Introduction
In
recent times, the study of consciousness has caught the intent of great many
western philosophers and psychologists, even as the Indian and Western concepts
of consciousness are vastly different. In Indian tradition, consciousness is
the essence of the Supreme Reality and is called chit, whereas in
western tradition, consciousness is considered a function of the mind, which in
Indian tradition is called chitta, because it is through mind that the chit
manifests itself. This relation between chitta and chit is very
important for understanding the unfoldment of consciousness or chit.
Since chit manifests through chitta, modifications of chitta
and the states of chitta are of prime importance in understanding the
unfoldment of consciousness.
What
are the normal states of consciousness in us according to Indian thought? They
are waking (jâgrata), dreaming (swapna) and deep-sleep (sushupti)
consciousness. According to the Indian tradition, there is another state,
called turiya or transcendental, in which consciousness functions, or
manifests itself more or less bereft of the limitations of mind or chitta.
By the practice of yoga, one can transcend the three natural states of
consciousness and enter into transcendental consciousness. Some people have
coined the word ‘yogic consciousness’ for that state, and there could be
various types of yogic consciousness. Sri Ramakrishna’s life is like a large
museum of such yogic consciousness, and we shall now study that rich museum.
Various
States of Consciousness in Sri Ramakrishna
It
will be best to trace the changes in consciousness as they occurred in Sri Ramakrishna.
It is on record that Sri Ramakrishna had on several occasions in childhood,
showed signs of altered consciousness. Once while playing the part of Shiva, in
a drama, he manifested Shiva consciousness and became still in trance-like
state, called samâdhi. On another occasion, he was so stunned by the
beauty of a row of white cranes flying in front of a dark rain cloud that he
lost all outward consciousness. He was neither awake, nor dreaming, nor fallen
asleep. For all practical purposes, he fell ‘unconscious’ to the onlookers. But
later, while describing the experience, he said that he was experiencing great
bliss.
These
events were spontaneous, and no apparent cause could be ascribed to them,
except that Sri Ramakrishna was temperamentally more prone to such events. But,
let us now turn to the period when he consciously and deliberately undertook
yogic practices or spiritual practices. The practices were intense and serious
but we need not go into their details.
The
first result was that he almost completely conquered dream and sleep states of
consciousness. He did not sleep for six long years. The second result was that
his nervous system and physiology changed due to the impact of sâdhanâ. He
consciously practised renunciation of money, and the result was he could not
touch coins, or even metal, even in his sleep. His limbs would recoil if it
even unknowingly touched a coin. The third result was that at the height of
spiritual yearning he had the vision of God.
From
the point of unfoldment of consciousness, his description of that vision is
significant:
‘It was as if the houses, doors, temples
and all other things vanished altogether; as if there was nothing anywhere! And what I saw was
a boundless infinite Conscious Sea of Light!’ The Master told the devotees that
at that time he ‘saw a luminous sea of Consciousness.’
But
what about the Divine Mother’s form consisting of pure Consciousness only—the
form of Hers with hands that give boons and freedom from fear? Did the Master
then have the vision of that form also in that sea of Light? It appears that he
had; for as soon as he had the slightest outward consciousness at the time of
that vision, he, we are told, uttered repeatedly the word ‘Mother’ in a voice
choked with emotion.
Sri
Ramakrishna did not stop efforts after this one superconscious experience. He
went on with his yogic sâdhanâ till that state of consciousness became
natural to him. He started virtually living in that superconscious state. The
divine consciousness became more real to him than even the waking consciousness.
He expressed this truth in answer to Swami Vivekananda’s question, ‘Sir, have
you seen God?’ in the following words: ‘Yes, I have seen God. I have seen Him
more tangibly than I am talking to you.’
After
this, Sri Ramakrishna used to normally live at various levels of consciousness.
First, at the normal consciousness like any other individual - having waking,
dream and deep sleep experiences. However, there was a vital difference between
his waking state and that of ordinary individuals. Even in normal waking state
the divine consciousness was very much present in him. Only a fraction of his
mind, say 25% was active in waking state, whereas 75% of his mind used to
remain merged in divine consciousness. This state of consciousness has been
recommended by Swami Vivekananda also, when he advised us to keep 75% mind in
God and work with 25% in the world. Sri Ramakrishna used to advise catching
hold of God with one hand and doing the worldly duties with the other hand,
meaning thereby: keep a part of mind always in divine consciousness.
