Chaitanyam is energy: one has movement, and one is pure consciousness. What is that for which we have a constant quest? These are some of the difficult questions seekers come across.
We easily appreciate our existence in terms of physical body. It is the easiest one to feel and prove. The next level is the energy. As GOD is driving our existence through sthula and shakti swaroopas, we are not meaningful without Chaitanya. Imagine the body of self without the shakti. It is called different and not tolerated. Thus, the shareera on which we pride and spend our life on bhoga—none of this carries the required weight. The sthula is only a means to do the dharma+acharana by which we move towards the revelation of the Chaitanya.
Shabdha Swaroopa Chaitanya is acknowledged by many. The ananta sound at the anahatam is said to be the Chaitanya. We don’t hear the sound but experience it as the wise counsel. ‘Ek Omkar’ is the saying in a prominent method. If Chaitanya is ever present in us and making us do activities and experience life, then why are we in this “sleep-awake condition”? Is it simplified maya that is making us knowingly ignore the satya?
When in a state of plain introspection, we do feel the thoughts, the serenity below these thoughts, and then Chaitanya below this serenity. At this moment, we feel the infinite bliss, but often it is temporary. We slip back into our mundane existence. For the common people and sincere seekers, a genuine karma involvement, meaning deep action embeddedness, often presents this. We do not realise it during that state, but we recognise it once the state is over.
Can we do anything consciously to realise it or experience it more often, or, as the best-case condition, stay in that state? Is it our action or karma that takes us to it? Or is it that grace which descends, depending on our previous karma and present intensity of seeking? The questions are many, and the possible answer is that it dawns when the karta, karma, and kriya converge. When such a merger happens, there is nothing to say. Only blissful silence. It is the experience beyond all words.
Dr. S. Ainavolu is a Mumbai-based teacher of Management and Tradition.
