We cannot know what is inside us, and we cannot also know what is inside the world. Now, to see what is inside the world is not to break the earth into pieces, just as, to see what is inside us, it would not be enough if we simply pierce the heart or break the body. The 'inside' is not to be taken in this sense. It is not the inside of a room, a hall or a house. This is a peculiar kind of 'inside' which we cannot easily understand, unless we think over it deeply. Even if we break through the body or split an object, we cannot see the 'inside' of the body or the object because the physical internality of the object is not the real 'inside' of it. Even that would be merely the physical part of the object, alone. What is the 'inside' of the object? The 'inside' is that which is internal to the physical aspect of the object, because even if the physical object is broken to pieces, we see only the physical parts of it. If we cut to pieces a human body, what do we see? We see the parts of the same body. We have seen the same physical stuff; we have not seen anything internal to the physical aspect of the body. The internal is not the spatial internality of any physical entity, but that power or force of which the physical body or the physical object is a concretisation or manifestation. The subtle body of ours, the astral body, is called, in Sanskrit, Linga-sarira or Linga-Deha. Linga is a mark, an indication or a symptom. The subtle body is called a symptom, an indication or a mark, because it determines the character of the physical body which is its manifestation. The physical body is nothing but the form that is cast in the mould of the subtle body. The subtle body is not visible to us, and it is internal to the physical body. Of course, there are certain things which are internal even to the subtle body, whose study we shall be making in the course of the study of this Upanishad. The internal structure of the body is not the physical structure. It is constituted of a different stuff altogether, called Tanmatras, Manas, Buddhi, and the like. Tanmatras are subtle vibrations that are inside physical things, and all physical bodies. The vibrations materialise themselves into forms, and in this sense the vibrations are called Nama, and the forms Rupa.

The Nama and the Rupa of the Vedanta philosophy, or of the Upanishads, are not the names and the forms with which we are usually familiar in our social life, but they rather correspond to what Aristotle called in his system, form and matter. Form, according to Aristotle, is the formative power of an object, and matter is the shape this power takes by materialisation, concretisation, etc. The subtle body may be regarded as the Nama, and the physical body the Rupa. It is the Nama or name in the sense that it indicates a form which is the object corresponding to it, namely the body. The Linga-sarira, the Sukshma-sarira of ours, is our name. That is our real name, and if at all we name ourselves as Gopala, Govinda, Krishna, etc., that name which is given to us at the time of Namakarana, the naming ceremony, should correspond to our character within. The name should not be incongruent with our essential nature. The real name is within us. It is not merely a word that we utter with reference to us. You may call a man, Kshirasagara-Bhatta (ocean of milk), but he may not have even a little buttermilk in his house. What is the use of calling a poor man as Daulat Ram? There are names that we give without any connection with the nature or the status of the person, and the internal structure of the subtle body. The real name, Linga, indication, mark, is the Sukshmasarira, and it is the determining factor of the physical form, the body in which we are engaged.

This subtle body which is vibrant with desires, unfulfilled, puts on a form called the body, for the sake of the fulfilment of the desires. This putting on of a body is called birth; and birth cannot cease for us as long as the subtle body is not extinguished. There are births and births, as also deaths and deaths, processes of Samsara or transmigration, which are nothing but the effort of the physical body to find newer and newer avenues of satisfaction for the desires that are left unfulfilled. An infinite number of Jivas fills this cosmos. All these Jivas are animated by a consciousness that is common to all. This consciousness is Vaisvanara; but, individually, when this consciousness is considered in terms of bodies, it is called Jiva.

While the consciousness in terms of the totality of all the physical bodies, inclusive of all animate and inanimate things, may be regarded as the Vaisvanara, or the Virat, the very same consciousness animating a particular body in the waking consciousness is called Visva. The Visva is the Atman enlivening the physical body; Vaisvanara is the Atman reigning supreme in the physical cosmos. This is the twofold waking life, individual and the Cosmic; - Jagnritasthana.

Now, we consider the meaning of Bahihprajna: outwardly conscious. While both the Jiva and Isvara may be regarded as outwardly conscious, there is a subtle distinction between them. The Jiva is outwardly conscious in the sense that it is aware of things, substances, objects, outside it. But Vaisvanara's consciousness of externality is of a different kind. It is a Universal Affirmation of 'I-am', 'I-am-ness', 'Aham-asmi'. This is the first manifestation of Self-consciousness - Cosmic Ahamkara. Therefore, it has no opposing objects in front of it. This Ahamkara does not wage a war with others. It has no misunderstandings with other persons or things, and it has, therefore, no pains of any kind. It has, also, no dealings with other persons and things, because it is Vaisvanara, and not Visva. We cannot even imagine this state of the "I-am-ness" of the Virat. We have never been in that state, and so our minds are not capable of imagining that condition. To some extent, they say, this condition may be compared to the initial state of our becoming aware of ourselves immediately after we wake up from deep sleep. Generally, we do not think of this condition when we get up from sleep. We remain in a state of half-consciousness, and we plunge into our usual activities afterwards; so that we do not meditate upon this intervening period between deep sleep and waking consciousness in terms of the outer world. We have a subtle feeling of our 'being', before we become aware of the world outside. We are not asleep; we have woken up; and yet we are not fully aware of the Samsara that is outside us. This state of consciousness where it is aware that it is, and yet not aware that other things are, is the state of I-am-ness, Asmitva, Aham-asmi, that can be a feeble apology for Reality. A perpetual establishment of oneself in this consciousness would land us in the experience of the Cosmic. When this consciousness relates itself to other objects and persons, it becomes the individual, Jiva. The Bahihprajnata or the externality-consciousness of Isvara is not a binding factor to Him, because of there being no dealings of this consciousness with outer things, while this Bahihprajnata or externality-consciousness of the Jiva binds it to what is called Samsara, and this bondage is due, not merely to its being aware of the world outside, but because of its evaluating the world, judging the world, wanting it or not wanting it in some way. There is no desire in the Virat, while in the Jiva there is desire. This is the only difference, if at all, between Jiva and Isvara. Jiva, without desire, becomes Isvara; and Isvara, with desire, becomes Jiva.

