The Cosmic Mind and Direct Perception

Mar 19, 2025

7 min read

The Cosmos is a large place, so large that even with our latest space-based telescopes, we cannot measure its extent. It is filled with matter, energy and space that keeps moving, and that movement creates an impression of time. The heavenly bodies feel the forces and move in a certain fashion according to the laws of the cosmos. The cosmic mind is a metaphysical concept suggesting an underlying essence of the cosmos.

The laws of physics, chemistry and physical sciences evolve following a cosmic logic and this logic has been designed by a cosmic mind. The cosmic mind was described as Brahman in ancient India. The universe is also like a giant neural network in which various stars and galaxies interact with each other. Scientists have found just overwhelming evidence of this fact. That’s how this statement is a fact and not a conjecture[1]. One can also draw an analogy to a super-intelligent computer program or Artificial Intelligence that is self-aware and capable of controlling itself and the environment. The intelligence in planets, forces of nature and that life on Earth is not in isolation but as an extension of life in the cosmos.

The state of Samadhi (the last stage of Yoga) offers a connection of human perception to the alternative state of consciousness. The cosmic language can be accessed by humans through the alternative state of consciousness, which is a doorway to the cosmic mind. This link has further significance in the roots of the words ‘knowledge’, ‘gnosis’ ‘zendi’, ‘jnati’, ‘jnana’ etc which mean direct perception. Vedic philosophy, Zoroastrians, Jaina, Gnostics, Hermetics etc followed this path of direct connection to the universal mind. The cosmos is a multiverse that is known to be intelligent, and its intelligence is expressed in the form of laws of science and harmony in the cosmos. This intelligence also seems to be present in the central black hole Sagittarius A* of our Milky Way galaxy.

The cosmos is based on a logic that is encoded in its conception. This conception starts with the coded energy strings of the substratum. It is here when Brahman gets divided into two types, Akshar and Kshar Brahaman. It contains Akshar (non-continuous, discreet, measures, consonants and Kshar, Svar, changeable, and vowels). Like that in language, these vowels bind the consonants in a word. Akshar is the root of intelligence, mind, and self, and it helps passively shape the Mahat. The form, sound and colour (Varna) and its alphabet are not only the Akshar (letters) but also contain the numbers. This coding is represented in the coding of Quantum Vacuum Fluctuations. The space has a twofold appearance; one is the extent of spread spatially, and the other is the cosmic mind. The language of the cosmos is described as the Para in a forthcoming chapter.

Since the cosmos has a mind and also a language, then it becomes imperative that there is an interconnectedness and flow of information not only from one cosmic entity of significance to the other but also from the human mind to the cosmic mind. Since the term mind could be restrictive and more defined it would be appropriate to use the term human cognition centre. Cognition leads to knowledge, and it has been defined in the following manner.

Knowledge may be either valid or invalid. Valid knowledge is called Pramā, and invalid knowledge is called Apramā. Valid knowledge is the true and right apprehension of an object. It is the manifestation of an object as it is. The characterisation of valid knowledge is a consequence of the correspondence theory of truth, which states that truth is the correspondence between a proposition and reality. The instrument used for acquiring knowledge is called Pramāṇa. Prama leads to Paramatma, and his grace is essential for obtaining true knowledge. Therefore, the process of mining knowledge becomes a cyclic and re-iterative process.

Knowledge is a product of human perception. Perception is the direct and immediate cognition produced by the interaction between the object and the sense organs. There are two stages in perception. The first stage is called indeterminate or Nirvikalpa and the second is determinate or Savikalpa. These are the earlier and the later stages in the same complex process of perception. The determinate perception is necessarily preceded by an earlier indeterminate stage. Direct sense experience or the bare sensation leading to simple apprehension is Nirvikalpa perception, which is undifferentiated, non-relational and free from assimilation, discrimination, analysis and synthesis. The processed apprehension is Savikalpa's perception. Knowledge is valid only if it is born of the following instruments of knowledge.

दृष्टमनुमानमाप्तवचनं च सर्वप्रमाणसिद्धत्वात् ।

त्रिविधं प्रमाणमिष्टं प्रमेयसिद्धिः प्रमाणाद्धि ॥ ४ ॥

Perception, Inference, and Testimony are the three proofs. From the three methods of proof, the provable is established.

प्रतिविषयाध्यवसायो दृष्टं त्रिविधमनुमानमाख्यातम् । तल्लिङ्गलिङ्गिपूर्वकमाप्तश्रुतिराप्तवचनं तु ॥ ५ ॥

Dristam (perception, mediate knowledge) is the ascertainment of respective senses and dwelling on that. The inference is of three types. It is preceded by the mark and by the thing of which it is the mark. While Testimony is the statement of trustworthy persons and Vedas.

