Consciousness: The Fourth State Of Consciousness  

By Glen Kezwer  

Indian philosophy’s focus is to determine the nature of that spirit or self which is the centre of everything, the animating force which makes a person alive, alert and aware.

It is consciousness, variously called the Self, Knower, Seer, Experiencer or the Witness. It knows no distinction of gender, nationality, race or religion. It is the unchanging and all-pervading, transcending the limitations of time and space, birth and death. Ultimately it is the substratum or essence of the entire manifest universe.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan wrote: "The philosophic attempt to determine the nature of reality may start with the thinking self or the objects of thought. In India the interest of philosophy is in the self of man. Where the vision is turned outward, the rush of fleeting events engages the mind... Within man is the spirit that is the centre of everything."

Atmanam viddhi or 'Know the Self’ has become the rallying cry of sages who for millennia have represented the highest of Indian thought. The Self is beyond the reach of the senses. So while we perceive the world around us, we are unable to perceive the Self which is its source. If the Self is indescribable, how are we to know it?

Scriptures containing the message of realised ones can help us in this respect. In the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna earnestly seeks to know the Self in order to understand what action he should take on the battlefield at Kurukshetra. Responding to Arjuna’s queries, Krishna, the realised one, describes the Self: "The Self, the Spirit dwelling within this body, is always identical with the Supreme Being. It is free from identification with the body and mind. It is the Seer, the Witness, the true Guide, the Lord and supporter of all...

It cannot be cut by weapons, burnt by fire, wet by water, or dried by the wind. The Self, being ancient and everlasting, never takes birth and never dies... He who has realised Oneness with the Supreme Being, who permeates all and in whom all exist, attains the vision of immortality and reaches the supreme state."

Since the Self is real and permanent, it is not within the purview of the ordinary mind or intellect of a human being. The mind of a human being experiences three states of consciousness: Waking, sleeping and dreaming. The dream state of consciousness is not considered to be real because, upon awakening, we realise that the world we experienced in the dream state does not fit in with the waking state world. Because there are discrepancies between these two worlds, we reject the dream state as unreal.

The same can also be said of the waking state world, which we only assume to be real because we have no other standard with which to compare it. And certainly the sleep state world cannot be considered real because no world whatsoever is being perceived at the time of sleep. Thus not one of the three states of mind is real. Furthermore, it is obvious that none of these states is permanent.

In seeking what is real and permanent, we must unfold a fourth state of consciousness which both goes beyond and at the same time includes these three.

The fourth state is that which manifests itself in meditation where the normal functioning of the mind is transcended. When we close our eyes in meditation, the forms and events of the outside world no longer impinge on our consciousness, and we are able to focus our attention on our inner Self which is immortal and indivisible. Through continued practice of meditation we come to realise that not only is this Self our own essential nature, but it also permeates all of manifest creation.

(Glen Kezwer is a physicist from Canada. He lives in Himachal Pradesh and is author of the book Meditation, Oneness and Physics)

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See also: Consciousness, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)