Let us contemplate the experience of Brahmanubhuthi or the realization of Brahman. As we discussed earlier, Brahman is Consciousness. Brahman is bliss, Brahman is existence. Sat chit ananda…all that is there is Brahman only. So, there is nothing separate from Brahman. Because there is nothing separate from Brahman, nobody can experience Brahman. Neither Brahman can experience anything. Because Brahman is all that is there. It is Consciousness, it is Bliss. The experience of Brahman, there is no experience. Because, the subject, object, and knowledge merge in Brahman, as everything is Brahman.
Now, the question comes..is it possible to have such knowledge? Is it not emptiness, void? Because there is no experience. Is it possible to have such experience at all, because it is emptiness. For that Sri Shankara gives examples. In deep sleep, there is no experience. The subject, object, experience vanishes in deep sleep. But there is an awareness that there is nothing. The awareness continues in deep sleep also. If the awareness was not there, the absence of subject, object, knowledge would not have been known. That means, in deep sleep also awareness continues.
But the problem is, in deep sleep, there is ignorance. Objects are there, but objects have gone into a subtle state. In Samadhi, or Turiya, it is a state similar to deep sleep, but there is no subject or object. It is pure awareness. What is the difference between deep sleep and turiya or Samadhi? In deep sleep, the subject and object were there. But they have gone back to subtle condition, causal condition, sukshma roopa. In Samadhi subject and object, both are absent. The mind, sense organs, and world disappear. But it has not gone to a causal state. Because ignorance is removed, they have disappeared. They are not there. The world is nothing but an appearance in Consciousness. The body is nothing but an appearance in Consciousness. In Samadhi, the body and the world disappear, not because of ignorance, but because of removal of ignorance, as such you become aware that there is nothing. But this nothing is real. Whereas in deep sleep is out of ignorance. Now, do you understand the difference between Samadhi and deep sleep? Turiya and deep sleep?
In Turiya also there are no objects, no world, no knowledge, no mind, no sense organs, which is the same thing in a deep sleep. But, in deep sleep, the world was there, the body was there, the mind was there…all of them have gone to sleep state. In turiya, all of them have disappeared, because they are not there at all. It is a maya, appearance. So, turiya is a state of real knowledge. In turiya also there is awareness. In deep sleep also, you come back and say, there was nothing. In turiya also, you come and say, there was nothing. But, what is the difference now? In turiya, you know that there was nothing at all really. All is just appearance. Whereas, in deep sleep, if we come back and say there was nothing, there was nothing in deep sleep, but the world is there, everything is there. Ignorance has not gone. This is the difference. So it is not a state of void or emptiness. There is awareness of the absence of the world, body, and mind, in Turiya.
So, that is the state of jnana, the state of Brahmanabhuthi. Now, whether, Self knows itself? The self doesn’t know itself. Because, if Self knows itself, again it becomes an object, the subject, an object comes into the picture. To give an example: eyes can see everything in the world, all colors eyes can see. But, eyes cannot see itself. The eye is the subject. Similarly, the Self can see, become aware, witness all the things in the world, but the Self itself cannot see itself. Because if the Self sees itself, it becomes an object. It is a state of pure knowledge, pure awareness which you reach in Samadhi. Samadhi and deep sleep, both are similar. Except in Samadhi, when you wake up, you know that the world was absent, the world was not really there. It is an appearance. Whereas, in deep sleep, when you wake up, the world is still solid and real. The ignorance is gone in Samadhi.
How to attain that state of Turiya? This question comes. By scriptures, you know that all this is Brahman. I see my body, I see the world, and from scriptures, I know that Self is nothing but Sakshi. Within me, Self is awareness, Sakshi. Now I have to understand the world in the right knowledge. The world includes the physical world, or the body/mind, which both belong to the world. The Self is nothing but the Consciousness, which is my own Self, Atma. Can we reduce the world which we see, the body into sath chith ananada, one of these? Sat means existence. Does the chair exist? So, any object in the world, you have to go back to this original form, which is existence. Then you are reducing the object to its essence which is called existence. What is the essence of a chair? Atoms, molecules, energy, or existence. The ultimate is existence. The chair has a form, but the basic of anything in the world is existence. The basic of me is ‘I am” ness, which is nothing but Consciousness. Sath chith anana…existence is what is there everywhere. whatever you see, there is existence. Can you see anything non-existent? Existence is the foundation of everything. So, any object you see, you should go back to the basics of that, which is existence. Your body also, you have to go back to its basis, which is existence.
As you meditate, and your mind becomes subtle and subtle, you will experience the body as vibration, which is energy. You will experience the body as the light particles. Or you will experience the body as the sound. These are the 3 basic roots of the existence of your body. As you experience the body as, like that, you will experience the world also like that, as vibration, as energy, as light, as subtle sound…Omkara. So, you have to start looking at the world in a basic form. The most basic form of the world is existence. The most manifest form of the world is light, which is light particles, vibration, and sound. So, as you do that, your experience of all this is God, all this is Consciousness, all this is Brahman…becomes more and more deeper.
So, what you have to do is you have to learn to reduce yourself into Consciousness which is Sakshi. Your body, mind, and the world, you have to learn to reduce to the basic form which is called existence. The chair exists, the table exists, fan exists…exist in the most subtle form…the light, sound, and vibration. So, the entire process of meditation is to go back from the gross form to the subtle form, to the subtlest form, to the basic, which is existence. In me, existence is Consciousness, Sakshi. In the world, the existence is sath or the presence. So, in meditation, you have to reduce everything to the basic form. When you reduce to the basic form, the entire world goes back to sath chith ananda. Then you will attain the Turiya state.
Pranams.