Attempts to prove or refute non-duality or duality have always left more questions unanswered. Like the thought process in Quantum physics radically changed with awareness of the ?observer? and his ?effect on the observed?, we need to realize that we are approaching the unfathomable, with our limited ability of perception and articulation. The ground for debates does not arise because of the unsteady nature of Purūṣa and Prakṛti, but because the thinking processes that try to put their arms around them are essentially grounded in pre-dispositions. While the real world remains multi-dimensional, we remain the proverbial ?six blind men? armed with a single-dimensional perception. For example, while driving we remain aware of the solid road under us but never think of the subtle air corridor that is penetrated.
[B]Time, Space, and Causation[/B]
For the same reason, our world-view contains myriad objects but cannot embrace a concept of ?Absolute? that is the essence with which we begin and to which we return at the end. By labeling it as Purūṣa, we only invite debates since labels attract us more. In the Sānkhya school, the universe is often described as the interplay between pure, transcendental consciousness (Purūṣa) and the material world of matter or Nature (Prakṛti). According to Patanjali, this apparent duality is preceded by and takes place within the context of a Unity of Absolute reality, from which all things originate, all things belong, and to which all things return. The ability to be conscious of Ultimate reality beyond the dualities of ordinary perception is the ?enlightenment? of the self is Yoga?s ultimate destination.
Swami Vivekānanda describes the universe, as it is ordinarily perceived, as the Absolute seen through the screen of time, space and causation (kāla, d?sha, nimitta). A screen (consciousness) causes the image (or perception) of that which is seen to be altered. Therefore, two entities result, one real and the other perceived: the Absolute, which is real, and its perceived counterpart, the universe of ordinary consciousness, which, in Absolute terms, is not real. In other words, ordinary perception of the universe is not created but instead caused by consciousness and the act of perceiving. It is a corollary of consciousness: the ?I-am-ness?-producing cause, or a causation. As long as consciousness exists, the perception or illusion of duality exists as well.
The ?changeless,? ?infinite? and ?undivided? nature of Absolute reality, which exists beyond perceptions of time, space and causation, is Yoga?s fundamental hypothesis. Since it [Absolute] is not in time, it cannot be changing. Change takes place only in time. And since it is not in space, it must be undivided, because dividedness and separation occur only in space. And since it is therefore one and undivided, it must also be infinite, since there is no ?other? to limit it. Now ?changeless,? ?infinite,? and ?undivided? are negative statements, but they will suffice. We can trace the physics of our universe from these three negative statements. If we don?t see the Absolute as what it is, we?ll see it as something else. If we don?t see it as changeless, infinite, and undivided, we?ll see it as changing, finite, and divided, since in this case there is no other else. There is no other way to mistake the changeless except as changing. So we see a universe which is changing all the time, made of minuscule particles, and divided into atoms.?
[B]Universal Mind[/B]
Absolute exists in perfect balance and harmony within itself. But in becoming self-aware, there arises a ?self? and an ?other?. Then separation is established, balance is lost, and countless chain reactions of involution are set into motion. In the process, the infinite Cosmic Consciousness appears to become finite Universal Mind.
All objects are either man-made or natural. Behind the birth of each object is a mind that conceives an idea, designs it and executes. Whether it is a human mind or Nature?s mind, it ?knows? everything about the created object. Universal Mind can also be conceptualized as that virtual amalgam of all the minds that collectively know everything about all the objects. Thus, as the involution rolls out the subtle mind creates gross matter. Mind and matter form a single spectrum, with Universal Mind on the subtle end and the most inert objects on the opposite gross end. This is the second most important Yoga hypothesis.
[B]Consciousness[/B]
The Cosmic Consciousness that permeates all of Nature pulsates as life and awareness unfolding from subtle to gross. As the force of separation rolls out, the force of attraction for wholeness (and moving from gross back to subtle) sets in, creating an ever-increasing tension. That tension appears, in its grossest form, as gravity and the ?attraction between opposites, like positive and negative electrical charges.?
Yoga?s path of transformation frees awareness from cell-level bondage and cultivates recognition of the fundamental illusion of duality. Thus, it is a powerful tool and vehicle for transcending the illusion of duality and returning to the divinity of wholeness or pure, Absolute Consciousness.
[B]Subtle-to-Gross[/B]
Universal Mind, the mother of all matter, is not ?created? in the usual sense of the word. It is apparitional causation: the Absolute seen as the universe, through the screen of time, space and causation. What is perceived as matter and what the laws of physics explain as one form of matter created from another form of matter is transformational causation. In such creation of matter, the sum total of energy remains the same while the configuration of the elements of matter is changed.
Hence, Sānkhya theory proposes that, in relation to the Absolute, the universe of mind and matter is unreal and that gravity, electricity, energy (prāṇa) and inertia are all examples of the same underlying, inherent consciousness, manifesting (or not manifesting) at different levels of energetic vibrations.
In the Absolute plane, there exists a ?potent nothingness,? a ?sum total of potential energy? that is ?one, perpetual, dynamic and unmanifest.? However, physical-molecular-electronic universes are manifested energy and there is a subtle-to-gross progression or hierarchy, with ākāśa (inadequately translated as ?space? or ?ether?) as the most basic and most subtle element (bhūta) in the material world.
The ?five great elements? combine in myriad permutations to produce the whole of the subtle-to-gross spectrum of the entire material plane and, through the infinite layers of subtle-to-gross roll-out, create the appearance of diversity?though in essence and core composition, all things are the same. It is essentially scale-invariant. This is the third most important Yoga hypothesis.
