THE UNOBSTRUCTED BEING AND HIS FOUR IMMORTAL STATES
In the Vedic literature, the crystalline lattice of universes was viewed as the imperishable body of Viraj, the supreme ruler of all the cosmic eggs and their contents. Viraj was also known as Annirudha, the Unobstructed Being, because his vision of the crystalline body of Logos does not obstruct his vision of the infinite continuum of the self.
The awareness of the Unobstructed Being is established on the scale of the forty-third layer above the half measure, the scale of the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent Godhead that rules all of the cosmic eggs and their contents. That supreme Godhead is the supreme self of all beings—whether mortal or immortal. According to the Vedic Upanishads, the supreme self has four immortal states of consciousness, which were compared to the waking, dreaming, sleeping, and transcendental states of human consciousness. Yet unlike human states of consciousness, the immortal states are not cyclical. Instead, they pertain to different scales of consciousness within the immortal realms. More specifically, they pertain to the scales of consciousness associated with the fortieth, forty-first, forty-second, and forty-third layers above the half measure.
In this way, the fortieth layer was viewed as the immortal waking state from which can be seen the crystalline organization of cosmic eggs. In the human waking state, the awareness of the human being is identified with his or her own physical body. Similarly, in the immortal waking state, the awareness of the Supreme Being is identified with its own metaphysical body—the crystalline body of Logos.
The forty-first layer was viewed as the immortal dreaming state. On this scale, the concrete form of the crystalline body ceases to dominate awareness. What dominates instead are glorious and radiant forms of transcendental light that uphold the immortal dream world of the self.
In the human dreaming state, we tend to imagine various dreamlike forms and phenomena, which are not part of our waking world. Similarly, in the immortal dreaming state, the Supreme Being imagines various dreamlike forms and phenomena, which are not part of its waking world.The forty-second layer was viewed as the immortal sleeping state. This was described as a “mass of consciousness” filled with abstract forms of preknowledge (prajna). The following addresses the immortal sleep state of the self:
The deep sleep state is that where the sleeper does not desire any enjoyable thing and does not see any dream. The third state [of the self] is called prajna [preknowledge], who has deep sleep as his sphere, in whom everything becomes undifferentiated, who is a mass of pure consciousness, who abounds in [abstract] bliss, who is surely an enjoyer of bliss, and who is the doorway to the experience [of waking and dreaming]. This one is the Lord of all. This one is Omniscient. This one is the inner Director of all. This one is the Source of all. This one is verily the place of origin and dissolution of all beings.5
Clearly, this passage is referring to the immortal sleep state of the Supreme Being, rather than the mortal sleep state of a human being. Unlike the human sleep state, which is experienced as a state of unconsciousness, the immortal sleep state is experienced as a “mass of pure consciousness” filled with forms of preknowledge (prajna). This pre-knowledge represents a form of omniscience, which ultimately determines the destiny of all things—including the destiny of all souls. All created souls begin and end on this scale of consciousness. As such, the immortal sleep state was described as “the place of origin and dissolution of all beings.”
The forty-third layer transcends all such notions of creation and dissolution. It represents the transcendental state of immortal consciousness. The Vedic texts describe that fourth state:
They consider the Fourth to be that which is not conscious of the internal (dreaming) world, nor conscious of the external [waking] world, nor conscious of both worlds, nor a mass of consciousness [as in the sleeping state].
It is neither consciousness, nor unconsciousness. It is that which is unseen, beyond the empirical, beyond the grasp [of reason], uninferrable, unthinkable, and indescribable, whose valid proof consists in the single intuition of the Self, in which all phenomena cease. It is that which is unchanging, auspicious, and nondual. That is the Self, and that is to be known.6The fourth state of immortal consciousness realized on the scale of the forty-third layer represents the goal toward which tends the entire path of immortality, for it represents the state of all perfection in which the soul becomes identified fully with the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent ruler of all the worlds. When the soul ascends to the forty-third layer, it therefore obtains unobstructed knowledge, power, and presence regarding the entire spectrum of layers. It becomes identified with the very self of the Unobstructed Being.
We can then say that the path of immortality consists of the first forty-two steps on the divine ladder, while the transcendental goal of the path corresponds to the final forty-third step in which the soul becomes finally identified with the very self of the Supreme Being. That supreme forty-third layer represents the absolute form of God who stands at the top of the divine ladder. It marks the end of the way of ways, the end of the path of immortality, and the end of the Veda. Upon ascending to that layer, the well-grown root of the eternal tree is severed automatically by the strong ax of nonattachment. The soul then takes refuge in that primordial soul from whom the primeval activity streamed forth anciently.
Having reached the goal of the path, such souls do not return. They become immune to the cycles of creation and dissolution that plague all lesser souls still on the path.