KEY-NOTE LECTURE Concept of Consciousness In Ancient (Yogic) And Modern(Western) Perspectives Yogiratna Dr. Shashi Bhushan Mishra Ghaziabad (U.P.) It is important to note that there is no fundamental change in concept of consciousness from ancient (Yogic or Indian) point of view. It is same and eternal from time immemorial. However western (or modern) view is in constant stage of change. We will study this subject in both the perspectives. Ancient view is that relate to Yoga and modern view is primarily associated with western world. What is Consciousness YOGIC VIEW Consciousness or Chaitanya is unobstructed awareness of the Self, Surroundings, time, and space and its nature is Existence, Knowledge and Bliss Absolute. (Sat ,Chit, Ananda). It is same as Atman or Brahman of Vedanta. WESTERN VIEW Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. A Brief WESTERN History OF CONCEPT OF CONSCIOUSNESS The modern concept of consciousness is often first attributed to John Locke‘s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, published in 1690.Locke saw consciousness as “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind.” The earliest substantive study of human consciousness, probably occurred during the 6th Century B.C. Most notably, this was the time of the Buddha in India, the philosopher Heraclitus in Ephesus and the physician-philosopher Alcmaeon of Croton. These men all taught and thought extensively on topics pertaining to consciousness The earliest extant writings on the subject of consciousness, are contained in some of the early prose Upanishads ( 700-500 B.C.) of ancient India. Subsequently, in 4th Century B. C. various aspects of consciousness were addressed in the written dialogues of Plato and the works of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). During the Hellenistic Age (330-100 B.C.) which followed, the views of Plato and Aristotle continued to dominate consciousness thinking in the Greek speaking world. From the 1st Century B.C. to the 5th Century A.D., Europe and the Near East were under the political hegemony of the Roman Empire. During this era, Stoicism and Neo-Platonism were the dominant philosophies. However, in the 5th Century, the Roman Empire in the West collapsed and the Greco- Roman "Age of Reason" was replaced by a Christian "Age of Faith." The result, at least in Europe, was an intellectual Dark Age which lasted from the 5th Century until the time of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th Century. Virtually no progress in the area of human consciousness study was made in Christian Europe during this thousand year period! Philosophical thought, such as it was, was dominated by the dead hand of Aristotle and the Scholastics. Fortunately, in the 15th Century, a rebirth of learning occurred and an entirely new set of scientific ideas ultimately came to replace the inadequate Medieval mindset. Beginning in the 17th century, European philosophers started to wrestle with the mysteries of the conscious mind. The serious study of consciousness became a province of that branch of philosophy usually referred to as metaphysics. The philosophical writings explored the same subjects that modern- day philosophers, psychologists and scientists still pursue. These subjects include cognition, perception, 5 language, beliefs, emotions, sensations of pain and pleasure, awareness of self, sleep, dreaming, and the relationship of body to mind. In Europe and America, psychology and brain science began to emerge in the middle of the 19th Century and consciousness began to be studied in a rational and systematic manner. The most notable practitioners during this era were the psychologists Wilhelm Wundt and William James. Despite this auspicious beginning, the study of human consciousness soon fell out of fashion and by about 1920 a new Dark Age had descended over consciousness research. Human consciousness phenomena were considered to be too subjective in nature and not conducive to experimental analysis. This religious orthodoxy of Behaviorism dominated psychology from the 1920's to the 1960's. While the study of human consciousness was stalled, important scientific gains were made in other areas of the life sciences, particularly genetics. In 1944, the Nobel Prize winning quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger published a science classic entitled What is Life. This book inspired many scientists in physics and chemistry to enter the fields of molecular biology and genetics and led to the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953. In the late 1950s, psychology began to emerge from its Behavioral Dark Age into the light of the Cognitive Revolution. In 1967, Ulric Neisser's book entitled Cognitive Psychology, named the new field and effectively outlined its content. Behaviorism still survived during the 1960s and early 1970s, but only as a declining intellectual movement that was in its last gasp of popularity. By 1980 the domination of cognitive approaches