Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter

Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter

It is necessary to understand something about that consciousness

which is your Self, and about the matter which is the envelope of

consciousness, but which the Self so often identifies with

himself. The great characteristic of consciousness is change,

with a foundation of certainty that it is. The consciousness of

existence never changes, but beyond this all is change, and only

by the changes does consciousness become Self-consciousness.

Consciousness is an everchanging thing, circling round one idea

that never changes--Self-existence. The consciousness itself is

not changed by any change of position or place. It only changes

its states within itself.

In matter, every change of state is brought about by change of

place. A change of consciousness is a change of a state; a change

of matter is a change of place. Moreover, every change of state

in consciousness is related to vibrations of matter in its

vehicle. When matter is examined, we find three fundamental

qualities--rhythm, mobility, stability--sattva, rajas, tamas.

Sattva is rhythm, vibration. It is more than; rajas, or mobility.

It is a regulated movement, a swinging from one side to the other

over a definite distance, a length of wave, a vibration.

The question is often put: "How can things in such different

categories, as matter and Spirit, affect each other? Can we

bridge that great gulf which some say can never be crossed?" Yes,

the Indian has crossed it, or rather, has shown that there is no

gulf. To the Indian, matter and Spirit are not only the two

phases of the One, but, by a subtle analysis of the relation

between consciousness and matter, he sees that in every universe

the LOGOS imposes upon matter a certain definite relation of

rhythms, every vibration of matter corresponding to a change in

consciousness. There is no change in consciousness, however

subtle, that has not appropriated to it a vibration in matter;

there is no vibration in matter, however swift or delicate, which

has not correlated to it a certain change in consciousness. That

is the first great work of the LOGOS, which the Hindu scriptures

trace out in the building of the atom, the Tanmatra, " the

measure of That," the measure of consciousness. He who is

consciousness imposes on his material the answer to every change

in consciousness, and that is an infinite number of vibrations.

So that between the Self and his sheaths there is this invariable

relation: the change in consciousness and the vibration of

matter, and vice versa. That makes it possible for the Self to

know the Not-Self.

These correspondences are utilised in Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga,

the Kingly Yoga and the Yoga of Resolve. The Raja Yoga seeks to

control the changes in consciousness, and by this control to rule

the material vehicles. The Hatha Yoga seeks to control the

vibrations of matter, and by this control to evoke the desired

changes in consciousness. The weak point in Hatha Yoga is that

action on this line cannot reach beyond the astral plane, and the

great strain imposed on the comparatively intractable matter of

the physical plane sometimes leads to atrophy of the very organs,

the activity of which is necessary for effecting the changes in

consciousness that would be useful. The Hatha Yogi gains control

over the bodily organs with which the waking consciousness no

longer concerns itself, having relinquished them to its lower

part, the " subconsciousness', This is often useful as regards

the prevention of disease, but serves no higher purpose. When he

begins to work on the brain centres connected with ordinary

consciousness, and still more when he touches those connected

with the super-consciousness, he enters a dangerous region, and

is more likely to paralyse than to evolve.

That relation alone it is which makes matter cognizable; the

change in the thinker is answered by a change outside, and his

answer to it and the change in it that he makes by his. answer

re-arrange again the matter of the body which is his envelope.

Hence the rhythmic changes in matter are rightly called its

cognizability. Matter may be known by consciousness, because of

this unchanging relation between the two sides of the manifest

LOGOS who is one, and the Self becomes aware of changes within

himself, and thus of those of the external words to which those

changes are related.