DISSOLUTION OF 'I'

Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only

The debate should always be confined to the limits of relative reality and should not enter the level of absolute reality because none can even touch the absolute reality. In the absolute reality, God alone is real and everything else, which is the Creation including yourself becomes unreal with respect to God. This Creation is a process or activity or work of God. Energy is a form of work, since energy or power is dynamism of God. Matter is another form of Energy. Space is again another subtle form of Energy. Therefore, in the level of absolute reality, the entire Creation is just a relative reality, which is the work of God. Since you are also a part of the Creation, you are also a part of the relative reality. Therefore, you are just part and parcel of the work of God. Your body is matter and hence, it is a part of the work of God. The awareness is a special work of inert energy along with matter functioning in a special machine called nervous system including the brain. This awareness is called as Jiva, which is the work of energy of the neurons in the nervous system. This inert energy is the Soul, which is called as Atman and is not changed in any way by Jiva. Whether you identify yourself as body or Jiva or Atman, it is immaterial because all these three are other than God and form the part of the work of God only and not God. The work of God becomes imaginable on analysis. God is unimaginable since He is beyond analysis. Therefore, you should not enter the field of absolute reality during the debate for two reasons: 1) You can never enter the field of absolute reality by any effort and 2) Assuming (just theoretical assumption only) that you have entered the absolute reality, you yourself become unreal and there is no chance of continuing your debate any more.

In the field of relative reality, there is a clear distinction between matter, energy, space, work, etc. Keeping this difference in the mind, let us start the debate on awareness. The Advaitin in self-meditation says that he is aware of awareness only and nothing else. This is said to be the perfect state of meditation in which the Advaita Philosophers like to continue forever. Let us carefully analyze this state of meditation. Their statement mentions two words ‘aware’ and ‘awareness’. The word aware indicates a process or work since it is a verb. The word awareness is the object that is essentially required by the verb. The Advaita says that the subject ‘I’ is none but the object of the process of knowing and this process is termed as awareness. Since the subject and object are one and the same, which is called as awareness, we have to limit the debate to the verb and object (which is also subject) only. The requirement demands that the object must be different from the verb. The object and the verb cannot be one and the same under any circumstances. When we say that some person is walking, here there is only verb without the object. When we say the word food, here the object remains without verb. Therefore, there can be a verb without the object and similarly there can be an object without verb. But, when we say that somebody is eating the food, here, both the verb (eating) and object (food) co-exist separately. Hence, you cannot prove the identification of object with the verb at any place. Hence, you have to establish whether the awareness is a verb (work or process) or an object. It cannot be both since oneness of verb and object is impossible. You may say that in the statement that one is enjoying, the verb enjoying includes the object which is joy. Thus, you may argue that the verb and object can become one and the same. Here, the word enjoying indicates both the process of enjoying and the object, which is joy. Here, the single word (enjoying) is indicating two items and the two items need not be one item since the indicative word is one.

Awareness: A Verb or an Object?

Now, we have to examine whether the word awareness is a verb or object. The examination requires both scientific verification and logical discussion. The truth cannot be established unless both of these synchronize. The scientific verification means practical experience, which should be correlated with logical debate before establishing the truth. By mere logical debate, one may establish that white is black, but that cannot be true since the practical experience contradicts it. Similarly, mere practical experience cannot be accepted as truth without the subsequent logical discussion. A fellow due to defect in the eye may experience the existence of two moons in the sky and his practical experience cannot be accepted since logical debate disproves it. The logic says that since the practical experience of many normal persons contradicts it, the experience of that person cannot be true and hence, his eyes must be defective. Therefore, we should prove the truth in both the directions.

