साक्षी
Sakshi
sākṣī
In simple words
Sakshi means witness. The idea is that there is something in you that is aware of your thoughts and moods but is not itself one of them — like the screen on which a film plays.
What is it?
The sakshi is consciousness as the witness of all experience. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, even the ego and the states of waking, dream and deep sleep are observed, while the observing awareness itself does not change. Advaita Vedanta uses the idea to distinguish the Self from the mind; Sankhya and Yoga describe purusha as a witness of prakriti's activity. The Gita calls the supreme Purusha in the body the witness (upadrashta).
Scholar’s note
Advaita texts develop the drig-drishya viveka (discrimination of seer and seen) and the sakshi-chaitanya concept, used to explain how ignorance and deep sleep are known. Vidyaranya's Panchadashi and the Drg-drishya-viveka are standard sources. Sankhya Karika 19 lists witnessing among purusha's characteristics. Buddhist traditions resist a permanent witness, and some Buddhist meditation instructions use a similar 'observing' stance without reifying an observer.How its meaning differs
The witness is the Self, pure consciousness, which illumines the mind and its states without being affected by them; recognising oneself as the witness is a key step toward non-dual knowledge.
Purusha is the inactive witness, while all activity belongs to prakriti; bondage is failing to distinguish them.
Patanjali describes the seer as abiding in its own nature when the fluctuations of the mind are stilled.
Buddhist schools generally do not posit a permanent witness; awareness itself is analysed as conditioned and momentary.
Kashmir Shaivism accepts awareness as the ground of experience but holds that it is not merely passive: it knows itself and acts.
Where it appears in the Gita
गतिर्भर्ता प्रभु: साक्षी निवास: शरणं सुहृत्।
क्रतु मैं हूँ, यज्ञ मैं हूँ, स्वधा मैं हूँ, औषध मैं हूँ, मन्त्र मैं हूँ, घृत मैं हूँ, अग्नि मैं हूँ (और) हवनरूप क्रिया भी मैं हूँ। जाननेयोग्य पवित्र ओंकार, ऋग्वेद, सामवेद और यजुर्वेद भी मैं ही हूँ। इस सम्पूर्ण जगत्का पिता, धाता, माता, पितामह, गति, भर्ता, प्रभु, साक्षी, निवास, आश्रय, सुहृद्, उत्पत्ति, प्रलय, स्थान, निधान (भण्डार) (तथा) अविनाशी बीज (भी मैं ही हूँ)।
13.22उपद्रष्टानुमन्ता च भर्ता भोक्ता महेश्वर:।
(शरीरके साथ सम्बन्ध रखनेसे) ‘उपद्रष्टा’, (उसके साथ मिलकर सम्मति, अनुमति देनेसे) ‘अनुमन्ता’, (अपनेको उसका भरण-पोषण करनेवाला माननेसे) ‘भर्ता’, (उसके संगसे सुख-दु:ख भोगनेसे) ‘भोक्ता’ और (अपनेको उसका स्वामी माननेसे) ‘महेश्वर’ (बन जाता है)। परन्तु (स्वरूपसे यह) पुरुष ‘परमात्मा’— इस नामसे कहा जाता है। (यह) इस देहमें रहता हुआ भी (देहसे) पर (सर्वथा सम्बन्धरहित) ही है।
13.29Prakriti does all the acting; see yourself as the non-doer
सब क्रियाएँ प्रकृतिकी, स्वयं अकर्ता
प्रकृत्यैव च कर्माणि क्रियमाणानि सर्वश:।
One who sees every action as done by prakriti alone, and himself as the non-doer, sees truly.
सम्पूर्ण क्रियाओंको प्रकृतिसे होती देखने और अपनेको अकर्ता अनुभव करनेवाला ही यथार्थ देखता है।
13.31अनादित्वान्निर्गुणत्वात्परमात्मायमव्यय: ।
हे कुन्तीनन्दन! यह (पुरुष स्वयं) अनादि होनेसे (और) गुणोंसे रहित होनेसे अविनाशी परमात्मस्वरूप ही है। यह शरीरमें रहता हुआ भी न करता है (और) न लिप्त होता है।
Where else it appears
Follow this idea
Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Gita verseBhagavad Gita 13.22The supreme Purusha in the body is called the witness.
- 2Gita verseBhagavad Gita 13.29One who sees all actions done by prakriti and the self as non-doer truly sees.
- 3Traditionसाङ्ख्यSankhyaPurusha as the inactive witness of prakriti.
- 4Textमाण्डूक्योपनिषद्Mandukya UpanishadAwareness as the ground of waking, dream and deep sleep.
- 5Textअष्टावक्रगीताAshtavakra GitaAn advanced Advaita text centred on the witness, traditionally attributed to the sage Ashtavakra.
- 6Conceptअनात्मन्Anatta (Anatman)Contrast: the Buddhist refusal to posit a permanent witness.
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