ Brahmeti vyajānāt etc.). The mind, intelligence and bliss are always linked with awareness or the soul. Hence, these three systems associated with awareness also become God—both internally and externally.

This means that the nervous system and the brain system are materialised in the external sense, while they are are associated with awareness in the internal sense. They represent the body externally and the soul internally. Even the system of bliss becomes God in the Incarnation. But in an ordinary human being, bliss is not God because God has not entered into every human being. God enters only into a specific devotee to become a Human Incarnation for the welfare of creation.

Hence, this analysis applies only to a specific divinised devotee, who is the Human Incarnation. This is just like the four states of waking (jāgrat), dreaming (svapna), deep sleep (suṣupti) and the supreme (turīya), explained in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣat, which apply only to the case of Human Incarnation. In the case of the ordinary human being, only the first two states apply. The third state also applies but, in that state, there is no soul that is aware to experience anything. As per the Upaniṣat, the witness in the third state, known as the prājña, is said to be the creator of the world (Sarvasya yoniḥ). This clearly indicates that the discussion of all the four states is only in the context of Human Incarnation and not an ordinary soul.
-By Shri Datta Swami

www.universal-spirituality[.]org

Universal Spirituality for World Peace
Post Reply