COMPOSURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The Samprasāda, or composure of consciousness, is a perspicacious description in Chandogya Upanishad (8.3.4) representing the state of Sushupti, or deep dreamless sleep, wherein Atman, or Self, experiences the highest bliss and is free from the turbulences of the waking and dreaming states. It rises above the body-mind complex with the affliction of attachment, agitation, and impetuosity to experience the highest serenity, perceptive peace, and Self-luminosity to realise its true nature, which is Amritam (immortal), Abhayam (fearless), and Satyam (truth), or one with Brahman, or Supreme Self. The Upanishad emphasises the shift from identifying with the transient psycho-physical system to being aware of the eternal, self-effulgent, transcendental, and imperishable Brahman, the Sat-Chit-Ananda (existence, consciousness, and bliss). It describes Samprasada as a state of supreme serenity and luminous tranquillity. While the waking state involves impurities through the senses, and the dream state involves a mixture of memory and experience, deep sleep (Samprasada) is characterised by the cessation of all mental and sensory activities, where it is described as the state of self-luminosity, where the Jivatma, or embodied Atman, having withdrawn from the body and senses, rests within the heart to experience its own true nature. It is the withdrawal of consciousness from the objective dimension of the phenomenal world to the subjective one of Ultimate Reality, full of everlasting and imperishable bliss. It is of non-duality, desirelessness, detachment, equanimity, forbearance, being unaffected by waking and dreaming, and of pure consciousness.

 1. Outline

 Consciousness becomes disarrayed and loosens its composure and serenity due to the veil of ignorance once we start to locate ourselves outwardly. This perception is conceived by our mind and operated through our sense organs. This effect galvanises us to think that our body-mind complex is all we are, and we need to take pride in its nourishment and sustainability. The entire conundrum of “I” originates from that conception cocooned in a psycho-physical structure. That consciousness of “I”, since its emanation from that transient vortex body-mind complex, tends to move itself more towards the ephemeral outer world and gets itself overwhelmed by the whirlpool of a world of opposites intertwined with love and hatred, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, happiness and distress, and birth and death, with no solution in sight, unless there is an endeavour to move inward to experience Atman, or Self, the complete, wholesome, and full of undiminished bliss. This is called withdrawal from the Samsara Chakra, or the wheel of birth and death, to one’s true nature through self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-realisation, and self-consciousness. This is to release oneself from what sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda says is the influence of an external toxic matter due to which there is no proper thinking and understanding. As this toxic effect subsides, he observes, there arises serenity, tranquillity, and composure of experience. He feels as if something new has come into his life. He wakes up as if there is a new daylight before him. This is Samprasada, or the composure of consciousness, which arises on account of the freedom of consciousness from bodily shackles. The moment this consciousness is freed from bodily attachment, it rises upwards, as it were, like a flame of brilliance. It is the supreme luminosity. It is light in its own right, a light that does not require another light to illuminate itself, Paramajyoti, or supreme luminosity. When one attains this Paramajyoti, which is one's own real nature, one is established in one's true self. Then one is in one's true form. As we wake up from a dream and recognise our true nature as being different from what we felt ourselves to be in the dream, so does one recover one's real nature and shake off the old notions of connections with bodies, one differing from the other. One state of consciousness imagines that it is an animal, another state of consciousness imagines that it is a human being, and so on and so forth. Various states identify themselves with various forms of experience, which are called the bodies. They may be animals or human beings or celestials. Whatever they are, those forms are cast off on account of Consciousness extracting itself from those shackles, and it stands by itself as a liberated being. This is Atman that is free from entanglement in any kind of form. This is the Immortal. It is the misidentification with the body that is the cause of immortality. This is what we call Brahman, the Absolute, ultimately the universal nature of this Atman. What we call Truth, about which we have been speaking up to this time, is Brahman Itself. We may call It  Atman or Brahman. It makes no difference. This is the Truth, because That alone is, That which is in all three periods of time. This Truth knows no distinction regarding the passage of time. That is perpetually what It is without distinction either in space or in time. That is Atman, and that is what we call Brahman, proclaims Swami Krishnananda in his commentary on the Chāndogya Upanishad.