Advayasaya is cognition, and Vritti is sense modification (cycles of thought processes). The inference is of three types known as Apriori-pūrvavat; Aposteriori—Seṣavat; based on general observation - sāmānyatodṛṣṭa. The inference is also Vita, positive and Avīta, negative. Avita inference is called seṣavat ( Aposteriori, i.e. inferring the cause - Kāraṇa through the effect, kārya happens), Śeṣa is the remainder. Hence, the inference which has the residue for its subject matter is the śeṣavat inference.

The Pramāņas (proofs or means of cognition) are defined to establish the existence of the Vyakta (manifested), Avyakta (unmanifested) and the Jña (Knower, interpreter, Puruşa or Spirit). Of these, the manifested is in the form of material existence, and the rest may be known through direct perception even by an unlettered person.

सामान्यतस्तु दृष्टादतीन्द्रियाणां प्रतीतिरनुमानात् ।

तस्मादपि चासिद्धं परोक्षमाप्तागमात्सिद्धम् ॥ ६ ॥

Normally Anuman (inference) of sensible things is from sensors. But the intuition of things that cannot be normally sensed is from general observation and inference. And things that are not established from that even, are established from Testimony and Revelation. Causes of failure of external perception enumerated.

अतिदूरात्सामीप्यादिन्द्रियघातान्मनोऽनवस्थानात् । सौक्ष्म्यात् व्यवधानाभिभवात्समानाभिहाराच्च ॥ ७ ॥

Because of distance, proximity, extreme remoteness, nearness, impairment of the senses, non-presence of the mind, subtlety, intervention, suppression by other matters, mixture with similar, and other causes, apprehension may not be caused.

The five sense organs act as means of knowledge. Pratyakṣa Pramāṇa is the basic instrument of knowledge, such as careful observation and experience through which we learn everything from birth.

The theory of knowledge has been further described in Nyaya Darshana. Direct Perception is of two kinds, namely, Laukika (worldly) and Alaukika (non-worldly). In ordinary perception, direct experience of reality arises by the object coming into contact with the sense-organs of eyes, ears, nose, touch and taste. If the objects are not ordinarily present to the senses but are conveyed to them through an extraordinary medium, then it is Alaukika perception. Alaukika perception is of three kinds – Samanya Lakshana (ordinary attributes), Jnana-lakshana (knowledge attributes) and Yogaja or Pratibha. Samanya Lakshana's perception is a common perception. Jnana-Lakshana perception is a complex perception as it is formulated by associations. The third kind of Alaukik perception (Yogaja) is the intuitive and immediate perception of all objects, past, present and future, possessed by the Yogis through the power of meditation. It is intuitive, supra sensuous and supra-relational. The science of Yoga is based on the principle of knowing and receiving direct perception.

The human mind, when taken into an alternative state of consciousness, begins a process of connection to the cosmic mind, and this process is the essence of Yoga philosophy.

Most of the experiences of direct perception occurred to me spontaneously. I feel when an individual becomes so engrossed in the act that while working, eating, drinking, talking etc, he remains engulfed by the will to know the divine, such experiences occur. The feeling of love has a role to play, kindness, forgiveness, non-violence etc are essential offshoots of love which is referred to as Prem in Sanskrit and it gives a feeling of Ananada (love, joy and fulfilment combined).

I tried going to sleep and when I was trying I lay down focusing and meditating using a mantra. Soon I drifted into semi-sleep mode. I remember two dreams, one was about the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and the other was about a friend who was with me in my first squadron as a senior and he was talking about flying. He told me in the dream that in his next birth, he was going to come back and fly and asked me whether I would like to come back I said yes why not? The scene in the dream changed from the squadron to the Airbus cockpit now. One of the people whom I adored was sitting on the captain's side with a seat fully reclined and legs up on rest pedals. I didn't look at her fully fearing that she might disappear but I could know who she was. I felt love at that moment and leaned towards that person in the cockpit closing my eyes to feel. At this moment I felt the presence of Prakriti (Mother divine or the cosmic Mother). She moved as a cluster of fuzzy light from my left side I could see her moving from my back as if I had a 360-degree vision and the light came in front of my right eye and it started transforming.

A cloud of white light amplified extremely bright but it was still not blinding the eyes. A black space and a white dot approximately two inches wide appeared 2 O'clock on the right side and touched me and came in the centre and then grew in size until it was in full view. I moved inside and saw black space and a dot again and then a beautiful vibrant multi-colours circle filled with design. I tried to recognise it. I had seen such sights on the NASA Hubble page. It became a Mandala, I have tried to depict it but it is not the same. It lasted for some time and then started to fade and then I tried to sustain it, it remained there for some time and disappeared. After that, my mind was extremely peaceful.

The Mandalas appear in Shakti worshipping methods and Buddhism in most places. Seekers visualise Mandalas in a deep meditative state. To my understanding, Mandalas represent the default screen of our visual software (which is part of the Self) or it could be the Rupa of the Mother Divine in her energy form.