I am sva-prakāśa, sarvavyāpaka chaitanyam...

Our sva-svarūpa-caitanyam is the adhiṣṭhānam of all that is known and all that is unknown. In that sense, it pervades both the known and the unknown, while itself transcending this very division.

Normally, when we think of consciousness, we think of it in relation to an object. There is something known, and consciousness is understood as that which illumines it. A thought arises, a perception occurs, an emotion is experienced, and we recognize that it is known because of consciousness.

But what about that which is presently outside the range of our cognition?

What about the unknown, the unperceived, and the unmanifest?

Their existence too cannot be apart from the same Chaitanyam which is their adhiṣṭhānam. Chaitanyam is therefore not merely the illuminator of what happens to be known at a particular moment. It is the unbounded reality in which the very distinction between known and unknown arises and is witnessed.

This is a profound implication of both sva-prakāśatvam and sarvavyāpakatvam.

The Subtle Habit of Objectification

There is, however, a deeply ingrained orientation of the mind that can obscure the significance of this teaching. The mind is accustomed to objectification. Almost everything it knows is known through some form of subject-object relationship.

Therefore, even after exposure to Vedānta, when we remain alert to our svarūpa as Chaitanyam, awareness can subtly continue to be understood relative to an object:

I am aware of this thought.

I am aware of this sensation.

I am aware of this silence.

The object may become increasingly subtle, but the dependence upon an object can remain.

 Even this can become a refined vāsanā, the habitual tendency to recognize Chaitanyam only through something illumined by it.

This is precisely where Vedānta pramāṇam becomes indispensable (See epilogue below)

Śruti does not merely teach us to become increasingly attentive to objects. It reveals Chaitanyam as that which is independent of the presence or absence of every object. Thoughts may arise or subside. Perceptions may appear or disappear. The mind may be active or quiet. None of these conditions establish or disturb Chaitanyam.

What “Objectless Awareness” Does Not Mean

At the same time, we must be careful with the expression objectless Awareness.

It does not mean producing a special mental state in which objects disappear or vṛttis cease.

If realization required such a state, Chaitanyam would once again become dependent upon a particular condition of the mind. We would merely have replaced dependence upon the presence of objects with dependence upon their absence.

Vedānta reveals something far more fundamental.

Chaitanyam is unaffected by both the presence and the absence of vṛttis.

A vṛtti appearing does not add anything to Chaitanyam. A vṛtti disappearing does not purify or complete it. The waking mind, the quiet mind, and the absence of manifest cognition are all illumined by that which itself requires no illumination.

Hence the movement is not from “awareness with objects” to “awareness without objects.” It is the recognition that Awareness was never conditioned by either.

The object-oriented habit of the mind has been reinforced over a very long time. Therefore, the contrary saṃskāra born of śravaṇa, manana, and especially nididhyāsana has to become deeply established.

In the spirit of nididhyāsana, I respectfully appropriate (borrow) Sri Yogīśvara Patañjali's beautiful sūtra:

sa tu dīrghakāla-nairantarya-satkārāsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ

Yoga Sūtra 1.14

Steady devoted abidance in one’s svarūpa as Chaitanyam, unaffected by the presence or absence of vṛttis.

For the Vedāntin, this points beautifully toward the steady assimilation of the teaching. Again and again, the mind is brought back from its habitual object orientation to the recognition:

I am not Chaitanyam because an object is known.

I do not cease to be Chaitanyam because an object is absent.

I am the self-revealing Chaitanyam in whose presence both the known and the unknown have their being.

This is the nididhyāsana. Steady, devoted abidance in the understanding of one's svarūpa as Chaitanyam, unaffected by the presence or absence of vṛttis.

The known does not define me.

The unknown does not limit me.

Their presence does not establish me, and their absence does not negate me.

I am the sva-prakāśa, sarvavyāpaka Chaitanyam, the adhiṣṭhānam of both, while myself ever free from the division of known and unknown.

Epilogue: 

The recognition that both the known and the unknown have no existence apart from Chaitanyam, and that Chaitanyam itself transcends the very division of known and unknown, is revealed by Śruti.

The most direct pramāṇam is the Kena Upaniṣad 1.3:

anyad eva tad viditād atho aviditād adhi |

iti śuśruma pūrveṣāṃ ye nas tad vyācacakṣire ||

“It is indeed other than the known, and beyond the unknown. Thus have we heard from the teachers of old who explained it to us.”

Here Śruti does not place Brahman within either category. Brahman is not merely something presently known, nor is it simply one more unknown object waiting to become known. It is viditād anyat, other than the known, and aviditād adhi, beyond the unknown.

The Chāndogya Upaniṣad establishes the further point that nothing has an existence independent of that Reality:

sad eva somyedam agra āsīd ekam evādvitīyam ||

Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.2.1

“In the beginning, dear one, this was Sat alone, one without a second.”

(Back to Kena again)

The Kena immediately deepens this teaching:

yan manasā na manute yenāhur mano matam |

tad eva brahma tvaṃ viddhi nedaṃ yad idam upāsate ||

Kena Upaniṣad 1.5

“That which the mind does not objectify, but because of which the mind itself is known, know That alone to be Brahman.”

Thus Chaitanyam is not an object within the mind’s field of cognition. The mind and all its known objects are themselves illumined in Chaitanyam.

The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.4.2 expresses the same truth from another angle:

na dṛṣṭer draṣṭāraṃ paśyer na śruter śrotāraṃ śṛṇuyāḥ

na mater mantāraṃ manvīthā na vijñāter vijñātāraṃ vijānīyāḥ

“You cannot see the seer of seeing, hear the hearer of hearing, think the thinker of thinking, or know the knower of knowing.”

Chaitanyam can never become one more object among the known. It is the self-revealing subject because of which the entire known-unknown division is possible.

aitadātmyam idaṃ sarvaṃ tat satyaṃ sa ātmā tat tvam asi śvetaketo ||

Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.8.7

“All this has That as its Self. That is Reality. That is the Self. That thou art, Śvetaketu.”

Therefore, whatever is presently known to the mind and whatever remains unknown to it are both included within idaṃ sarvam. Neither can stand apart from Sat-Brahman.

The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad gives the same nondual vision succinctly:

neha nānāsti kiñcana

“There is no plurality whatsoever here.”

So the teaching is precise. The known does not exhaust Chaitanyam. The unknown does not lie outside Chaitanyam. Both belong to the order of nāma-rūpa appearing in Brahman. Chaitanyam is their adhiṣṭhānam, while itself remaining free from the distinction of known and unknown.

This is the deeper implication of sva-prakāśatvam and sarvavyāpakatvam. Chaitanyam is not merely that which illumines whatever happens to be known at a particular moment. It is the nondual Reality in which the known, the unknown, the perceived, the unperceived, the manifest, and the unmanifest all have their being.