Mandukya_Upanishad

Now, we consider the meaning of bahihprājña:outwardly conscious. While both the jīva and Īsvara may beregarded as outwardly conscious, there is a subtledistinction between them. The jīva is outwardly consciousin the sense that it is aware of things, substances, objects,outside it. But Vaiśvānara’s consciousness of externality isof a different kind. It is a Universal Affirmation of ‘I-am’,‘I-am-ness’, ‘aham-asmi’. This is the first manifestation ofSelf-consciousness – Cosmic ahamkāra. Therefore, it hasno opposing objects in front of it. This ahamkāra does notwage a war with others. It has no misunderstandings withother persons or things, and it has, therefore, no pains ofany kind. It has, also, no dealings with other persons andthings, because it is Vaiśvānara, and not Viśva. We cannoteven imagine this state of the “I-am-ness” of the Virāt. Wehave never been in that state, and so our minds are notcapable of imagining that condition. To some extent, theysay, this condition may be compared to the initial state ofour becoming aware of ourselves immediately after wewake up from deep sleep. Generally, we do not think of thiscondition when we get up from sleep. We remain in a stateof half-consciousness, and we plunge into our usualactivities afterwards; so that we do not meditate upon thisintervening period between deep sleep and wakingconsciousness in terms of the outer world. We have a subtlefeeling of our ‘being’, before we become aware of the worldoutside. We are not asleep; we have woken up; and yet weare not fully aware of the samsāra that is outside us. Thisstate of consciousness where it is aware that it is, and yetnot aware that other things are, is the state of I-am-ness,63