How do Hindu philosophies describe consciousness?
Long before neuroscience, the Upanishads made consciousness their central question. They analysed waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep — and concluded that the one who witnesses all three is the Self.
The verse
Three states and a witness
Every night we move through three states: waking (jāgrat), dreaming (svapna) and dreamless sleep (suṣupti). The Mandukya Upanishad asks: what is present in all three? The body changes, the world appears and disappears — but something knows each state.
The five sheaths
The Taittiriya Upanishad describes the person as five layers, like sheaths around a blade. Peeling them back, one by one, the seeker arrives at something surprising…
The journey continues for members
- The pancha koshas
- Turiya
- Philosophy and neuroscience
Sources
- Mandukya Upanishad
- Taittiriya Upanishad — Brahmananda Valli
- Aitareya Upanishad — 3.3