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THE second condition is _Taijasa_ [the ‘Luminous', a word derived from Tejas, the igneous element], whose seat is in the dream state [svapna-sthāna], which has knowledge of inward [mental] objects, which has seven members and nineteen mouths and whose domain is the world of subtle manifestation.^[1]

In this state the outward faculties, while existing all the time potentially, are reabsorbed into the inward sense (_manas_), which is at the same time their common source, their support, and their immediate end, and which resides in the luminous arteries (_nādīs_) of the subtle form, where it is distributed without any division of its nature in the manner of a diffused heat. The igneous element in itself, considered in its essential properties, is indeed at one and the same time light and heat; and, as the very name _Taijasa_ applied to the subtle state indicates, these two aspects, suitably transposed (since there is no longer any question here of sensible qualities) must be found in that state also. As we have already had occasion to remark elsewhere, everything belonging to the subtle state is very closely connected with the nature of life itself, which is inseparable from heat; and it may be recalled that on this point, as on many others, the conceptions of Aristotle are in complete agreement with those of the East. As for the luminosity to which we have just alluded, it should be regarded as the reflection and diffraction of the intelligible Light in the extra-sensible modalities of formal manifestation (among which, however, it is only necessary in the present instance to consider those relating to the human state). Furthermore, the subtle form itself (_sūkshma-sharīra_ or _liṅga-sharīra_) in which _Taijasa_ dwells is likened to a fiery vehicle,^[2] although this must of course be distinguished from corporeal fire (the element _Tejas_ or that which derives from it) which is perceived by the senses of the gross form (_sthūla-sharīra_), vehicle of _Vaishvānara_, and more particularly by sight, since visibility, necessarily presupposing the presence of light, is the sensible quality naturally belonging to _Tejas_; in the subtle state, however, there can no longer be any question of _bhūtas_, but only of the corresponding _tanmātras_ which are their immediate determining principles.

As to the _nāḍīs_ or arteries belonging to the subtle form, they should on no account be confused with the corporeal arteries by means of which the circulation of the blood is effected; physiologically, they correspond rather to the ramifications of the nervous system, for they are expressly described as luminous; moreover, just as fire is in a sense polarized into heat and light, so the subtle state is linked to the corporeal state in two different and complementary ways, through the blood as to the caloric and through the nervous system as to, the luminous quality.^[3] At the same time it must be clearly understood that between the _nāḍīs_ and the nerves there is correspondence only and not identification, since the former are not corporeal and we are really concerned with two different spheres within the integral individuality. Similarly, when a relationship is established between the functions of these _nāḍīs_ and respiration,^[4] because respiration is essential for maintaining life and corresponds in a real way to the principal vital act, it should not be concluded on that account that they can be represented as canals of some sort in which the air circulates; this would amount to confusing the 'vital breath' (_prāṇa_), which properly belongs to the order of subtle manifestation, with a bodily function.^[5] It is sometimes said that the total number of _nāḍīs_ is seventy-two thousand; according to other texts, however, it is given as seven hundred and twenty million; but the difference here is more apparent than real, since these numbers are meant to be taken symbolically and not literally, as is usual in such cases; and this will be apparent if one observes their obvious connection with the cyclic numbers.^[6] Further on we shall have occasion to supplement our remarks upon the subject of the subtle arteries as well as on the different stages in the process of reabsorption of the individual faculties: as we have said, this reabsorption is effected in an order inverse to the development of those same faculties.

In the dream state the individual 'living soul' (_jīvātmā_) ‘is to itself its own light' and it produces, through the action of its own desire (_kāma_) alone, a world issuing entirely from itself, in which the objects consist exclusively of mental conceptions, that is to say of combinations of ideas clothed in subtle forms, depending substantially upon the subtle form of the individual himself, of which they are merely so many secondary and accidental modifications.^[7]