So, this waking consciousness, Jagaritasthana, which is externally conscious, Bahihprajna, is cosmically Saptanga, seven-limbed, and individually Ekonavimsatimukha, nineteen-mouthed, and it is Sthulabhug in both ways, individually and cosmically. While in the case of the Virat it is only an awareness of the physical cosmos, in the case of the Jiva it is a desire for the physical objects of the cosmos. This is one distinction. While in the case of the Virat the whole universe is comprehended in its consciousness, the Jiva cannot comprehend the whole universe in its consciousness. It is related only to certain things of the world. While there are no likes and dislikes for the Virat, inasmuch as everything is comprehended within its consciousness, there are likes and dislikes for the Jiva because the consciousness of the Jiva is particularised. We have no universal desire in us. There is no desire in us that can include within itself everything that is in the cosmos. Whenever we want something, it is only something in some place, differentiated from some other thing at some other place. We always create a bifurcation of things. We cannot take all things into consideration in our dealings of day-to-day life; even our judgments are affected by our partiality due to desires. We cannot be easily impartial, which means to say that we cannot take all sides of the matter when we judge things. Certain aspects always escape our notice, which vitiates our judgment. So, the Jiva's judgment is erroneous, and, therefore, the world binds the Jiva.

As you do not understand the world, and deal with it with this wrong understanding of it, the world will recoil upon you, and this recoiling is what is known as the effect of Karma. While your dealings with the world may be called Karma, the recoil of the world upon you is the effect of Karma. The world will not redound upon you if you deal with it with an understanding of its real nature. But you deal with it with a prejudiced notion in regard to it, and with a subtle desire to utilise it as an instrument in the satisfactions of your desires. We should not use the world as an instrument for our satisfaction. If we try to use it in this manner, the world will try to use us, also, as an instrument. It will give us tit for tat. As we behave with the world, so the world will behave with us. We should not regard ourselves as the centre of the world, who should be served by the world. We cannot regard ourselves as masters and treat the world as a servant. If we put on this attitude of superiority regarding the world, the world will behave towards us in a similar manner, and treat us as servants, kick us now and then, and make us suffer, not merely in this life, but through a series of lives. This is the Samsara in which we are entangled. This is Jiva's Bahihprajnata, and its consequences.

Isvara's Bahihprajnata is a liberated state. It is capable of being simultaneously aware of all creation, while we here are aware of a few things by succession. We cannot think even two things at the same time. How, then, to think of all things at the same time? While the consciousness of the Virat is simultaneity of existence - therefore it is Omniscience, Sarvajnatva - the Jiva's consciousness is successive, operating by jumps from one to another, and so it cannot comprehend all things. It is Alpajna, little-knowing. While Virat is everywhere, Sarvantaryarmin, the Jiva is Aikadesika, existing only at one place. We cannot occupy two seats at the same time, while Isvara can occupy all seats at the same time. While the Virat is Sarvasaktiman, All-powerful, Almighty, because of His simultaneous association with everything, the Jiva is Alpasaktiman, impotent, with no power, because he is dissociated from things. The power of the Virat is not due to grasping things with His hands, but due to His being immanent in all things. His knowledge is insight, not perception. The consciousness or knowledge of the Virat is an intuition of the whole cosmos, while the consciousness of the Jiva in the waking state in regard to the objects is a sensory perception; it is not an insight. We have no insight into things, and we have no intuition of objects. Because of that reason, we cannot have power over things. We are weak in our wilt and in our body. We desire, but we cannot fulfil our desires, because of this weakness of ours. Our desires are our weakness; and the Virat's strength is His desirelessness. The more you desire, the weaker do you become; the less you desire, the stronger you are, so that the highest state of desirelessness is the state of the Virat or Vaisvanara. It is here that the Jiva transfers itself to Isvara, and does not long for things, and so does not hate things. This Mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad is a description of the first quarter of the Atman; the first stage of the investigation of consciousness in its relation to waking life, both individually and cosmically, called respectively, Visva and Vaisvanara, or Jiva and the Virat.

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