Consciousness, the veil between unalloyed soul & body

Consciousness is awareness and has four states – unconscious (dreamless sleep), subconscious (dream-filled sleep), conscious (waking state) and superconscious (Turya, Samadhi). In normal daily life, consciousness helps the senses to see the objects of the world with thoughts of acquisition, rejection and resignation. Dhyana purifies consciousness. Samadhi leads consciousness towards the soul.

Consciousness, though single, directs multiple thoughts, sometimes creating disparities between words and deeds. It is indirectly responsible for numerous activities, and becomes the source of desires and their fulfilment. If it stops directing thoughts, the need to culture the consciousness towards transformation does not arise.

Consciousness is the veil between body and soul. It can be pulled in two directions; outward toward its mother, prakriti or inward towards its father, purusa. If consciousness is sea, its movements (vrittis) are the ripples. Composition of body, soul and consciousness are explained as under:

Composition of body:
The body is composed of seven different sheaths viz. skeletal (structure), physiological (energy), emotional (mind), intellectual (intellect), blissful, consciousness and soul (annamya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijanamaya, anandamaya, citta and atman respectively). Blissful sheath is called as causal body (Karana sarrira). Physiological, emotional and intellectual sheaths form the subtle body (suksma sarrira), and the skeletal sheath is the gross body (karya sarrira).
 
As per Kapil’s Samhya darshan, Prakriti is the root material, from this consciousness (Mahat) is produced. From consciousness, springs ego, intelligence, mind, five subtle elements (tanamtras), five senses of perception, five organs of action and five gross elements.

1. Mind – It reflects both external and internal worlds. Memory is the recollection of past thoughts and experiences which are impressions (samskaras).
2. Intellect – It is the discriminative faculty of the brain which screens the impressions of mind.
3. Ego (Ahamkara, I-ness) – This is the knot that binds the consciousness and the mind. Identifying the individual ego (I-ness) with the real soul is asmita. It is the false identification of the ego with the seer.
4. Subtle elements (tanamtras), senses of perception, organs of action and gross elements – Five subtle elements or tanmatra are forms or visibility, taste, smell or odour, touch and sound; five organs of senses or perception are eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin; five organs of actions are voice, hands, feet, anus & organs of generation and five gross elements are earth, water, air, fire and ether (akasha).

Soul (purusa, atman, seer):
The soul is absolute pure knowledge, eternal, changeless, formless and has no particular location. Universal soul or Parmataman is seed of all individual souls and free from influence of nature (Prakriti). It is unalloyed.
 
Consciousness (chitta):
Consciousness is the fluid enveloping the mind, intellect and ego. The fluid tends to become opaque due to its contact with the external world via these three components which receive sensory impressions. The result is that the soul is obscured.

1. The equilibrium of consciousness is disturbed by five afflictions (klesas)– avidya (lack of wisdom, spiritual ignorance), asmitia (pride or Iness), raga (desire & attachment), dvesa (hatred & aversion to pain) and abhinivesha (fear of death & clinging to life). Avidya & asmita belong to field of intelligence. Avidya is connected with front brain, the seat of logic & asmita is connected with top brain, the seat of individuality. Avidya is the breeding ground of all afflictions. Raga & dvesa belong to emotional level and connected with the base brain, the hypothalamus. Abhinivesa is instinctive or intuitive and connected with back brain, the seat of reasoning which retains samskaras. When all four lobes of brain are blended together, the brain becomes superconscious.
2. All the perceptions received through five sense organs are processed in the mind which creates desires, impulsiveness and other tendencies into the mind.
3. Mind, intellect & ego revolve in the wheel of desire, anger, greed, infatuation, pride and malice (kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsarya respectively) under the influence of past impressions (Samskara). Past impressions create thoughts (mental vibrations) & desires. Memories create desires and compel mind to act for their gratification, determining one’s future class of birth, span of life, and the kinds of experiences to be undergone. In absence of discriminative power, these impressions create ripples in thoughts, words and deeds, and restlessness in the self.
4. The past impressions are result of three types of actions white (sattvic, virtues), black (tamsic, vices) and grey (mixed, rajasic). The unmixed actions are beyond all the three.
5. To cultivate  a temperament which can resist mental vibrations of desire, anger, greed, infatuation, pride and malice, the person needs to think opposite forces or to go deep into its causes.
6. By practice of yoga and persistent discipline, memory is purified and gives predominance to new experiences. When all fluctuations (sattvic, rajasic and tamasic) of mind ceases, chitta is like clear water of calm lake.
7. As memory is purified, intelligence becomes illuminative and moves closer to the seer.   
8. Consciousness or self-awareness is cultivated in seven facets viz. emerging, restraining, created, tranquil, attentive, fissured and finally pure, eternal or divine by disciplining & attainting knowledge of the seven different sheaths viz. skeletal (knowledge of body, sarrira jnana), physiological (knowledge of energy, prana jnana), emotional (control of mind, mano jnana), intellectual (stability of intelligence, vijnana jnana), blissful (knowledge from experience, anubhavika jnana), consciousness (integration of consciousness) and soul (atma jnana). Progressively, one disengages oneself from life’s preoccupations with dharma, artha & kama to moksha.
9. Practice of yoga and renunciation of sensual desires take one towards spiritual attainment. It removes the pride from the mind and helps in tracing the source of all actions which is consciousness. The practice demands four qualities from the aspirant: dedication, zeal, uninterrupted awareness and long duration. The practice has four stages viz. mild (disengaging the senses from action), medium (keeping away from desires), intense (stilling the mind) and supremely intense (freeing oneself from cravings). Renunciation also demands four qualities: disengaging, senses from action, avoiding desire, stilling the mind and freeing oneself from cravings.