There is, however, always something incomplete and uncoordinated about this production: it is for this reason that it is looked upon as illusory (_māyāmaya_) or as only possessing an apparent (_prātibhāsika_) existence whereas, in the sensible world where it is situated in the waking state, the same 'living soul' possesses the faculty of acting in the sense of a practical (_vyāvahārika_) production, also illusory no doubt with regard to absolute (_paramārtha_) reality and transitory like all manifestation, yet nevertheless possessing a relative reality and a stability sufficient for the needs of ordinary 'profane' life (_laukika_, a word derived from _loka_, the 'world', which should here be taken in a sense exactly equivalent to that which it normally bears in the Gospels). However, it is important to observe that this difference respecting the orientation of the activity of the being in the two states does not imply an effective superiority of the waking state over the dream state when each is considered in itself; or at least a superiority which is valid only from a 'profane' point of view cannot metaphysically be considered as a real superiority. And indeed, from another point of view the possibilities of the dream state are more extensive than those of the waking state since they allow the individual to escape in a certain measure from some of the limiting conditions to which he is subject in the corporeal modality.^[8] But, however that may be, the absolutely real (_pāramārthika_) is the Self (_Atmā_) alone; it is utterly unattainable by any conception that confines itself to the consideration of external and internal objects, knowledge of which constitutes respectively the waking and dream states; certain heterodox schools, which did in fact restrict their attention in this way to the aggregate of these two states, thereby condemned themselves to remain wholly enclosed within the limits of formal manifestation and the human individuality.

By reason of its connection with the mental faculty, the realm of subtle manifestation can be described as an ideal world, to distinguish it from the sensible world which is the realm of gross manifestation. This term however should not be taken in the sense of Plato's '_intelligible world_', since his '_ideas_' are possibilities in the principial state, which must be referred to formless being (in spite of the over-imaginative expressions in which Plato often enveloped his thoughts): in the subtle state we are still only concerned with ideas clothed in forms, since the possibilities which this state comprises do not extend beyond individual existence.^[9] Above all it is important not to be misled into imagining an opposition here of the kind which certain modern philosophers claim to establish between 'ideal' and 'real'; such an opposition is really quite meaningless. Everything that is, under whatever mode it may happen to exist, is real for that very reason and possesses precisely the type and degree of reality consonant with its own nature: something consisting in ideas (and that is all the meaning properly attributable to the word 'ideal') is neither more nor less real on that account than something consisting in anything else, each possibility necessarily finding its position at that level in the universal hierarchy determined for it by its own nature.

In the order of universal manifestation, just as the sensible world in its entirety is identified with _Virāj_, so this ideal world of which we have been speaking is identified with _Hiranyagarbha_ (literally, the 'Golden Embryo')^[10], which is _Brahmā_ (determination of _Brahma_ as effect, _kārya_)^[11] enveloping Himself in the 'World Egg' (_Brahmanda_)^[12], out of which there will develop, according to its mode of realization, the whole formal manifestation which is contained therein virtually as a conception of this _Hiranyagarbha_, primordial germ of the cosmic Light.^[13] Furthermore, _Hiranyagarbha_ is described as the 'synthetic aggregate of life' (_jīva-ghana_)^[14]; indeed, it can really be identified with 'Universal Life'^[15] by reason of the previously mentioned connection between the subtle state and life, which, even when considered in its entire extension (and not limited to organic or corporeal life only, to which field the physiological point of view is restricted)^[16], is nevertheless but one of the special conditions of the state of existence to which human individuality belongs. The sphere of life therefore does not extend beyond the possibilities comprised within that state, which, be it understood, should here be viewed integrally and taken as including the subtle modalities as well as the gross modality.

Whether one places oneself at the 'macrocosmic' point of view, as we have just done, or at the 'microcosmic' point of view, which we adopted to begin with, the ideal world in question is conceived by faculties corresponding analogically to those by which the sensible world is perceived, or if it be preferred, which are the same faculties as these in principle (since they are still individual faculties), but considered under another mode of existence and at another degree of development, their activity being exercised in a different realm. This explains how Ātmā in this dream state, that is to say under the aspect of Taijasa, comes to have the same number of members and mouths (or instruments of knowledge) as in the waking state under the aspect of Vaishvānara.^[17]

There is no necessity to enumerate them a second time since the definitions we have already given can be applied equally, by means of a suitable transposition, to the two realms of gross or sensible manifestation and subtle or ideal manifestation.

Footnotes

[1]Māhdūkya Upanishad I.4. In this text the subtle state is called _pravivikta_, literally 'predistinguished', because it is a state of distinction that precedes gross manifestation; the word also means 'separate', because the 'living soul', when in the dream state, is to all intents confined within itself, contrary to what happens in the waking state, which is 'common to all men'.

[2]Elsewhere in this connection we have recalled the ‘chariot of fire' upon which the prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven (2 Kings 2:2).

