InHindu philosophy, Sakshi (Sanskrit: साक्षी), also Sākṣī, "witness," refers to the 'pure awareness' that witnesses the world but does not get affected or involved. Sakshi is beyond time, space and the triad of experiencer, experiencing and experienced; sakshi witnesses all thoughts, words and deeds without interfering with them or being affected by them. Sakshi or Shiva, along with Shakti (will/energy/motion), represents the Brahman, the totality itself in its most fundamental state, the concept of all mighty, revealed in ancient philosophical texts of Hinduism.[1]
साक्षी or शाक्षी means 'observer', 'Witness-Self' or the 'Supreme Being'. It is the Atman, the unchangeable eternal Reality, Pure Consciousness, self-luminous and never itself an object of observation.[2] It is the timeless Being that witnesses the ceaseless flow and change in the world of thought and things.[3]
It lends its shine (Chitchhaya) to the "ego" part of the subtle body, which consists of the everchanging Mind, the decision-making Intellect, the Memory and the Illusory Ego.[4]
The word साक्षी (sākṣī) is used in the following verse from Shvetashvatara Upanishad,
The Varaha Upanishad (IV) refers to one of the seven Bhumikas which is of the form of pranava (AumorOm). It has four parts (akāra, ukāra, makāra and ardhmātra) due to the difference of sthula (gross), sukshama (subtle), bija (causal) and sakshi (witness). Their corresponding avasthas (states of consciousness) are – waking, dreaming, dream-less sleep, and turiya. The state of consciousness identified with the Sakshi essence is 'turiya'.[5]
Panini states that the term indicates a direct seer or eyewitness (Panini Sutras V.ii.91).[6] Sakshi means Ishvara, the चेता (cetā), the sole Self-consciousness, who is the witness of all, who gives consciousness to every human being, thereby making each rational and discriminatory.[7]
Vedanta speaks of mind (chitta), or antahkarana ('internal instrument'), and matter as the subtle and gross forms of one and the same reality. The field of mind (Chittakasha) involves the duality of subject and object, the seer and the seen, the observer (drg) and the observed (drshya); this duality is overcome in the field of pure Consciousness. Such knowledge, says Sankara, does not destroy or create, it only illumines.[2] According to the Drg-drshya-Viveka:
Swami Sarvapriyananda explains it thus:[8]
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