The Vedic texts from ancient India (approx. 3000–1000 BCE) claim to be ātmavidyā, “science of self” or “consciousness science.” The most ancient of these is the cryptic ṛgveda. But prose commentaries, called the Brāhmanas and the Upanishads that appeared in the centuries following the Vedas, provide a framework to decode its narrative, establishing its central concern with consciousness.
Until recently, the question of consciousness was considered to lie outside of the scope of science and, consequently, the Indian texts on the subject were not properly examined. Scientific attitudes toward consciousness have changed due to the recent advances in neuroscience and because modern physics and computer science must confront the question of the observer.
In the Vedic view, reality is unitary at the deepest level since otherwise there would be chaos. This reality is called Brahman(neuter gender). Brahman engenders and, paradoxically, transcends the mind/matter split. It is identical to...
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Kak, S. (2008). Consciousness in Ancient India. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8530
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