---
type: Concept
bundle: upanishadic-core
bundle_version: "0.6.1"
id: sakshin
title: "Sākṣin"
iast: "Sākṣin"
devanagari: "साक्षिन्"
description: "The witness consciousness — the self-luminous, uninvolved, permanent awareness in which all experience (thoughts, perceptions, states) appears as an object; the functional expression of Turīya in the presence of the three states; not the observer, not the ego watching itself, not a meditator, not introspection"
darshana:
  - Advaita Vedānta
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "Central to Advaita Vedānta's self-inquiry framework; the Sākṣin is Ātman functioning as the witness of the three states — distinct from the Pramātā (empirical knower) of the individual Jīva"
text_source: "Pañcadaśī 7.1–10; Vivekacūḍāmaṇi 316–322; Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.7.23"
tags: [sakshin, witness, consciousness, advaita, turiya, atman, self-luminous, inquiry]
not:
  - term: "the observer or observer-self"
    why: "An observer stands in relation to an object — there is an observer over here and something observed over there. Sākṣin is not in a relational structure with what it witnesses. It is the self-luminous awareness in which the observer-function itself appears as an object. There is no Sākṣin observing the mind — there is Sākṣin in which both the mind and the apparent observer-of-the-mind appear."
    instead: "Read Sākṣin not as a witnessing subject in a subject-object relation, but as the self-luminous ground in which all subject-object relations appear as objects"
  - term: "metacognition or introspection"
    why: "Introspection is a mental act — the mind turning attention to examine itself. Introspection is an object in awareness; it is observed by the Sākṣin, not identical with it. Metacognition is a cognitive function of the Vijñānamaya Koṣa (intellect-sheath). The Sākṣin is subtler than any mental function."
  - term: "a meditator during meditation"
    why: "During meditation, there appears to be a meditator attending to an object (breath, mantra, form). This meditator-function is Antaḥkaraṇa (the inner instrument) — part of the Sūkṣma Śarīra. The Sākṣin witnesses both the meditator and the object of meditation. Practicing meditation can calm the mind and prepare it for the inquiry, but the meditator is not the Sākṣin."
  - term: "the Ātman of a particular individual"
    why: "This conflates Sākṣin with Jīva-Ahaṃkāra. There is only one Sākṣin — undivided, non-local — appearing as the witness of multiple apparent individuals through Upādhis (limiting adjuncts). The Sākṣin is not 'my awareness' as distinct from 'your awareness'; the appearance of distinct witnesses is an Upādhi-effect."
related:
  - /concepts/turiya.md
  - /concepts/avastha-traya.md
  - /concepts/neti-neti.md
  - /concepts/upadhi.md
  - /concepts/aham-brahmasmi.md
  - /concepts/anandamaya-kosha.md
  - /concepts/antaryamin.md
  - /concepts/ayam-atma-brahma.md
  - /concepts/brahmabhavana.md
  - /concepts/jagrat.md
  - /concepts/jivanmukti.md
  - /concepts/pancha-kosha.md
  - /concepts/sushupti.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Sākṣin — साक्षिन्

**Not:** the observer, introspection, meditator, individual awareness

## Etymology

Sākṣin (साक्षिन्) = witness, one who sees directly; from sākṣāt (directly, immediately, face to face) + suffix *-in* (one who does). Sākṣāt itself is from sa (with) + akṣa (eye/sense). The witness "sees" in the sense of knowing directly — not through inference, not through the instrument of the mind, but by being the very light in which things appear.

## The Technical Distinction: Sākṣin vs. Pramātā

Advaita distinguishes two aspects of the apparent individual:
- **Pramātā** (the empirical knower): the Jīva functioning as a knowing subject — using the Antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument), engaging in Vyāvahārika (conventional) knowing of objects
- **Sākṣin** (the witness): the self-luminous awareness in which the Pramātā and its knowing-activity appear as objects

The Pramātā is the "I" of ordinary experience — the one who perceives, thinks, desires, and remembers. The Sākṣin is not this "I." It is that in which this "I" appears. Nididhyāsana gradually erodes the identification with Pramātā and reveals the Sākṣin as the actual referent of "Aham" in the Mahāvākya.

## Self-Luminosity (Svaprakāśatva)

The defining quality of Sākṣin is Svaprakāśatva — self-luminosity. Every object (pot, thought, emotion, state) is known by something other than itself. The pot is known by the eye; the eye is known by the mind; the mind is known by the Buddhi (intellect); the Buddhi is known by the Sākṣin. But the Sākṣin cannot be known by something other than itself without infinite regress. Therefore it must be self-luminous — its knowing-nature does not depend on another knowing.

This self-luminosity is not a property Sākṣin has — it is what Sākṣin IS. And it is precisely what Prajñānam Brahma points to: the luminous knowing-nature is identical with Brahman.

## Sākṣin and the Three States

The Sākṣin is demonstrated through the Avasthātraya inquiry (see avastha-traya.md):
- In Jāgrat: the Sākṣin witnesses the waking Viśva
- In Svapna: the Sākṣin witnesses the dreaming Taijasa
- In Suṣupti: the Sākṣin witnesses the absence of objects — which is how the Suṣupti bliss can be reported retrospectively on waking

The Sākṣin is the functional expression of Turīya in the presence of the three states. When the three states are present, Turīya-as-Sākṣin witnesses them. Turīya itself is the ground; Sākṣin is Turīya as it appears from within the inquiry context.

## Bṛhadāraṇyaka's Antaryāmin Passage

The Bṛhadāraṇyaka's Antaryāmin (3.7.23) provides an early formulation: "He who dwells in consciousness, within consciousness, whom consciousness does not know, whose body consciousness is, who rules consciousness from within — He is your Ātman, the inner ruler, the immortal." This "inner ruler within consciousness but unknown by consciousness" is Sākṣin — it cannot be an object of consciousness because it is the subject that consciousness appears within.

## The Practical Implication for Ātmavicāra

Self-inquiry (Ātmavicāra) uses the Sākṣin as its organizing principle: "Who is the witness of this thought? Who knows this experience?" Each answer ("my mind," "my intellect") can be further questioned ("Who knows the mind?") until no further regression is possible — until the awareness that cannot be objectified is recognized. That irreducible remainder is Sākṣin = Ātman.

## Audience Metaphor

A cinema projector illuminates the screen — the images appear because of the light. The light itself is not in any of the images; you cannot point to it in the film. If all the images are removed, the light remains. If the film shows a lamp, the light of the projector is not in that lamp — yet without the projector's light, the image of the lamp cannot be seen. Sākṣin is the projector-light: the self-luminous source of all experience, itself not appearing as any experience.

## Citations

1. Pañcadaśī 7.1–10 (Vidyāraṇya) — Sākṣin as distinct from Pramātā; self-luminosity; see [references/panchadashi.md]
2. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi vv. 316–322 (Śaṅkarācārya) — the witness and its qualities; see [references/vivekachudamani.md]
3. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.7.23 — the Antaryāmin passage as proto-Sākṣin formulation; see [references/brhadaranyaka-upanishad.md]
4. Aparokṣānubhūti vv. 12–16 (attributed Śaṅkarācārya) — direct inquiry into Sākṣin; see [references/aparokshanubhuti.md]
