The Cosmic State of Consciousness is the state of realisation of the the
cosmic or immament Godhead, to the eextent of one's consciousness is equal
to the extent of the Cosmos. This is the Pantheistic
and Panentheistic
realisation. It goes totally beyond the conventional Transpersonal
or expanded individual level of existence. It has been various described,
according to the aspects and approaches taken. In Patanjali
Yoga, Buddhist meditation, and similiar techniques of cultivating innwardness,
stillness, and expansion of consciousness, it represents the final stages
of meditation before Enlightenment. There is still a mind or mental
body, but it is limiteless in extent. This is the state of the higher
or formless Pali Buddhist samapattis, and of Patanjali's asamprajnata
samadhi: a limitless, formless state of existence. It has been
formalised in Yogachara/Vijnanvada
Buddhism as the Alayavijnana,
or "Universal Storehouse Consciousness". Indeed, Yogachara Buddhism
itself was inspired by the experiences of deep meditation, hence the name,
"Yoga-teaching"
.
In Kashmir
Shaivite metaphysics, which approach this state from a higher prakritic
octave, these cosmic states are considered to be beyond the state of ordinary
liberation, and are referred to as the Shanti-kala ("Division of Reality
pertaining to supreme Peace") or Shuddha ("Pure" =Divine) principles represent
the state of omnipotent Cosmic Consciousness, in which the "I" or aham
is a cosmic godhead and the "that" or idam (object) is the entire
universe. Three statges are distinguished in that philosophy, from
the most unitive to the most manifest, according to the polarisation into
Shiva
and Shakti. In Sri
Aurobindo's terminology this is the level of the Overmind,
the ontological level of the gods, where the boundaries of the individual
self seem to equal the boundaries of the universe. In Ken
Wilber's involution-evolution
psychology this would seem to be the "Low
Causal" state.