Highest Consciousness – What is it?

Here is a beautiful explanation of the final state that I happened to read in Vasistha Yoga today.  It is from the story of Vitahvya and is being explained by Maharishi Vasistha to Sri Ram.  I think the beauty and interesting part of it is that Maharishi Vasistha talks about all the various “strains” of philosophies that have defined and, also distorted the highest wisdom of Hinduism over the centuries.  I had thought that some of these came later.  But apparently all these were as old as thought!

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He abandoned al objectivity of consciousness and even the slightest movement of consciousness.  He crossed the state known as “pasyanti” and reached the deep sleep consciousness.  He continued beyond that too, and reached the transcedental or turiya consciousness.  It is a state of bliss that is not its description, which is both the “is” and “is not”, both something and not-something, light and darkness.  It is full of non-consciousness and (objectless)consciousness, it can only be indicated by negation (not this, not this).  He became that which is beyond description.

That state is the void, Brahman, consciousness, the Purusa of the Sankhya, Isvara of the Yogi, Siva, time, Atman or self, non-self, the middle etc. of the mystics holding different views.  It is that state which is established as the truth by all these scriptural viewpoints, that which all – in that the sage remained firmly established.