The absence of the consciousness of the infinitude of oneself is not an absence of all
kinds of consciousness. It is an absence of a specific type, simultaneous with the
presence of a different type of consciousness. Just as in a mathematical calculation
we may be unconscious of an error that has been committed in calculation, but at the
same time there is a positive effort at developing the series of calculations on the
basis of that error; the consciousness has not ceased to operate but now it is
operating in a wrong direction altogether. The switching off of oneself from the status
of Infinity is at once the switching on to the consciousness of finitude. Avidya breeds,
brings about, causes, projects, manifests, or reveals itself as finite consciousness—
asmita tattva. While we are not infinite, and we are in a state that can be called an
absence of the consciousness of Truth, we are immediately conscious that we are
finite. How this takes place is not a question of temporal history. It is a non-temporal
fact which eludes the grasp of understanding, because what we call understanding is
nothing but the effect of this catastrophe that has taken place. There cannot be the
operation of the intellect if this consciousness of finitude is not there as its
background. So much credit for this intellect of man!
Thus, the presence of the sense of finitude becomes the root of further phenomenal
processes, desires, activities, etc. This peculiar upstart called the asmita tattva, or
the finite consciousness, is the unintelligible structural pattern which is animated by
an aspect of the Infinite. But though it is animated, it is not conscious of that which is
the animating principle, just as the vast sunlight which is pervading all space can be
restricted to pass through an aperture, or a hole—and not only that, it can also be
split into various rays by making it pass through a prism, and so on. It can be made
to assume different colours by allowing it to pass through certain coloured mediums.
Likewise, the featureless Infinity, which is the essence of Consciousness, assumes a
concrete feature of name and form, and this is the seed of personality, individuality,
body-consciousness, etc.
The sutra of Patanjali in this connection is: dṛk darśanaśaktyoḥ ekātmatā iva asmitā
(II.6). The thinking principle gets identified with the thinker. Asmita means the
sense of being individual. It has arisen on account of an identification of two factors:
the thinking principle—the medium through which thought is projected—and the
real thinker that is responsible and is behind this process. It is difficult to define the
nature of the thinking principle, because this principle is a blend of two different
sides, or aspects. On one side there is the capacity to think, understand, illumine, and
judge the values of things. On the other side there is the aspect of projecting this
intelligence into space and time in an externalised manner, and locating it or
pinpointing it upon an object.
The true thinker, if one would like to call it so, is the principle of consciousness itself,
which cannot be limited to objects and which is not in space and time. But the
awareness of an object outside is a specific function that is performed by the asmita,
or the individual sense, and this particularised function is made possible by the
mixing up of this principle of consciousness with a distracting medium, which is the
most inscrutable thing to understand. This distracting medium is the mind, the
antahkarana. It refracts the light of consciousness in a particular fashion—just as, if
a mirror is kept in the sun, the reflection of the light of the sun through the mirror
will be cast only in that particular direction in which the mirror is facing. If we can
change the position of the mirror, the reflection also will change its location and