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Consciousness and Attention in the Bhagavad Gita

Consciousness and Attention in the Bhagavad Gita Abstract Consciousness is a central topic in Hindu philosophy. This is because this philosophy understands reality in terms of brahman or atman (typically translated as the self), and consciousness is conceived as the essential marker of self. The prominent Hindu text Bhagavad Gita offers an exception. Self is conceived in the Gita not in terms of its essential identity with pure or transcendental consciousness. But the question remains, does the Gita still offer us a theory of consciousness? The goal of my paper is to show that the Gita can be taken as offering an interesting empirical theory of consciousness. My paper focuses on determining the nature of attention in the Gita's understanding of yoga, and to articulate the role of such attention in the Gita's theory of consciousness. My working conclusion is that what differentiates an ordinary person's consciousness from a yogi's consciousness is the nature of their attention both in terms of its manner and its object. I argue, further, that exploring the Gita's theory of consciousness, especially in conjunction with the nature of attention, is immensely fruitful because it allows us to see the Gita's potential contribution to our contemporary philosophical discussion of consciousness and attention. This is because bringing the Gita into discussion allows us to appreciate a dimension of the metaphysics of attention–namely, the dimension of manner of attending and its cultivation, and the moral and social implications in the proposed redirection of one's attention--not often recognized in the contemporary Western discussion. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the American Philosophical Association Cambridge University Press

Consciousness and Attention in the Bhagavad Gita

Consciousness and Attention in the Bhagavad Gita

sThe topic of consciousness has played a central role in almost all the major schools of Hindu1 philosophy since the time of the Upanishads, the earliest Hindu texts addressing questions concerning the true nature of the self. This is because even in the early Upanishads reality is conceived in terms of brahman or atman, which is typically translated as ‘the self’ and consciousness is taken to be its essential and identifying marker. As Bina Gupta writes, ‘The discussions of “consciousness” in the Upaniṣads arise in the context of explaining the real nature of the ātman or the self’ (Gupta 2003: 16). Notable also is the celebrated phrase, sat cit [the Sanskrit word commonly translated as consciousness] ananda, both in the Upanishads and more prominently in eighth-century classical Hindu philosopher Sankara's Vedanta philosophy, as delineating three defining markers of brahman. Thus, the discussion of consciousness in Hindu philosophy has been focused on its being a (sometimes essential) feature of self. When understood as an essential feature, consciousness is further characterized as a pure and transcendent notion.sHowever, a notable exception has been the prominent Hindu text Bhagavad Gita.2 Self is still an ontologically foundational concept in the Gita, which Krishna variously characterizes as brahman, or Purusha, and which he also identifies as himself. Continuing with the practices of the Upanishads, the Gita characterizes the self as the ‘unchangeable’ (7.13, for example), ‘unthinkable’3 (2.25), and ‘unmanifest’ (2.25), thereby highlighting its transcendent nature. However, a prominent feature of the Upanishadic self, namely, its essential nature of pure consciousness, remains absent in the Gita. Indeed, as Dasgupta observes, ‘in the Gītā the most prominent characteristic of the self is that it is changeless and deathless; next to this, it is...
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Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Philosophical Association
ISSN
2053-4485
eISSN
2053-4477
DOI
10.1017/apa.2020.23
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract Consciousness is a central topic in Hindu philosophy. This is because this philosophy understands reality in terms of brahman or atman (typically translated as the self), and consciousness is conceived as the essential marker of self. The prominent Hindu text Bhagavad Gita offers an exception. Self is conceived in the Gita not in terms of its essential identity with pure or transcendental consciousness. But the question remains, does the Gita still offer us a theory of consciousness? The goal of my paper is to show that the Gita can be taken as offering an interesting empirical theory of consciousness. My paper focuses on determining the nature of attention in the Gita's understanding of yoga, and to articulate the role of such attention in the Gita's theory of consciousness. My working conclusion is that what differentiates an ordinary person's consciousness from a yogi's consciousness is the nature of their attention both in terms of its manner and its object. I argue, further, that exploring the Gita's theory of consciousness, especially in conjunction with the nature of attention, is immensely fruitful because it allows us to see the Gita's potential contribution to our contemporary philosophical discussion of consciousness and attention. This is because bringing the Gita into discussion allows us to appreciate a dimension of the metaphysics of attention–namely, the dimension of manner of attending and its cultivation, and the moral and social implications in the proposed redirection of one's attention--not often recognized in the contemporary Western discussion.

Journal

Journal of the American Philosophical AssociationCambridge University Press

Published: Jun 1, 2022

Keywords: Bhagavad Gita; consciousness; attention; redirection of attention; yoga; self; self-monitoring; adverbialism; manner of attention; moral and social implications of redirection of attention

References