Despite acquiring plenty of riches and luxuries
Peace and contentment will accrue to man
Only when he attains consciousness (Atma-tattva)
(SSB 2002, p. 179)
Heart is the consciousness. Consciousness is a reflection. If pure it is a clear reflection. It is by the Sankalpa of Baba that the reflection is seen. (CWBSSB, p. 112)
When you have achieved the consciousness that God is in you, with you, for you, that awareness must re-shape every thought, word and deed, and make you wish good, speak good, and do good. (SSS Vol.7, p. 460)
Purity of the consciousness is the essential prerequisite for Upasana; Single-minded Concentration is essential for Knowledge of Brahman. These can be got by Karma and Upasana; thus is Brahmajnana won. That is the reason why in the Shastras, Karma is first described and Upasana next and Jnanam last. (UV, p. 53)
The pure consciousness becomes apparently limited into a variety of individuals. In deep sleep, the variety disappears and each individual lapses back to this ‘is-ness’. Then, all the manifold activities, and experiences are destroyed. (UV, p. 55)
Speech (Vak), Mind (Manas) and Breath (Prana) are manifestations of the Atma. Each is related to a state of consciousness. They are: Jagrati (the waking state), Swapna (dream state) and Sushupti (deep sleep). In the Jagrat state, man is awake and experiences the outer world through sight, hearing, speech and other senses. The phenomenal universe is what one experiences through the five sense organs. The experience in the waking state is known as ‘Vishva’ because the experiences are the subtle form of the Cosmic principle. ‘Vishva’ has 24 constituent elements: the five organs of action, the five sense organs, the five basic elements and the five pranas and the mind, the Buddhi (intellect), the Citta (subconscious mind) and Ahamkara (ego-sense). In the dream state, only the four internal senses (the mind, the Buddhi, the Citta and Ahamkara) function.
They constitute the Antahkarana (the psycho-somatic agency). In this state, the experience has an effulgent form (Tejas) and is known as ‘Taijas’. ‘Sushupti’ is the state of deep sleep. In this state, Prajna alone remains (the Principle of Knowing). Hence the experiencer in this state is called ‘Prajna’ (the knower). ‘Vishva’, ‘Taijasa’ and ‘Prajna’ are all different names for Atma (in the different states of consciousness), according to the different forms assumed by the Atma in the various states. (SSS Vol.20, p. 48)
Prajnanam Brahma declares the Upanishad. Jnana, Vijnana, Prajnana, Sujnana and Ajnana are modifications of one and the same principle of Consciousness. Prajnana comprehends all
that is experienced by the Antahkarana through impressions received by the sense organs—the eyes, the mouth, the ears, the nose, etc. Prajnana is immanent in Antahkarana as the principle which absorbs and interprets the messages received through the senses. The eyes, for instance, are like the bulb in a lamp. The bulb cannot emit light. It needs the electric current to make it bum. Likewise the eyes cannot see by themselves. It is the Prajnana which sees through the eyes. The same thing applies to the ears and the other organs. They all need power of the inner current to do their work. All the sense organs are insentient by themselves. It is Prajnana that animates them and makes them instruments of the Chaitanya (Consciousness).
The universe contains innumerable objects. In all of them, the one unchanging, eternal principle is the Atma. That is Prajnana. That is Brahman. It is the power of this eternal principle, which sustains the evanescent and ever changing objects in the universe, ‘Asti’ ‘Bhati’ and ‘Priyam’ are three indices of the Divine (Existing, Shining and Pleasing). Sat-cit-ananda are the attributes of the Divine. Sat indicates permanence. Cit indicates Omniscience. ananda is the state of unalloyed bliss. These three attributes of the Divine are changeless and have no form or name. When these three get associated with objects which have name and form, we have the Prapancha - the quintuple phenomenal universe. The cosmos is permeated by the Divine. Even if you are unable to see it, the Divine is present in everything. All the senses function because of the Consciousness that operates in every being. Without that consciousness man would be an insentient creature. (SSS Vol.20, p. 48)
The different states of consciousness are mutually exclusive. You cannot experience in one state what you have gone through in another. For instance, in a dream you may weep over the death of a person. But when you wake up, you don’t weep for the person who died in the dream. What happened in the dream is true only in the dream state. In the waking state it is unreal (Mithya). Likewise we do not lament in a dream over a person who died in the waking state. Each experience is real only in its state of consciousness. But the one principle that is common to all the states of consciousness – waking, dream and sleep – is the Atma. Atma is common to all states of consciousness. Atma is not bound by the limitations of time, space and circumstances. (SSS Vol.20, p. 48)
The world is made up of objects. It is inert. In the waking state, our senses cognise all these objects: But the senses are also inert. The eyes that see, the ears that hear, the tongue that speaks and the nose that smells - all of them are inert (jada). In fact, the entire body is inert. But all these inert organs are able to function because of the presence of consciousness (chaitanya) in the mind, the intellect, the citta and the ahamkara. Thus we have to realise that the entire phenomenal universe has to be treated as inert matter. (SSS Vol.21, p. 70)
Worldly love is not genuine love; the love of the Atma is the source of all such love. The Upanishad announces that this was the teaching that Yajnavalkya imparted to Maitreyi ‘Atmanastu Kamaya sarvam priyam bhavati’ (It is for one’s Atma that all is dear). Love for the self is primary; love for other objects is secondary. If one loves another that cannot be termed as love. The self craves for ananda and loves because of the ananda derivable there from. Anuraga or affection or love flows from self towards self. So, when the Atmic Reality is understood as the source, we can know that all this happens through the Supreme Consciousness, Brahma chaitanya. (Sutra Vahini, p. 42)