The four states of consciousness: Madhvācārya adds further explanations
Srila Madhvācārya includes the Kārikā (explanations) of Gauḍapāda in his commentary, which bring additional details.
« The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: An in-depth study
Madhvācārya adds further explanations
Srila Madhvācārya includes the Kārikā (explanations) of Gauḍapāda in his commentary. These verses are not part of the original text of the Māṇḍūkya Upanisad (composed of just 12 verses), but Madhvācārya accept them as authoritative, supporting and helping to explain the meaning of the original text.
Gauḍapāda was a Vedic scholar who lived around the 7th century and gave a great contribution to the defeat of Buddhist philosophy, composing many of the philosophical conclusions that served as the basis for the restablishment of the Vedas promoted by Śankarācārya in the 8th century. Śankara accepted initiation from Govinda Bhagavatpāda (a disciple of Gauḍapāda), and quoted extensively from his work.
Gauḍapāda doesn’t directly give details about the personal aspect of the absolute truth in his work, but his conclusions are largely in line with Vaishnava philosophy. He defines the material reality as dream-like (not real, as the spiritual reality, but not exactly false), he refuted the philosophy of dualism (explaining that the Lord is not different from His energy), propounded the doctrine of non-origination (there is no creation for either the jīva or the Lord, both are eternal), defended the idea that one undivided consciousness is the source of the consciousness of all living beings (a concept that is in line with the Sankhya philosophy of Lord Kapila), and so on. His conclusions were however misappropriated by followers of Śankarācārya, who adopted a distorted interpretation of his conclusions, accepting the material creation as false, concluding that jīva and the Lord are one, without distinction, and so on.
Because the explanations of Gauḍapāda on the Māṇḍūkya Upanisad are so deep and well-respected, Madhva opted for incorporating them in his commentary, in an effort to interpret his teachings in the light of Vaishnava philosophy, and thus rescue his work from the clutches of the unscrupulous interpretation of the Māyāvādis. By showing that his words are in reality in line with the proper Vaishnava interpretation of the sastras, Madhvācārya delivered a powerful blow to the Māyāvādis.
Madhva accepts Turīya as the Lord in His personal form (and not the impersonal Brahman as the Māyāvādis), he accepts the material creation as real (although illusory), refuting the Advaita monistic conclusion of the world as being false. He also points to turīya, the ultimate state of consciousness, as being devotional service to the Lord (instead of impersonal liberation), and so on. The commentaries I give here combine the conclusions of Srila Madhvācārya with additional points from the teachings of Srila Prabhupada. Nine verses of the Kārikā are added after text 1.6, nine after text 2.1, five after text 3.4, and six after text 4.1. In this way, the total number of verses is expanded from the original 12 verses to a total of 42.
Kārikā 1.7:
bahiḥ prajño vibhur viśvo hy antaḥ prajñas tu taijasaḥ
ghana-prajñas tathā prājña eka eva tridha smṛtaḥ
The Lord is called Viśva when He produces consciousness of the external world. He is called Taijasa when producing inner awareness in dreams. He is Prājña when he removes all material consciousness, and the soul remains in a state of deep slumber. In this way, the Lord is remembered as threefold.
Commentary: Viśva, Taijasa, and Prājña are manifestations of the three Puruṣa avatāras, but at the same time, manifestations of Paramātmā, who help the soul by drawing one's consciousness from one state to another. Although the Lord is one, He assumes different forms to perform different roles.
The role of Paramātmā is described by Srila Prabhupada in more detail in his purport to SB 3.26.18:
"Within the heart, the Supreme Personality of Godhead resides as the Supersoul. This situation is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā: the Supersoul rests beside the individual soul and acts as a witness. This is also confirmed elsewhere in the Vedic literature: two birds are sitting on the same tree of the body; one is witnessing, and the other is eating the fruits of the tree. This puruṣa, or Paramātmā, who resides within the body of the individual soul, is described in Bhagavad-gītā (13.23) as the upadraṣṭā, witness, and the anumantā, sanctioning authority. The conditioned soul engages in the happiness and distress of the particular body given him by the arrangement of the external energy of the Supreme Lord. But the supreme living being, or the Paramātmā, is different from the conditioned soul. He is described in Bhagavad-gītā as maheśvara, or the Supreme Lord. He is Paramātmā, not jīvātmā. Paramātmā means the Supersoul, who is sitting by the side of the conditioned soul just to sanction his activities. The conditioned soul comes to this material world in order to lord it over material nature. Since one cannot do anything without the sanction of the Supreme Lord, He lives with the jīva soul as witness and sanction-giver. He is also bhoktā; He gives maintenance and sustenance to the conditioned soul."
