Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter
It is necessary to understand something about that consciousness
which is your Self, and about the matter which is the envelope of
consciousness, but which the Self so often identifies with himself.
The great characteristic of consciousness is change, with a foundation
of certainty that it is. The consciousness of existence never changes,
but beyond this all is change, and only by the changes does
consciousness become Self-consciousness. Consciousness is an
everchanging thing, circling round one idea that never
changes--Self-existence. The consciousness itself is not changed by
any change of position or place. It only changes its states within
itself.
In matter, every change of state is brought about by change of
place. A change of consciousness is a change of a state; a change of
matter is a change of place. Moreover, every change of state in
consciousness is related to vibrations of matter in its vehicle. When
matter is examined, we find three fundamental qualities--rhythm,
mobility, stability--sattva, rajas, tamas. Sattva is rhythm,
vibration. It is more than; rajas, or mobility. It is a regulated
movement, a swinging from one side to the other over a definite
distance, a length of wave, a vibration.
The question is often put: "How can things in such different
categories, as matter and Spirit, affect each other? Can we bridge
that great gulf which some say can never be crossed?" Yes, the Indian
has crossed it, or rather, has shown that there is no gulf. To the
Indian, matter and Spirit are not only the two phases of the One, but,
by a subtle analysis of the relation between consciousness and matter,
he sees that in every universe the LOGOS imposes upon matter a certain
definite relation of rhythms, every vibration of matter corresponding
to a change in consciousness. There is no change in consciousness,
however subtle, that has not appropriated to it a vibration in matter;
there is no vibration in matter, however swift or delicate, which has
not correlated to it a certain change in consciousness. That is the
first great work of the LOGOS, which the Hindu scriptures trace out in
the building of the atom, the Tanmatra, " the measure of That," the
measure of consciousness. He who is consciousness imposes on his
material the answer to every change in consciousness, and that is an
infinite number of vibrations. So that between the Self and his
sheaths there is this invariable relation: the change in consciousness
and the vibration of matter, and vice versa. That makes it possible
for the Self to know the Not-Self.
These correspondences are utilised in Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga, the
Kingly Yoga and the Yoga of Resolve. The Raja Yoga seeks to control
the changes in consciousness, and by this control to rule the material
vehicles. The Hatha Yoga seeks to control the vibrations of matter,
and by this control to evoke the desired changes in consciousness. The
weak point in Hatha Yoga is that action on this line cannot reach
beyond the astral plane, and the great strain imposed on the
comparatively intractable matter of the physical plane sometimes leads
to atrophy of the very organs, the activity of which is necessary for
effecting the changes in consciousness that would be useful. The Hatha
Yogi gains control over the bodily organs with which the waking
consciousness no longer concerns itself, having relinquished them to
its lower part, the " subconsciousness', This is often useful as
regards the prevention of disease, but serves no higher purpose. When
he begins to work on the brain centres connected with ordinary
consciousness, and still more when he touches those connected with the
super-consciousness, he enters a dangerous region, and is more likely
to paralyse than to evolve.
That relation alone it is which makes matter cognizable; the change
in the thinker is answered by a change outside, and his answer to it
and the change in it that he makes by his. answer re-arrange again the
matter of the body which is his envelope. Hence the rhythmic changes
in matter are rightly called its cognizability. Matter may be known by
consciousness, because of this unchanging relation between the two
sides of the manifest LOGOS who is one, and the Self becomes aware of
changes within himself, and thus of those of the external words to
which those changes are related.
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