Spiritual Message for the Day – Sat-Chit-Ananda or God-Consciousness by Sri Swami Krishnananda

Baba Times Digest© | 24 September 2014 15.28 EST | New York Edition

Sat-Chit-Ananda or God-Consciousness

Divine Life Society Publication: The Study and Practice of yoga by Sri Swami Krishnananda

What is action? It is nothing but the movement of the subject towards an object for a particular purpose. This movement is possible only when there is externality, spatiality and distance, etc. between the subject and object. This has been eliminated thoroughly, and therefore there is no movement of the mind towards an object. Therefore there is no desire for the object and there is also no possibility for any activity, because the very goal of activity has been achieved by the merger of all conditions of action into the very subjectivity of consciousness.

This is the state of sat-chit-ananda, as the Vedanta tells us – Pure Existence, Pure Knowledge, Pure Bliss. The existence of all things becomes one with the consciousness that knows. The satta or the Pure, All-Pervading Essential Being of everything becomes the universal content of the knowing consciousness which, to keep itself abreast with the extent of this content that is universal, also has to be universal, so that the consciousness that knows this universal object is also universal. It is not an individual's mind or consciousness that cognises a universal object, because the subject and the object should be on a par. The individual object can be cognised or perceived by an individual subject, but the universal object or the universal content cannot enter into an individual's consciousness. So here, the object is universal. Śruta anumāna prajñābhyām anyaviṣayā viśeṣārthatvāt (I.49). Here, this knowledge takes an infinite shape. This is called brahmakara-vritti in Vedantic language.

A vritti is a condition of the mind, a psychic state. This state which the mind assumes or reaches, where its content is infinity itself, is called brahmakara-vritti, apart from what is known as vishayakara-vritti or the psychic condition which projects itself towards an object outside. The vritti or the mental state which tends to move externally towards an object is vishayakara-vritti. It is motivated by desire, and further action to fulfil the desire. But brahmakara-vritti is the fulfillment of all other vrittis, as the ocean is the fulfillment of all rivers. Here the mental condition does not require the motion of itself towards any external existence; rather, there is an identity of the object with itself. This vritti destroys all other vrittis. As it is sometimes said, the clearing nut (called the kathaka nut), which when dissolved in water, allows all the dirt in the water to subside – and then itself subsides too. Though soap is applied to the cloth to remove dirt, the soap itself does not become dirt. It cleanses itself together with the process of its cleaning all dirt out of the substance. Likewise, this vritti, which is infinite in nature, which is the universal expansion of the mind, makes it impossible for all other vrittis to manifest, because it has taken into possession every existent feature. It compels all of the other vrittis to subside and destroy themselves in its own bosom, and then it itself subsides. Then there is a subsidence of all vrittis, a coming down of all features tending towards individuality and externality, etc. All impressions vanish in toto. The very seed of further rise into individuality is fried in the fire of knowledge.

The impression or sense of Being that we are referring to, pure asmita matra, is also no longer felt. Tasyāpi nirodhe sarvanirodhāt nirbījaḥ samādhiḥ (I.51). When even the brahmakara-vritti ceases; when even the consciousness of the universe as an object is not there any more; when the very question of objectivity loses its meaning; when consciousness does not know anything as an object, not even the universe itself in its completeness; when what is known by consciousness is its own Self and not somebody else, not even the cosmos - that is known as the resting of consciousness in its own Self.

Tada draṣṭuḥ svarūpe avasthānam (I.3). The Seer rests in its own Self. There is no longer a necessity to move towards an object outside for the purpose of acquiring knowledge, because knowledge does not mean acquaintance with an object. It is the entry of the subject into the being of the object. This is intuition, and this is equal to the resting of consciousness in its own Self. The knowing process no longer exists as a process – it becomes part of Being. The process of knowing, which was earlier valid in respect of objects outside, becomes a movement of the ocean of knowledge, and gets identified with the Being of the Knower.

This is the meaning of the term 'sat-chit-ananda' mentioned in our scriptures – the state of God-consciousness or Realisation.

Excerpts from: Sat-Chit-Ananda or God-Consciousness  - The Study and Practice of yoga by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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