Secondly,
in the state, in which, he saw God everywhere, the forms of external objects of
the world were also visible. He expressed this, saying, ‘I am seeing everything
made of God, as it were.’ He could
experience the two states of consciousness simultaneously. Thirdly, there were
times when he would lose all outward consciousness, and merge completely into
divine consciousness. He would then totally lose all outward (waking)
consciousness. Many times he had tried to describe this state, but had failed.
The reason being, during that state, the mind itself is transcended. This is
called nirvikalpa samâdhi and the Vedas also verify it as a state beyond
mind, and which cannot be described in words: Yato vâcho nivartante, aprâpya
manasâ saha (Taittriyopanaishad).
The
various levels of superconscious states in which Sri Ramakrishna normally and
naturally lived, can be best described in the words of Swami Vivekananda, to
whom he actually transmitted these states. Sri Ramakrishna touched Swami
Vivekananda twice. Once, during one of the latter’s first visits, everything
forming the content of his waking consciousness started disappearing, till
finally his ego also was about to disappear. Swami Vivekananda described it as
follows:
‘The touch at once
gave rise to a novel experience within me. With my eyes open I saw that the
walls, and everything in the room, whirled rapidly and vanished into naught,
and the whole universe together with my individuality was about to merge in an
all-encompassing mysterious void! I was terribly frightened and thought that I
was facing death, for the loss of individuality meant nothing short of that. Unable
to control myself I cried out, “What is it that you are doing to me! I have my
parents at home!” He laughed aloud at this and stroking my chest said, “All
right, let it rest now. Everything will come in time!” The wonder of it was
that no sooner had he said this than that strange experience of mine vanished.’
On the second
occasion:
‘The Magic touch of
the Master that day immediately brought a wonderful change over my mind. I was
astounded to find that really there was nothing in the universe but God! I saw
it quite clearly, but kept silent to see whether the impression would last; but
it did not abate in the course of the day.’
‘… whether eating or
lying down, or going to college, I had the same experience and felt myself
always in a sort of trance. … When there was a slight change in this state, the
world began to appear dream-like. While walking in Cornwallis Square, I would
strike my head against the iron railings to see if they were real or only a
dream. This state of things continued for some days. When I became normal
again, I realized that I must have had a glimpse of the Advaita state.’
Swami
Vivekananda has also compared a specific state of consciousness with the
experience of mirage. One may be deceived by a mirage to begin with, but once
it is discovered, one may still continue to see it, but will not be deceived by
it. Similarly after a spiritual experience, one continues to see the world but
knows that it is unreal like a mirage.
To
recapitulate then, Sri Ramakrishna naturally dwelt in three types of super
conscious states:
1. When he totally transcended the relative world
and merged into transcendental consciousness of Brahman.
2. When he saw the world as God.
3. When he experienced the waking state as unreal,
as if in a dream, like the dream state or like a mirage.
The
first state cannot be described in words, except by negation, ‘Not this, not
this’ (neti neti). In the second, the phenomenal world is seen as God,
and in the third, the phenomenal world appears, unreal or shadowy, like a
dream.
Apart
from these three super conscious states, Sri Ramakrishna also dwelt in one more
state called bhâva-mukha. The word bhâva means idea or mood, or
mental states or the modifications of chitta, and mukha means
gateway, the mouth, or the opening or the beginning of ideas. Thus bhâva-mukha
means the state of consciousness from where moods or mental modifications
arise.
Now,
soon after the attainment of the advaitic consciousness - called nirvikalpa
samâdhi - in which Sri Ramakrishna remained for almost four months at a
stretch, he received a divine command: ‘Remain in bhâva-mukha.’ In other
words, he was commanded not to get merged in non-dual consciousness, nor yet
remain totally at the level of mental modifications at which most of us normally
live, but was commanded to remain at the borderline of the two realms, i.e., at
the state of consciousness where all the various moods and ideas and mental
modifications arise. In philosophical terms, he was commanded, and accordingly
lived for the rest of his life, at the borderline between the absolute, and the
relative, between the transcendental consciousness and the manifest
consciousness. This was the reason why he could with ease access and know the
moods of all the various people who came to him, or whom he met. He could read
the minds of people just as one sees into an almirah through its glass panel.
What a remarkable state of consciousness!
