7 Stages Of Conciousness

There is not only one state of consciousness that we experience everyday in our life, the wakeful state or our physical consciousness, but there are many more stages besides this of which we are totally unaware.

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The consciousness that we possess in sleep is different, in a way, than the consciousness which we experience at the time of walking and writing. According to the old yoga authority, there are about seven unconscious and seven conscious stages of knowledge. These are technically known as Sapta Bhumikas or the seven stages of manifested consciousness. In these stages, the main current is undisturbed. The underlying consciousness is the same throughout, while only its manifestations are different in degrees.

The difference, hence, between the state of sleep and deep concentration is not at all in the original consciousness which is always present, but in the voluntary and involuntary condition of its composure. Thus consciousness by itself is a whole unbroken straight line without any juncture, a continuous string with different beads or stages of activity.

Susupti: Taking into consideration the human consciousness from the individual standpoint, we get Susupti or deep sleep, a tangible state to start with. It begins with very few active cells and, consequently, a small point of consciousness in the beginning. In this state the activity is partial, only a point, while the inactive cells surround both the sides. Hence the knowledge received in this state is not reliable because of the majority of the inactive cells which make it very difficult for the man to receive and retain the memory of its object.