A WINDOW TO YOUR SOUL

We lead life through three states of consciousness - waking, dreaming and sleeping. In the waking state of consciousness, we experience the world through the five senses - sight, smell, touch, hearing or taste. We seek elevation and joy from these senses.

For instance, we only want to look at something that is a source of joy, not at something that is likely to sadden us. If any one of the senses is missing, the entire dimension of that sense is lost. One who can't hear is bereft of the whole arena of sound. Similarly, he who can't see is deprived of all the beautiful sights and colors. So the sense is more important and much bigger than the object of the sense.

The capacity of the senses to enjoy is meager and this imbalance in the system will remain. Greed is wanting more and more sensory objects - even though a person can eat only that much, yet he wants all the chocolates in the world; though the amount (of money) that can be spent by an individual during a lifetime is limited, he wants all the wealth in the world.

Giving too much importance to sensory objects leads to greed and lust. Giving too much importance to the mind and its desires leads to delusion. We hold on to the concepts of the mind and want things to happen in a certain way. Thus, the concepts in our mind impede us from perceiving the infinite consciousness that is a part of us.

It is not that the senses or the mind are inferior, but we must learn to discriminate between things and be aware of what is happening at all times. That is when clarity dawns on us. This is the first step towards the higher state of consciousness.

We lead life through three states of consciousness - waking, dreaming and sleeping. In the waking state of consciousness, we experience the world through the five senses - sight, smell, touch, hearing or taste. We seek elevation and joy from these senses.

The fourth (or the higher) state of consciousness is somewhere in between the waking, sleeping and dreaming states; wherein we know "we are" but we don't know "where" we are. This knowledge that I "am" but I don't know "where" I am or "what" I am is called "Shiva." This state gives the deepest possible rest that one can experience. The mind becomes fresh, delicate and beautiful.

In the waking state, one is constantly engaged in looking, smelling, eating and other activities. The other extreme is the sleeping state where one is completely cut off and dull. The dullness and heaviness linger even after waking up. The more one sleeps, the duller one feels since a lot of energy is expended in sleep. Hence, the fourth state, where we are awake and yet at complete rest, is worth knowing. We enter this state only during meditation.