Practice
of Yoga
We
have discussed the various states of consciousness, chit, in Sri
Ramakrishna. Let us now turn to chitta, the mind, through which chit
manifests, of Sri Ramakrishna. For all practical purposes, consciousness as we
understand it today, refers mainly to mind or chitta.
Through
spiritual practice, Sri Ramakrishna had totally transformed his mind, chitta.
Patanjali, the father of yoga system, has defined yoga as
‘control of thought waves.’ This again is of two types. In one, all thought
waves, except one, are controlled, whereas in the other, all thought waves are
controlled. The first is called savikalpa samâdhi, the other is called nirvikalpa
samâdhi. Savikalpa samâdhi in which there is some content or pratyaya
in the consciousness, is again of various types. And interestingly, in Sri
Ramakrishna, most of these, are seen.
Take
for example, his merging into samâdhi while explaining the precepts of
the Vaishnava cult. While elaborating the precept that one must have compassion
on creatures, he went into samâdhi and on returning to normal consciousness,
threw such an extraordinary light of wisdom on this precept that it turned out
to become the guiding principle of the future Ramakrishna Mission. He said that
man was too weak and helpless to have compassion on creatures. Instead one must
serve creatures considering them as gods. This samâdhi is according to
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is called savichâra samâdhi, in which intense
concentration is applied on a particular precept.
In
nirvikalpa samâdhi, his mind became one, as it were, with absolute transcendental
consciousness. Not only his mind stopped working, even the bodily functions
came to a standstill. The corneal reflex (the blinking of the eyelids if
something touches the surface of the eyeball) was lost, and the pulse could not
be felt. Even the heart stopped beating!!
In
the savikalpa samâdhi, Sri Ramakrishna had various bhâvas—heightened
spiritual moods or emotions—and ‘visions’—both visual and auditory—depending
upon the idea or object occupying his mind or totally colouring his mind. For
example, when the thought or image of Rama or Krishna completely occupied his chitta,
and his consciousness was fully possessed by the idea, he had the vision of
Rama or Krishna. Such visions of Sri Ramakrishna are innumerable. At times,
this colouring of his mind or chitta would be so deep, that he would
loose his separate identity, and become, at it were, one with the object of
meditation, and he acted and behaved in a manner much different from his
natural way. While practising the mood of a Gopi, a woman worshipper and lover
of Sri Krishna, he thought and even physically acted like a woman!
In
the path of Bhakti or devotion, love of God is cultivated and heightened. This
leads to change in consciousness, mostly related to emotions like extreme agony
at the separation from God and intense joy at the experience of union. It is
said in devotional texts that there are as many as sixteen varieties of
spiritual emotional moods. All of these were experienced by Sri Ramakrishna.
Sometimes he would feel intense agony, which even manifested at the physical
level as burning sensation in the body, excessive perspiration, horripilation
tremors, etc. At the other extreme, he would sing and dance in great joy.
According
to yoga, mind is all-pervasive. There is an ocean of chitta, or mind,
and all the minds are interconnected. This is called chittâkâsha, or the
‘sky of mind!’ This also implies that with proper yogic training, a person can
communicate with others’ minds, can know their thoughts and feelings and even
control or modify them. Sri Ramakrishna had that capacity. His consciousness
had expanded to encompass all living creatures. He would feel pain when someone
stepped on the grass of the lawn. He would, during one stage, avoid stepping on
grass while walking, since he actually saw consciousness in the blades of
grass. Likewise once, while fighting, one boatman struck another with a rod,
Sri Ramakrishna cried out in pain and the mark of the rod was seen on his back.
To
be able to discern the ideas and thoughts arising in others’ minds was a daily
affair with Sri Ramakrishna. Many people have recorded that if ever they went
to Sri Ramakrishna with any specific question in their minds, they were often
surprised to find that he would start talking about the same subjects which
were uppermost in their minds.
Conclusion
The
unfoldment of consciousness as seen in Sri Ramakrishna—in its variety and
extent is unprecedented in the spiritual history of the world. He continuously lived at an entirely
different level of consciousness than that of others. This he attained by
intense spiritual practice. These practices encompass a wide range and with
each type of spiritual practice, there were corresponding changes in
consciousness. He never theorized about these matters. He was simply content to
live the life. And this is the great lesson for all of us. It is far more
important for us to do spiritual practice and actually experience altered
states of consciousness rather than merely speculate about them.