Why does the Lord help the soul to perform material activities and thus become entangled in material existence? This is explained later in the same purport:
"Since the living entity is constitutionally part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord is very affectionate to the living entities. Unfortunately, when the living entity is bewildered or illusioned by the external energy, he becomes forgetful of his eternal relationship with the Lord, but as soon as he becomes aware of his constitutional position, he is liberated. The minute independence of the conditioned soul is exhibited by his marginal position. If he likes, he can forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead and come into the material existence with a false ego to lord it over material nature, but if he likes he can turn his face to the service of the Lord. The individual living entity is given that independence. His conditional life is ended and his life becomes successful as soon as he turns his face to the Lord, but by misusing his independence he enters into material existence. Yet the Lord is so kind that, as Supersoul, He always remains with the conditioned soul. The concern of the Lord is neither to enjoy nor to suffer from the material body. He remains with the jīva simply as sanction-giver and witness so that the living entity can receive the results of his activities, good or bad."
By arrangement of the Lord, our conditioned existence is divided into periods of activity, alternated with periods of unconsciousness. This creates breaks in our material activities that give us the opportunity to gradually come to a better path.
External activity is followed by activity in dreams, and then unconsciousness in the state of deep sleep. From the state of external alertness, Lord Taijasa pulls the soul to the dream state, and from there Prājña covers the consciousness of the soul and puts him in the unconscious bliss of deep sleep. From there, Taijasa pulls the soul back into dreams and eventually Viśva pulls him back to external consciousness. Sometimes, when a person is awakened abruptly, one may go directly from deep sleep to consciousness, and so on, but the bottom line is that we constantly alternate between these three states. Without this succession, no one can live, and like for everything else, we need the help of the Lord for that.
Kārikā 1.8:
dakṣiṇākṣi-mukhe viśvo manasy antar tu taijasaḥ
ākāśe ca hṛdi prājñas tridhā dehe vyavasthitaḥ
Viśva is situated at the gateway of sense perception, while Taijasa is situated as the controller of the mind within. Prājña is situated in the sky inside the heart. In this way, the Supreme Lord is established in three different forms.
It is said that Viśva is situated in the eye, being the eye the main organ of sense perception. In reality, He is situated in all the sense organs, but the eye is particularly mentioned. He is also situated in the sun, which illuminates the world, allowing us to see, and He is the cosmic manifestation itself as the universal form. Viśva is thus the object to be seen, the source of the light that allows us to see, and the controller of the sense-organ we use to see. Without His help, we could have no perception of the material reality.
Taijasa is situated in the mind. He allows us to recollect what we see in the waken state during dreams from subtle impressions stored in memory. Just as Viśva is the controller of the gross sense organs we use to perceive the world, Taijasa is the controller of the subtle sense organs we use to perceive the subtle world of dreams.
When both the external and internal activities are stopped, consciousness ceases, and the soul forgets his material identity, coming in contact with Prājña in the sky inside the heart. One then becomes one with the Lord in the sense that without consciousness there is no idea of separate existence from Him.
Viśva is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Vishnu, or Paramātmā, who expands Himself as the virāṭ-rūpa, the universal form, or the gross cosmic manifestation. He is the controller of the waken state and the gross senses. Taijasa is Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu, or Hiraṇyagarbha, who creates the subtle manifestation of the universe, the subtle universal form, and He is the controller of the dream state and the subtle senses. Prājña is Mahā-Viṣṇu, the controller of the false ego, who initially sends the soul in the direction of material nature through His look, allowing one to enter into contact with the material creation, according to one’s own desire. Being the controller of this connection between the soul and the material world, He makes the soul forget the false ego while in deep sleep, temporarily severing the soul’s connection with both external and internal perception. He is thus the controller of the state of deep sleep, which is characterized by the absence of consciousness.
In the catur-vyūha, Viśva is Aniruddha, Taijasa is Pradyumna, Prājña is Saṅkarṣaṇa and Turīya is Vāsudeva.
Kārikā 1.9:
viśvo hi sthūlabhuk nityam taijasaḥ praviviktabhuk
ānandabhuk tathā prājñas tridhā bhogam nibodhata
Regarding the states of consciousness of the jīva, when in the viśva state, one constantly enjoys the gross objects of the senses. When in the taijasa state, one enjoys subtle objects of the senses in dreams, and when in the prājña state, one enjoys unconscious bliss. Know this as the three states of enjoyment of the conditioned soul.