Practical experience, which is the scientific analysis accepted by all scientists based on practical observations using sophisticated instruments, is that the awareness is a process of transfer of information from the senses to a specific part of the brain or vice-versa through the electro-chemical flow of neuron cells. The transfer of electrical pulses within the neuron cells takes place with the help of sodium and potassium ions and with the help of other chemicals between the neuron cells. Hence, awareness is simply the process or work, which is transferring the information from one place to the other. Therefore, awareness is not an item with physical status and therefore, is not an object. This point can be supported by logical analysis also. In deep sleep, since the specific nervous system is taking rest, this process of transfer is stopped. If awareness is an object like heart or kidney, it should have existed in the deep sleep also. Had it existed in the deep sleep, there should have been awareness in the deep sleep. The work or process can exist in sometime and may not exist in some other time. One may walk for sometime and may not walk in some other time. Walking is a verb denoting work, which may exist in some span of time and may not exist in some other span of time. But an object, which has physical status like heart or kidney, exists in all the times. Even if the object is deformed, it has its physical status in some other deformed phase of matter. Therefore, the fundamental existence of the object can never be disturbed. But in the case of work, the fundamental existence is disturbed, since it exists in sometime and does not exist in some other time. Therefore, the appearance of awareness in the awaken state and dream state and its disappearance in the deep sleep clearly establishes that it is a process or work only and not an object. You may say that since the work is a form of energy, in the deep sleep, the work (transfer of information) exists in the form of energy and therefore, the fundamental existence of the work is also not disturbed. Yes. We accept your point. But, the energy remained in the deep sleep is totally inert and therefore, you cannot call that energy as awareness. Therefore, you can say that the work form of awareness exists as the inert energy in the deep sleep. But, you cannot say that awareness exists in that time. The awareness disappeared totally in deep sleep. This inert energy is called as Atman and the awareness is called as Jiva. Therefore, in the deep sleep, the inert Atman exists but not the Jiva or awareness. But, the Advaitin says that the Atman exists in the deep sleep, which is awareness. Therefore, we accept the existence of the inert Atman in deep sleep but oppose your point that Atman is awareness. This is also supported by the practical experience of all the people in deep sleep in which nobody experiences even a trace of awareness.

We have established that awareness is work indicated by verb. There are two types of verbs. 1) Verb requiring the object, which is called as ‘Sakarmaka Kriya’. Ex: If you say that somebody is eating, here the verb requires the mention of the object (food). Therefore, you have to mention the object here. 2) Verb not requiring the object, which is called as ‘Akarmaka Kriya’. Ex: If you say that somebody is walking, here the verb does not require the object. But in such verbs, which do not require objects also, the subject is required. Since the subject can be the object to some other subject, we can say that even these verbs require object in strict sense. The clarification for this is: when you say that somebody is walking, the object is not required here. But, the verb requires the subject, which is somebody. But, somebody is seen by some other person and therefore, somebody (subject) becomes object to some other person (subject). Therefore, every subject is an objective subject. Moreover, the advaitins say that the subject ‘I’, which is the awareness, becomes the object of the process of awareness. They say that ‘I’ is the subject as well as the object of the process of awareness. This means the awareness (I) is aware of itself and nothing else in the final stage of meditation. Now let us analyze the awareness, which is a process of knowing. The verb knowing is always a Sakarmaka Kriya, which requires the object. In the deep sleep, there is no awareness at all and hence, the process of knowing disappears. When the work disappears, there is no necessity that the subject or object should disappear. Therefore, when the process of knowing disappears, the subject may remain, but the subject cannot be called as ‘knower’. Therefore, the remaining ‘I’ (subject or object) is no more awareness, because the ‘I’ does not know anything including himself in the deep sleep. In such case, the ‘I’ is inert in deep sleep and awareness in other states. This contradicts the Advaita philosophy because the ‘I’ or ‘Atman’ is always awareness in all the states according to them. The inert ‘I’ means the inactive pulse of ‘I’ stored in the memory part of brain.

The Process of Knowing Requires an Object

Even in deep sleep, electro-chemical flow exists to control the inner organs like heart, kidneys etc., but the knowledge does not exist. These signals are just mechanically transferred and another part of brain is involved in this. Therefore, this part of transfer of electrical pulses does not come under the awareness. The ‘I’ pulse pertaining to the specific part of the brain is not active in deep sleep and therefore, awareness does not exist. Hence, awareness is defined as the process of transfer of electrical pulses through neurons with respect to a specific part of the brain only. Thus, the transfer of pulses in deep sleep is not covered by awareness. The state of meditation comes just before the deep sleep. This state is obtained by Advaitins with special effort also, which every person attainsbefore deep sleep. In this state, all the other information except the active pulse of ‘I’ and an imaginary impression of the inert energy (object) gets stopped. Thus, this state is confined simply to the process of knowing the impression of inert energy only. This impression is misunderstood by Advaitins as awareness and they say that they are aware of awareness only. After this state, the deep sleep results in which the last object (impression of inert energy) also disappears. When all the objects disappear, the process of knowing (awareness) disappears because the process of knowing (Sakarmaka Kriya) cannot exist without the object. When the process of knowing disappears, the pulse of ‘I’ also disappears and only the basic inert energy remains in the body. In deep sleep, all the objects of information and the subject ‘I’ exist in memory part as inactive pulses. This situation is similar to the information existing on the electro-magnetic disc in the computer when the current is put off. The information is not expressed on the screen. Similarly, the memory part contains all the information, but there is no transfer of the pulses during the deep sleep and hence, we say that the pulses are inactive. When the awakened state appears after the deep sleep, the specific part of the brain becomes active and the pulses are once again active and therefore, the awareness again appears. The subject pulse ‘I’ becomes active immediately after the deep sleep and therefore, the brain starts experiencing the pulses. In the awakened state as soon as ‘I’ becomes active, only required pulses become active. After the deep sleep, the freshness due to stored energy is immediately experienced. The person says that he had a happy sleep. This statement is only inference that he experiencedhappiness during the deep sleep. Since there is no awareness of happiness in deep sleep, this statement contradicts the practical experience of all. Therefore, this inference is wrong. Based on this wrong inference, Advaitins conclude that the ‘I’ as awareness existed during the deep sleep, which receivedthe happiness throughout the deep sleep. The practical experience rules out such argument of Advaitins. Sometimes, the dream state appears in the sleep. In dream, the specific part of the brain is active and therefore, the subject ‘I’ is also active. But in dream, the external information is completely cut off and therefore, the pulse ‘I’ cannot touch the concept of the external body. The pulse ‘I’ is confined to an imaginary impression of the external body, which results from the memory part itself. The difference between dream state and awaken state is that: in the awaken state the external information is also supplied. Therefore, in the awaken state the pulse ‘I’ is immediately touching the external body for its individuality. In the state of madness, it differs from awaken state only in a single point that the pulses are not regularly synchronized resulting in the disturbance of even the basic logic.

