Beyond the Waves of the Mind

The four states of consciousness in the Yoga tradition

In the Yoga tradition, awakening does not come from knowing more. It comes when we begin to see the mind clearly and stop being carried away by it.

Patanjali begins the Yoga Sutras with a single line: Yogas citta-vrtti-nirodhaḥ. Yoga is the settling of the movements of the mind.

Sit quietly for a few minutes and you will understand why he started there. A thought rises, takes shape, fades, and another is already waiting behind it. Even when we believe we are resting, the mind keeps moving. At the edge of sleep it only changes its language, and words turn into pictures.

So the question Yoga asks is a simple one. What is here when the movement becomes still?

The four states

Our elders speak of four states of awareness. Jagrat is waking, where awareness moves along with thought. Svapna is dreaming, where thought moves as images and scenes. Suṣupti is deep sleep, where ordinary thought has dissolved. Turīya is the fourth, where awareness is fully present and the restless movement of the mind is absent.

Turīya should not be mistaken for deep sleep. In sleep we are unaware of everything around us. In Turiya there is complete awareness without any disturbance. This is why the tradition holds it in such high regard.

The still water

Think of a deep lake. When the wind blows, waves rise on the surface and they seem to be everything. Below, the water stays calm. The lake can exist without waves, but a wave cannot exist without the lake.

Thought and awareness are like this. Thought rises in awareness and returns to it. Awareness remains whether thought is present or not.

The lamp in a windless place

The Gita gives another picture. A lamp kept in a place with no wind does not flicker. It is the same flame as before, only the wind has gone.

When the mind settles, nothing new is created. The stillness was always there, and now it becomes visible. Samadhi, Mokṣa and Kaivalya are the names the tradition gives to awareness resting in its own nature.

Not left to accident

Everyone has had a moment, maybe for a breath or two, when thought stops and there is only presence. Most of us let it pass without noticing.

The tradition says such moments need not stay accidental. With steady practice the mind becomes better understood, and the stillness becomes familiar and stable.

Yoga is not only for the body, and not only for learning techniques. It teaches us to see the difference between awareness and the movements of the mind, and to know what remains when the movement is still.

That is what Bodhodaya points to, the rising of awareness.