[3]We have already mentioned, in describing the constitution of the _annamaya-kosha_, which is the bodily organism, that the elements of the nervous system originate from the assimilation of fiery substances. As for blood, being liquid, it is formed originally from watery substances, but these must have undergone an elaboration due to the action of the vital heat, which is the manifestation of _Agni Vaishvānara_, and they only play the part of a plastic support that serves for the fixation of an element of igneous nature: fire and water here represent, in relation to one another, 'essence' and 'substance' in a relative sense. One might easily compare this with certain alchemical theories, such as those which introduce the principles called ‘sulphur' and 'mercury', the one active and the other passive, which are respectively analogous, in the order of ‘mixed things', to fire and water in the order of elements; not to mention the many other designations that are conferred symbolically, in the Hermetic language, on the two correlative terms of a duality of this nature.

[4]We are alluding here more especially to the teachings connected with _Hatha-Yoga_, that is to say to the methods preparatory to ‘Union' (_Yoga_ in the proper sense of the word), which are based on the assimilation of certain rhythms, chiefly bound up with breath-control. What the Islamic esoteric schools call _dhikr_ fulfills exactly the same function, and often indeed the actual proceedings resorted to are quite similar in both traditions, a fact, however, which is not to be taken as evidence of any borrowing; the science of rhythm, in fact, may well be known in two different quarters quite independently, for we are dealing here with a science having its own definite object and corresponding to a clearly defined order of reality, although this science is quite unknown to Westerners.

[5]This confusion has actually been perpetrated by certain orientalists, whose understanding is doubtless unable to operate outside the limits of the corporeal world.

[6]The fundamental cyclic numbers are: 72 = 2^3 x 3^2; 108 = 2^2 x 3^3; 432 = 2^4 x 3^3 = 72 x 6 = 108 x 4; they apply for example to the geometrical division of a circle (360 = 72 x 5 = 12 x 30) and to the duration of the astronomical period of the precession of the equinoxes (72 x 360 = 432 x 60 = 25,920 years). These are their most immediate and elementary applications, but we cannot enter at present into the properly symbolical considerations that arise out of the transposition of these data into different orders.

[7]Cf. Brihadāranyaka Upanishad IV.3 .9–10.

[8]On the dream state cf. Brahma-Sūtras III.2.1-6.

[9]The subtle state is properly the realm of ψυχή and not that of νοῦς; the latter in reality corresponds to Buddhi, that is to say to the supra-individual intellect.

[10]This name bears a meaning very close to that of Taijasa, for gold, according to the Hindu doctrine., is the 'mineral light'; the alchemists also looked on it as corresponding by analogy, among the metals, to the sun among the planets; and it is at least a remarkable fact that the Latin name for gold itself (_aurum_) is strikingly similar to the Hebrew _aor_, which means ‘light'.

[11]It must be pointed out that _Brahmā_ is a masculine form while _Brahma_ is neuter; this indispensable distinction, which is of the highest importance (since it expresses the distinction of the 'Supreme' from the 'non-Supreme') cannot be indicated if, as is usual among orientalists, one employs the single form of _Brahman_, which belongs to either gender; the latter practice leads to perpetual confusion, especially in a language like French where the neuter gender is wanting.

[12]This cosmogonic symbol of the ‘World-Egg' is in no wise peculiar to India; it is for example to be found in Mazdaism, in the Egyptian tradition (the Egg of _Kneph_), in that of the Druids, and in the Orphic tradition. The embryonic condition, which in each individual being plays a corresponding part to that played by _Brahmānda_ in the cosmic order, is in Sanskrit called _pinda_; and the analogy between the 'microcosm' and the 'macrocosm', considered under this aspect, is expressed in the following formula: _Yatha pinda tathā Brahmānda_, ‘as the individual embryo, so the 'World Egg'.

[13]That is why _Virāj_ proceeds from _Hiranyagarbha_, and _Manu_, in turn, proceeds from _Virāj_.

[14]The word _ghana_ signifies primarily a cloud, and thence a compact and undifferentiated mass.

[15]'And the life was the light of men' (John 1:4).

[16]We are especially alluding to the extension of the idea of life which is implied in the point of view of the Western religions, and which in fact relates to possibilities contained in a prolongation of human individuality; as we have explained elsewhere, this is what the Far-Eastern tradition refers to under the name of ‘longevity'.

[17]These faculties must here be regarded as distributed in the three 'envelopes', which by their combination constitute the subtle form (_vijñānamaya-kosha_, _manomaya-kosha_ and _prānamaya-kosha_).

THE DREAM STATE OR CONDITION OF TAIJASA

Footnotes