April 17, 2014: The waking consciousness is external and the dream consciousness is internal, this Consciousness is neither external nor internal, because it is not either waking or dreaming. It is neither internally conscious nor externally conscious, Nantah-prajnam, na bahih-prajnam - not internal consciousness like dream, nor external consciousness like waking. One may think that it is a consciousness simultaneously of both the states. No; It is something different from a simultaneity of consciousness. It is not external, not internal, not a simultaneity of both, either; - No-'bhayatah-prajnam. It is not also a mass of consciousness like a homogeneous heap of water in the ocean - Na prajnana-ghanam. It is not quantitative in its essence. Quantity is spatial, mathematical and Consciousness is not such. Hence, it cannot be called a mass of consciousness, also, because when you think of mass, you think of a heap, a body, indistinguishable, though. Not so is Consciousness - Na prajnana-ghanam. It is not featureless Consciousness without any awareness -Na prajnam. You may think that it is awareness without an object before it. It is not even that, because the object is contained in that Consciousness. It is not Consciousness bereft of objects. It is Consciousness into which the objects have been absorbed. So, it cannot be regarded as a featureless transparency of an ethereal consciousness. It is not also absence of consciousness - Na-aprajnam. It is not a state of inert perfection which the schools of thought like the Nyaya and the Vaiseshika describe. It is not unconsciousness; it is not absence of consciousness; it is not bare consciousness; it is not a mass of consciousness; it is not external consciousness; it is not internal consciousness; it is not both-ways consciousness. What is this? Such is God in His essence, the Absolute in its True Being.

Adrishtam: Invisible is it. One cannot see it. Whatever be the effort of the eyes, the eyes cannot visualise it. Avyavaharayam: One cannot have any kind of dealings with it. You cannot touch it; you cannot grasp it; you cannot talk to it; you cannot see it; you cannot hear it. No kind of business can be established with it. You cannot have a relationship with it. It is unrelated; non-relational is it. It repels all relation. It is neither friendly nor inimical. Such is the mystery of the Being of all beings. Agrahyam: It is not graspable by the power of the senses. You cannot catch it with the hands, smell it with the nose, taste it with the tongue, hear it with the ears, see it with the eyes. No such thing is possible. Alakshanam: And, therefore, indefinable is it. You cannot describe it. No definition of it is possible, because what is definition but an association of qualities which you have seen, heard, etc.? But here is something which you have not seen, which you have not heard of; how can you have a characterisation of it? There is, thus, no definition of this Being of beings. No one can say anything about it. Acintyam: It is unthinkable by the mind. You cannot form a thought of this Being. You cannot, therefore, meditate upon it in the usual manner. You cannot think it, because to think would be to bring the object to the realm of space and time, to externalise it. It is not an object, and it is not in space and time, and, so, it is not thinkable. Avyapadesyam: Indescribable, ineffable is it. You cannot speak its glory with your tongue. No scripture can describe it; no saint can explain it. Not even the wisdom of the sages put together can be adequate to its greatness. It is beyond all the wisdom of the sages, and it is peerless, incomparable. This character of the Being of this Reality is due to the fact that it cannot be referred to by anyone else. This world is a network of references. One thing is referred to the other for the purpose of definition, understanding and dealing. The whole world of business is a realm of references made to 'others'. Here, however, no such reference is possible. It is a silence of all activity, both of the body and of the mind.

                                                                                                                ---Excerpts from Mandukya Upanishad