across almost all areas of psychology (even animal learning) was virtually complete. By the late 1980s, advances in neuroimaging, brain mapping, and the science of artificial intelligence (AI) caused a new generation of researchers to investigate human consciousness. Recently, new discoveries in human brain neuroplasticity have further stimulated consciousness research. Very recently, neuroscientists have begun to examine Buddhist Meditation techniques with respect to their affect on neuroplasticity. The end result of all these new discoveries is that the quantity of research papers in the consciousness field has enormously increased. In the United States, the most important are the conferences hosted by the Center for Consciousness at the University of Arizona in Tucson. FORMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS YOGIC VIEW There are two forms of consciousness 1. General (samanya): 2. Particula (vishesh): What is general consciousness (Samanya chaitanya)? That which exists unlimited and unaffected by time and space is samanya or general consciousness. Characteristics of general consciousness are: 1. That which is absolutely full. like the ether. 2. That which is substratum of all names and forms. 3. That with the nature of existence, knowledge and Bliss Absolute. 4. That which is formless Absolute. Illustration: Different people have different illusions pertaining to a rope: One sees it as a rod Another as a snake. Another as line drawn on earth. Another as a line of water on ground. Accordingly a person says This is a rod. 6 This is a snake. This is a line on Earth. This is a line of water on ground In the above illustration “This is” is common to the four experiences. Therefore “This is” refers to the gereral or essential nature of the rope. It continues to exist during illusion. and cortinues even after the negation of illusion such as This is a rope. Therefore samanya or the general form is the truth; the illusory forms are mutually contradictory. The contradictory perception rod, snake, water, etc. are due to particular forms; they are imagined The Attributes of the consciousness (Atma-Dharma) (Vichar Chandrodaya by pandit pittambar PurushottamJi 1846-1899) 1. Nitya – Eternal 2. Avyaya – Imperishable 3. Shudha – Pure 4. Eka – One 5. Khetrajna - Knower of the field of body 6. Ashraya – Support of all 7. Avikriya – Unchanging 8. Swaprakash – Self – Effulgent 9. Hetu – Cause of the Universe 10. Vyapaka - Pervading 11. Asangi - Unassociated 12. Anavrita - Unveiled. Is Consciousness Same in Every Individual ? YOGIC VIEW Although consciousness is one and same in entire creation not only in living beings but also in inert or lifeless objects. Consciousness is in deep slumber in so called insentient objects, in state of dream in trees and other vegetations and awake in animal kindom However, its expression in different beings depends up on spiritual evolution and level of internal purity. Those who are enlightened manifest it in the purest form, because they transcend all limiting adjuncts and intermediary veils. Adopting various disciplines (Sadhanas) one can evolve himself making his personality a medium for expressing consciousness in its natural form. WESTERN VIEW Modern scientific fraternity has different views regarding this matter. Some of them even believe that consciousness is not in any animal other than human beings. They talk about artificial intelligence and digital memory. But they ate far from the concept of consciousness. Modern science does not see any consciousness in plants and inert objects. They consider consciousness associated with brain and mind. What is Particular (Vishesh) Consciousness? It is reflection of consciousness in Antahkarna (fpnkHkkl) (Four fold, mind) and its functions is called particular consciousness or vishesh chaitanya. It is devoid of the characteristics of samanya chaitanya (Brahman). That which is limited to time and space is called vishesh or particular. Chidabhas is limited to the Antahkarana and confined to following three states: 1.Waking 2.Dream and 3. Deep sleep therefore, it is known as vishesha chaitanya. Illnstration : 1. The light of the sun is equally distributed but reflections do not arise every where. Only where there is a mirror or water do reflections arise. 2. The light of the sun does not burn cloth or othere materials. but the same focused through a lense burns. 7 That which is ever the same is samanya or general, That which appears through a limiting adjunct and is apparent and illusory -- vishesha. Applying this illustration to the truth (Brahman) and the world process: 1. Existence, knowledg and Bliss are every where the same. But the worldprocess, such as speaking, walking etc. is not possible by them. 2. With the limiting adjunct of Antahkaran, vishesha chaitanya arises which produces all the worldly activities. such as moving, speaking, actorship, enjoyership as well as this world and heavenly world etc...Therefore,. 1. Samanya chaitanya is the truth 2.