Kārikā 1.10:
sthūlam tarpayate viśvam praviviktam tu taijasam
ānandam ca tathā prājñam tridhā tṛptim vijānatha
The gross objects of the senses give satisfaction to the jīva in the waking state. The subtle objects of the senses satisfy in the dreaming state, and the unconscious bliss of the prājña state satisfies the soul in the slumber of deep sleep. Know this as the three states of satisfaction for the conditioned jīva.
Kārikā 1.11:
triṣu dhāmasu yad bhogyam bhoktā yaś ca prakīrtitaḥ
veda etad ubhayam yas tu sa bhuñjāno na lipyate
But one who understands both himself and the Supreme Lord behind these three states remains uncontaminated, even while engaged in acting and experiencing these three states of consciousness.
Commentary: Material life starts from the forgetfulness of our eternal relationship with Krsna. The soul is blissful by nature, but when we come in contact with matter, this natural bliss of the soul is covered, and instead we search for pleasure in matter, enjoying objects of the senses in both the waking and sleep states. In the state of deep sleep, we experience a glimpse of spiritual bliss, but even this bliss is just a faint reflection, and is experienced under the purview of slumber and forgetfulness of our original identity.
The Lord has no material desires and no need to accomplish anything in this material world, but He creates the whole material manifestation to give the jīvas an opportunity to revive their original consciousness. Polluted by the modes of passion and ignorance, the soul desires to enjoy the objects of the senses in both the waking and dream states, thinking of himself as the enjoyer of the world. However, when we come to understand both the Lord and our constitutional position as His eternal servants, and engage ourselves in devotional service, we remain uncontaminated, even while living in this material world.
As Krsna explains in the Gītā: "One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water." (Bg 5.10)
In his purport to this verse, Prabhupada goes deep into this point: “One who knows perfectly well that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, that He is the proprietor of everything and that, therefore, everything is engaged in the service of the Lord, naturally has nothing to do with the results of his activities, whether virtuous or sinful. Even one’s material body, being a gift of the Lord for carrying out a particular type of action, can be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is then beyond contamination by sinful reactions, exactly as the lotus leaf, though remaining in the water, is not wet. The Lord also says in the Gītā (3.30), mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi sannyasya: “Resign all works unto Me [Kṛṣṇa].” The conclusion is that a person without Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the concept of the material body and senses, but a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts according to the knowledge that the body is the property of Kṛṣṇa and should therefore be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa.”
This is still further explained in the purport for text 5.12: “The difference between a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and a person in bodily consciousness is that the former is attached to Kṛṣṇa whereas the latter is attached to the results of his activities. The person who is attached to Kṛṣṇa and works for Him only is certainly a liberated person, and he has no anxiety over the results of his work. In the Bhāgavatam, the cause of anxiety over the result of an activity is explained as being one’s functioning in the conception of duality, that is, without knowledge of the Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no duality. All that exists is a product of Kṛṣṇa’s energy, and Kṛṣṇa is all good. Therefore, activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are on the absolute plane; they are transcendental and have no material effect. One is therefore filled with peace in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But one who is entangled in profit calculation for sense gratification cannot have that peace. This is the secret of Kṛṣṇa consciousness – realization that there is no existence besides Kṛṣṇa is the platform of peace and fearlessness.”
Kārikā 1.12:
prabhavaḥ sarvabhāvānām satām iti viniścayaḥ
sarvam janayati prāṇaś cetāmsūn puruṣaḥ pṛthak
Those of divine nature have firm faith that the Lord is the creator of all beings, both animate and inanimate. Nothing has a separate existence from Him. He is Nārāyaṇa, the leader of all.
Commentary: Madhvācārya mentions that the word "prana" in the verse doesn't refer to the vital air, but to the Lord as the supreme Narāyana, because He is the pranetri (leader) of all. Without this understanding, the second line of the verse (sarvam janayati prāṇaś) sounds like prāṇa is a separate creator that generates everything that exists. In reality, Narayana is the source of everything, and He, the Puruṣa, creates all sentient beings with their separate identities (cetāmsūn puruṣaḥ pṛthak). Lord Narayana is thus the creator of everything, both animate and inanimate, and this is the firm conclusion of all persons of divine nature (satām).
In the Bhagavad-gītā, Krsna mentions the difference between the divine and demoniac natures. People of divine nature are happy to accept the supremacy of the Lord and work under His guidance, but those of demoniac nature resent the rule of the Lord and envy Him. As a result, they become attracted to all sorts of atheistic philosophies that deny the very existence of the Supreme Lord.