The Three Fundamental States

I took a sip of morning tea. The mind started to chatter. The hands naturally climbed onto the finger scanner. The fingers were scanned. I entered into the infinite world of noise, and chaos. But, I still observed the hands, and the mind further. He clicked on youtube.

The first result was Learning How to Observe by J. Krishnamurti.

I started listening. Halfway through the video, I paused. Quite a few things felt connected in the intellect state - the three fundamental states came into existence.

• Rajasic, Satvic, Tamasic
• Gas, Liquid, Solid
• One (1), Quantum, Zero (0)
• Active, Observant, Inert

The First State

The state, where the mind always chatters and ceases to stop is the first state. You can imagine this state as too much action. It is a speeded-up version of the existence of any matter, of life. The gas form in this state is too erratic and too energetic. You can imagine this as follows.

If you keep gas in an open bottle, it will merge into the blues. I am sure, you must have seen people who are too energetic in life. If your mind chatters a lot, or you love a lot of action, then this is your state of existence. In Ayurveda, this is called the state of Rajas. The soldiers and the army can be compared to the state of Rajas. You can name this state "State One (1)", as the head of a coin. This is the first state of existence. This State gives out a lot of energy to the external world.

The Second State

The state, where extreme order exists. The mind ceases to work. The body decays. Everything comes to a halt. Life becomes boring. It is totally silent: pin-drop silent. Everything is standing still and inert in that state of existence. It is exactly the opposite state of the first state - the dual state of the state zero (0). You can compare the state of solid to this state. You can visualize it in the following way.

The solid-state hardly moves. The state of mind of a person in a coma, and the state of the body of an ill human being, is this state. In Ayurveda, this state is called Tamas. The person who doesn't want to work, and wants to sleep most of the time, can be compared to this state. If a snake goes to hibernation, then the snake is in this state. You can name this state "State Zero (0)", as the tail of a coin. This is the second state of existence. This State absorbs too much of what the State One gives out.

I always believed that the world is binary.

But, now I realized it's trinary. The third existence is actually unpredictable, and chaotic, and that's the perfect state of existence. The unpredictable state jumps from the two binary states, in an unknown way. The unpredictable state is not really unpredictable, but actually, it's a choice. Now, I don't know who chooses it. But, at least, a human being can choose to reach that state. This intermediate third state is the balanced state of existence. It is a very sweet spot, but, a beautiful, and elegant one. Let's understand.

The Third State

Image yourself observing these two states of your mind and body. You can observe that you are either in State One or State Zero and then take action accordingly. Then what is the state of this "You", who is observing one's state, and then taking action accordingly? Who is this "You", who is observing? This gives rise to the third state of existence.?

This is the ideal state. Because you can choose between both, as it demands. If you feel your mind is in state one and chattering too much, you can choose to be inert and silent. If you want to use your mind properly to the fullest, you can run like it the gas. The choice is yours. There is freedom. This is the ideal state for a being to be in.

Now, you must have heard your friend Bruce Lee tell you "Be like water, my friend". Water has the ideal state of existence, it has the freedom to take the shape of whatever you want it to take. The water can choose. It has the perfect balance of inertia and mass, which helps it to settle down, and the fluidity to move.

This is called the Satvic state of existence, the best state of existence. This has clarity, choice, and freedom. This state is unpredictable because one doesn't know what a person will choose. It depends upon that person only. One can compare this state to the quantum state. One doesn't know which state the particle will be in - a wave or a particle nature. This understanding and connection give me intellectual pleasure.

The next question lies in how to attain such a state of existence.

How to attain the third state?

Taking action is the first state. The quicker you take action, the more you are rajasic. Your reaction time to an event is less. If you take no action, whatever happens, is tamasic - the second state. If you can absorb an event, wait, think, and choose to take action, then you are in the third state. Also, if you write big paragraphs to express yourself or talk too much, probably you have too much to say, probably you can reduce it to the optimum.?

• Choose to reduce your reaction time.
• Choose to express yourself in an optimized way.

Now, the above are a few metrics to understand in which state you are in, or anybody is in. If one is in the first state or second state, it is very easy to manipulate them, because their behavior is predictable. Instead if one chooses to behave as the situation demands, that's the best state of existence, where no one will be able to manipulate you.

Stop, Think, and Choose.

I remember, that every time I tried to kick the rolling football, I failed or it went in another direction. Then, the coach asked me to stop, receive, and then kick the ball. I can connect to this idea and the existence of the third step at a fundamental level.

One way to practice is to stop, think, and choose to react to an event. If an insect bites you, stop, think, and then choose to itch. If you fail to do that, then something is wrong with you. You are in either the first or second state. The mind helps in deciding your reaction time. One way to train is to practice observing without anything, as a third person.

Observe with no analysis.

Observe the clouds. Observe the temperature of the hot cup. Observe how it takes time for the heat to transfer from the cup to your hand. Observe everything and don't analyze. That's the third state of existence. The existence of the third state shows that "You" are different from "Mind", and "Body", which react early, and you can observe it, as a third person.

Did you ever choose to discover that "You"?

Maybe, it's time.?