2. Scriptures 

The scriptures state that when a person is in his composure of consciousness, or Samprasada, he is said to have knowledge and consciousness of Atman, or Self. In this state, senses and the entire Antaḥkaraṇa, comprising intellect, mind, ego, and memory, remain non-operative. In this there are neither dream objects as in the dream state nor objects of enjoyment as in the wakeful state. In the deep sleep state one does not experience any object, external as in wakefulness or internal as in a dream, gross as in wakefulness or subtle as in a dream, which are the characteristics of the two states. Consciousness in this state is called Prājña, and it is one, unified, and undifferentiated consciousness. It is of the nature of bliss; it experiences peace, silence, and the blissful nature of consciousness manifests itself when it is by itself. It opens the gateways to the possibility of, and the need for, transcending our finitude. Like the other two states, it is not permanent. As distinguished from wakeful and dream states, in the deep sleep state, a person does not experience any objects, external or internal, gross or subtle. This state involves an inward orientation towards the true Self within the heart, contrasting with the outward orientation found in the transient domain filled with opposites and the constant turmoil of birth and death. The awareness of Atman is free from desire, attachment, agitation, pain, and suffering but of Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. The scriptures say that inward movement is to practice meditation and chanting "Om," leading to a "melting of the body-mind complex" and connecting ego, resulting in the experience of Atman. Mandukya Upanishad discusses four states of consciousness, with composure of consciousness (Sushupti/Samprasada) being the third, which epitomizes a state of desireless, dreamless, unified consciousness and serene bliss. It is a unified, blissful experience of awareness, often called the "causal" state. The other three are Jagrat (waking), a state when consciousness is moved outward through the mind and sense organs to experience the psycho-physical and the external phenomenal world, producing mental sense perception, ideation, reasoning, and anticipation related to that level of consciousness. It is a condition with reference to the gross physical body. Svapna (Dreaming) is a condition wherein there is no cognition of “I” or “mine,” when consciousness is inwardly cognitive by illuminating the mind, making the external sense organs dysfunctional, and enabling the internal perceptions to experience the subtle world and subtle body of dreams, memories, and mental impressions. Based upon the impressions of the experience of the objects of the wakeful state, the mind projects dreams. In the dream state, one is aware of internal objects, i.e., one has internal perceptions. In this state, when consciousness withdraws itself from the outside world and illumines only the mind, one becomes unaware of the external world and his own physical body but experiences within himself a subtle world and subtle body. Turiya (Pure Consciousness), where the individual soul experiences absolute tranquility while fully aware, yet not tied to the mental, emotional, or sensory experiences of the other three states, and of unbounded pure consciousness. Similarly, Praśna Upaniṣad (4.2) states that all the senses become one in the highest god, the mind. It says, ‘In the dream, this god experiences greatness.’ The dynamism of mind consists in the fact that while cognizing a dream object, the mind can transform itself into knowing, the act of knowing, and the object of knowledge (Jñātā, Jñeya, Jñāna). The self-luminous observer in the dream enjoys the greatness of the mind, i.e., the mind that transforms itself both as objects and their knowledge. The mind becomes the object and also the perceiver; it “sees the object with the light none other than that of the ever luminous Self. Taijasa, or the dream consciousness, is called Antaḥprajña, i.e., it is aware of the internal objects, which is the dream world. The mind is subtle and internal from the standpoint of the sense organs. It is called Taijasa, the Luminous, because consciousness appears as the subject unrelated to any gross object whatsoever. Viśva is the experiencer and knower of gross objects. But in the case of Taijasa, these are only mental impressions, and so the experiences are of a subtle nature (Pravivikta). Although there is no real entity present in the dream state other than the mind, the dreamer thinks that he is experiencing a real world outside of him. The dream state also seems to possess the factors of subject and object, as well as the characteristics of externality and internality. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.3.1-4.3.5), in a similar vein, contends that consciousness is to really see Atman, to relish Atman, and to experience Atman. It maintains that when all external lights are extinguished, Self uses sound (speech) to perceive and act, demonstrating that the ultimate "light" is inner, not outer, and Self is distinct from the body, organs, or externality. It means when external light sources (sun, moon, or fire) are absent, speech (sound) becomes the guiding light for Atman, or Self, to move and work. When that ceases, it is Atman, the light of all lights, as It is Self-luminous and Self-effulgent. This highlights Self's nature as self-luminous and independent of external, material light sources. It emphasises that the consciousness (Atman) is inherently luminous, allowing it to function even when physical senses and external aids are absent. The thrust is that Self moves between waking, dream, and deep sleep states using this inner self-effulgency and self-luminosity. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.3.1-4.3.5), in a similar vein, contends that consciousness is to really see Atman, to relish Atman, and to experience Atman. It maintains that when all external lights are extinguished, Self uses sound (speech) to perceive and act, demonstrating that the ultimate "light" is inner, not outer, and Self is distinct from the body, organs, or externality. It means when external light sources (sun, moon, or fire) are absent, speech (sound) becomes the guiding light for Atman, or Self, to move and work. When that ceases, it is Atman, the light of all lights, as It is Self-luminous and Self-effulgent. This highlights Self's nature as self-luminous and independent of external, material light sources. It emphasises that the consciousness (Atman) is inherently luminous, allowing it to function even when physical senses and external aids are absent. The thrust is that Self moves between waking, dream, and deep sleep states using this inner self-effulgency and self-luminosity.

3. Remarks 

This Brahman, or Supreme Self, according to Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, hastens for this state of Samprasāda where, falling asleep, He cherishes no more desires and dreams no more dreams. It says that 'This universe is myself, and I am all,' which is his highest state. That indeed is His form—free from desires, free from evils, free from fear. As a man fully embraced by his beloved wife knows nothing that is without, nothing that is within, so does this Atman, when fully embraced by Brahman, or the Supreme Self, know nothing that is without, nothing that is within. That indeed is his form, in which all his desires are fulfilled, in which all desires become Atman, and which is free from desires and devoid of grief (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4.3.21). In this state a father is no more a father, a mother is no more a mother, the worlds are no more the worlds, the gods are no more the gods, and the Vedas are no more the Vedas. In this state a thief is no more a thief, the killer of a noble Brahmin is no more a killer, a Chandala (despised class) is no more a Chandala, a Paulkasa (despised class) is no more a Paulkasa, a monk is no more a monk, and an ascetic is no more an ascetic. This form of his is untouched by good deeds and untouched by evil deeds, for he is then beyond all the woes of his heart (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4.3.22). And when it appears that in composure of consciousness it does not see, yet it is seeing though it does not see, for there is no cessation of the vision of the seer, because the seer is imperishable. There is then, however, no second thing separate from the seer that it could see (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4.3.23).

- Asutosh Satpathy