THE EYE CONSCIOUSNESS

The sense organs can sense the finitude of the finite ones. It is beyond the perception and comprehension of the material sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin) to perceive (sight, hear, taste, smell, and touch) or comprehend the infinitude of infinity. The "eye of consciousness" is called the eye of ātman (the inner spirit or soul). It is all about expanded awareness, inner vision, and heightened perception. It emphasises one's awareness or attaining a higher state of consciousness. It refers to a state of heightened awareness, or self-awareness. It is also to perceive and reflect upon one's own thoughts, emotions, and experiences. It is often described as observing the contents of the mind as a detached observer or as cultivating a state of pure awareness. It is the ability to introspect, or be mindful, of an individual’s inner mental and emotional states. It is called "the eye of wisdom" or "the eye of insight" in Buddhism.  It refers to the development of insight and understanding into the true nature of existence, leading to enlightenment and liberation from suffering.

1. Outline

The eye of consciousness, in Sanātana Dharma, is known as the third eye, or the "ajna," or "brow chakra," or "gyananakashu", (the eye of knowledge). It is considered a symbol of enlightenment and higher consciousness. It is believed to be located in the middle of the forehead, slightly above the space between the eyebrows. When awakened or activated, it is said to grant intuitive abilities, inner vision, and a deeper understanding of reality. It represents enlightenment, which one achieves through meditation and contemplation.

The eye of consciousness also refers to the gate that leads to the inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness. The third eye, or "Eye of Wisdom", is a mark on the forehead of Lord Mahadeva, also known as Tryambaka Deva, as He is often depicted as having three eyes.

The physical eyes see the outer, mundane world, and the eye consciousness sees the unperceivable through the ātman (inner spirit). Meditation is to converge the external and internal eyes, to see into the outer and inner realms at the same time. When this happens, the eye consciousness raises the consciousness level to visualise, perceive, and comprehend the hitherto invisible dynamism of the physical and non-physical realms.

This is because eye consciousness is connected to the inner guiding force that is innate within our psyche and spirit. The inner guiding force sends information in the form of intuition to the ajna chakra to help us understand and gain meaning from the information coming into the mind from the outer world. This inner guidance is essential if we are to remain calm and confident as we navigate through the challenges of life.

2. Srimad Bhagavad Gita

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita says, ‘Nothing outside me can exist.’

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñchid asti dhanañjaya

mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva

There is nothing higher than Myself. Everything rests in Me, like beads strung on a thread.

The absoluteness of God does not permit anything external to Him. Externality delimits God's existence, and He would become a finite person if there were external things. The superiority and absoluteness, the infinitude, the spacelessness, and the timelessness of God preclude any kind of outsideness in God's existence. This is what I have heard from you. Is it possible to have a vision of this Great Being? Am I blessed to behold this great Universal Reality with my eyes?" This is a queer question for a mortal to put before the Almighty Master.

And the kindhearted teacher says, "You can, but you cannot behold the Cosmic Reality with your two eyes, which are meant only for sensory operations and which always externalise objects and tell you that all things are outside. With these eyes, you cannot have the vision of the Almighty. This Infinite Being can be seen only by the consciousness that is within. The eye of consciousness can behold it," a terse commentary by Swami Krishnananda on Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita

"The eye can’t find the I" means that the eye, being material, can’t perceive the real I, the soul, which is spiritual.

"The ‘I’ seeks through the eye" means that the soul’s consciousness searches through the eye, indicating that the consciousness is stuck at the material level. So to realise the spiritual realm, Sri Krishna, in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, bestows divine vision on Arjuna, His foremost disciple.

na tu māṁ śhakyase draṣhṭum anenaiva sva-chakṣhuṣhā

divyaṁ dadāmi te chakṣhuḥ paśhya me yogam aiśhwaram

In the Gita Sri Krishna says that but you cannot see My cosmic form with these physical eyes of yours. Therefore, I grant you divine vision. Behold My majestic opulence!

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita cautions that those not situated in proper self-understanding can’t perceive the soul, even if they try.

yatanto yoginaśh chainaṁ paśhyanty ātmany avasthitam

yatanto ‘py akṛitātmāno nainaṁ paśhyanty achetasaḥ

Striving yogis too are able to realise the soul enshrined in the body. However, those whose minds are not purified cannot cognize it, even though they strive to do so.

apareyam itas tvanyāṁ prakṛitiṁ viddhi me parām

jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat

Such is My inferior energy. But beyond it, I have superior energy. This is the jīva śhakti (the soul energy), which comprises the embodied souls who are the basis of life in this world. Sri Krishna explains that beyond the eight-fold prakṛiti, the material energy, which He says is inferior; there exists another that is far more superior. This energy is completely transcendental as compared to lifeless matter. It is His spiritual energy, the jīva śhakti, which includes all the living souls of the world. Now,

etad-yonīni bhūtāni sarvāṇītyupadhāraya

ahaṁ kṛitsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā

Sri Krishna says that know that all living beings are manifested by these two energies of Mine. I am the source of the entire creation, and into Me it again dissolves. The entire creation is a manifestation of God’s energies.

To situate us in self-understanding, the Gita equips us intellectually and experientially. Its philosophical exposition of the self enables us to grasp spirit as a distinct category of existence, separate from matter.

 3. Remarks

Noble laureate and French physiologist, Alexis Carrel (Man the Unknown, 1935), states that we need to go beyond the observable material data to the unobservable ones. He observes that "our mind has a natural tendency to reject the things that do not fit into the frame of scientific or philosophical beliefs of our time. After all, scientists are only humans. They are saturated with the prejudices of their environment and epoch."

How do we go beyond the limit of externality? It is through eye consciousness. The "eye of consciousness" is the eye of atman (the inner spirit or soul) that looks beyond the externality set in the material limit. It is all about expanded awareness, inner vision, and heightened perception. It emphasises expanding one's awareness or attaining a higher state of consciousness. It refers to a state of heightened awareness, or self-awareness.

A research paper published in Pub Med highlights that "theories of cognition contained in the ancient Indian systems have the potential to modify and complement existing Western mainstream accounts of cognition. In particular, they might serve as a basis for arriving at more comprehensive theories for several research areas that, so far, lack strong theoretical grounding, such as meditation research or research on aspects of consciousness."

The Self is the Ātman (inner self or inner spirit) within every being and not the objects outside. The purpose of the perceiver is to perceive the Ātman. The inner spirit is eternal, invisible, imperishable, and unchanging. It exists beyond the grasp of our ordinary senses and can only be perceived by a true perceiver. Self-realised beings, with their senses turned away from sense objects, see the Ātman within. The cosmic dimension includes the material one and goes beyond it to the realm of cosmology and cosmogony. Swami Krishnananda says that there can be only one ‘I' behind the cosmos, not many 'I's. Many 'I's cannot say, "We are the creators of the cosmos and we are all things," because two things cannot be all things. So here is the supremacy of the Godhood that speaks in this strain as ‘I': "I am." That is all.

-Asutosh Satpathy