The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
6. apramēyā
She who cannot be measured by the sense organs.
Since śakti is formless Consciousness, She is apramēyā. She cannot be grasped by any instrument of knowledge, such as the five senses. For an object to exist, it must be cognized by a cognizing instrument. If it cannot be cognized, the object has no existence. When we say something exists, it is only because we are aware of its existence through the medium of our sense organs. When we say the pot exists, the cloth exists, etc., we say so because we are aware of their existence. How do we become aware? We see with our eyes, we hear with our ears, we touch with our skin, and taste with our tongue. Hence, it is the sense organs that are the instruments with which we perceive objects. This is called pratyakṣa pramāṇa, direct perception of objects. One the other hand, when we see smoke rising on a distant hill, we know that there is fire on the hill, even though we do not see the fire directly. Based on what is visible to our eyes, we infer the existence of what is not visible. We see smoke, and from the smoke, we deduce the existence of fire. This indirect or inferential knowledge is called anumāna pramāṇa.
Therefore, direct and indirect perception are the only two natural means of knowledge that humans have. We are born with five external facing sense organs and one internal organ called the mind. The former are direct means of knowledge and the latter is an indirect means of knowledge. With our eyes, we perceive smoke on the mountain, and with our mind, we infer the existence of fire. We acquire the knowledge of every object in the world only through these two means.
However, these means fail in the context of Consciousness. Consciousness cannot be known either through direct or indirect perception because It is not an object. Therefore, it cannot be perceived by the senses or the mind. Hence it is apramēyā. If it cannot be known through any of these means, how can we prove its existence? Even if the mind and sense organs cannot perceive Consciousness, Its existence cannot be denied because Consciousness is Awareness Itself. Every means of perception, direct or indirect, in reality is Consciousness only. It is only to Consciousness or Awareness that everything is known. Consciousness flows out through our sense organs to the external world of objects, through our mind to our internal feelings of pleasure and pain, and knows everything. Without Consciousness, our eyes would not see and ears would not hear. If our sense organs are working, it means Consciousness is operating through them. Hence, Consciousness is the ultimate means of knowledge. No instrument is necessary to know Consciousness. It is just like a lamp that does not require another lamp to illumine it. Consciousness is the knower of everything. If we insist on finding a means to prove the existence of Consciousness, we will be attributing both doer-ship and action to the one and same entity. An entity cannot be both a doer of an action as well as the action itself. Fire cannot burn itself! Similarly, Consciousness is aware of the external world and internal feelings, but It cannot be aware of Itself, since it is Awareness itself! Hence, Devī, is referred to as apramēyā, the one who cannot be cognized through sense organs.