In the awaken state, when one talks about somebody with full absorption, forgetting himself, the ‘I’ pulse becomes temporarily inactive. In deep sleep, along with the ‘I’ pulse, all the pulses are inactive. The difference is that as long as the deep sleep continues, the ‘I’ pulse cannot be revoked. But, in the awaken state, while talking about somebody, the ‘I’ pulse is in mild touch and due to this the ‘I’ is revoked at anytime. When the person about whom you talked, is pleased and gives you a reward (or somebody may give the reward) to you for your speech, the pulse ‘I’ is immediately revoked fully. Such reactivation of the ‘I’ pulse brings you the realization that the reward is given to you only and not to others. In the deep sleep, even if somebody places the reward in your hand, you cannot experience the reward because the ‘I’ pulse is totally inactive and the awareness does not exist at all. Therefore, a temporary de-activation of the ‘I’ pulse results in forgetting yourself, but this is not a real de-activation of the pulse because the pulse is in mild touch and hence, it revokes at any instance of time.

We can consider the deep sleep as the state in which the ‘I’ is dissolved because as long as this state continues, the ‘I’ cannot be activated. But, all the pulses exist in the memory part in de-activated state. When the current is absent, the disc in the computer may have the information but the information is not expressed. In this state, it is immaterial whether the disc has the information or not. Therefore, in deep sleep, even if you assume the total destruction of the pulses, it is immaterial. Hence, you can assume the dissolution of ‘I’ as permanent in deep sleep. But in other states, even if a pulse is temporarily inactive, the pulse can be activated during the continuity of these states. The Advaitins aimat the permanent dissolution of ‘I’, which can be assumed in the deep sleep. Since in deep sleep, no other pulse can be activated, the experience disappears in-to-to. Therefore, in the final salvation of Advaitins, the experience disappears totally and there is no place for the word awareness as in deep sleep. When you enjoythe fruit, the necessity of the existence of the ‘I’ pulse is clearly explained. Therefore, the fruit of salvation cannot be enjoyed if the ‘I’ pulse is totally destroyed forever. For enjoyment of the fruit, the individuality of activated ‘I’ pulse is essential. In such state, how can you enjoy the bliss? You enjoythe bliss of the deep sleep after coming to awaken state only. The bliss is also enjoyed in the meditation state because the process of knowing all the other disturbing thoughts is absent. In this state, the process of knowing is confined to a single object, which is the imaginary impression of the inert energy and this is not a disturbing thought.

Awareness Itself is not Bliss

During the state of meditation, you continuously enjoythe bliss of the energy being stored. The Advaitins claim this state of meditation in deep sleep also, which is impossible due to the contradicting practical experience. The simple reason is that in meditation state, the process of knowing exists and the impression of inert energy acts as the object here. In deep sleep, the process of knowing is totally stopped and the actual inert energy alone remains. If you say that this inert energy is ‘Atman’, we have no objection to accept that ‘Atman’ remains in deep sleep. The imaginary impression of inert energy is only a mild nervous energy, which is an electro-chemical pulse. The bliss is nothing but the freshness represented by an electro-chemical pulse based on the stored energy due to absence of disturbances. Sometimes, this bliss appears due to the secretion of certain enzymes based on specific chemical reactions induced by the introduction of some chemicals like alcohol, drugs etc. In such case, the nerves are stimulated creating the experience of bliss. Bliss is only a special mode of awareness and not the normal awareness. Therefore, it is again another wrong concept to say that awareness itself is bliss.

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