The Structural Theory of Consciousness in the Śaṅkaran Religious Tradition

At Śṛngeri Maṭha, the center of the Śaṅkaran religious traditions, world renouncers practice ascetic training derived from the Advaita Vedānta philosophy of Śaṅkara, who has been traditionally believed to be the founder of this maṭha. Through their ascetic training, they intend to attain emancipation by deepening human consciousness. According to Śaṅkara, with the metaphorical discourse of “sleep,” the process of deepening consciousness toward emancipation consists of four states: “waking” (jāgrat), “dream” (svapna), “deep sleep” (suṣupta), and “the fourth” (turīya). Regarding human consciousness as multi-layered, the world renouncers attempt to descend into the depth of consciousness called “the fourth”(turīya) from the “waking” state which is the surface of consciousness, passing through the states of “dream” and “deep sleep.” This process can be understood on the basis of the Śaṅkaran religious traditions’ theory of the structure of consciousness, which ranges from the ordinary consciousness to the extraordinary one. This article attempts to clarify how, on the basis of Śaṅkara’s Advaita philosophy, the Jagadguru, the head of Śṛngeri Maṭha, discusses the process of deepening consciousness toward emancipation

Asceticism · Consciousness · Dream · Emancipation · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Social consciousness · Sociology · Theology · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Law · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy · Psychology