In Hindu philosophy, Sakshi, also Sākṣī or Shakshi, "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, other than sakshithere is nothing else in the entire universe.
Etymology and meaning
साक्षी or शाक्षी means 'observer', 'eyewitness' or the 'Supreme Being', is the Atman, the unchangeable eternal Reality, Pure Consciousness and knowledge. It is the timeless Being which witnesses all this ceaseless flow and change in the world of thought and things, the 'Witness' or the higher 'Ego', the faculty which perceives the individual personality. It lends its shine to the "ego" part of the subtle body, which consists of the everchanging Mind, the decision making Intellect, the Memory & the Illusory Ego. Mind, Ego and Sakshi, all perform different functions but that difference of functions does not mean difference in nature or essence.
Upanishads
With regard to the word, साक्षी, used in the following verse from Shvetashvatara Upanishad, The Varaha Upanishad refers to the Bhumika which is of the form of pranava as formed of or divided into – akāra, ukāra, makāra and ardhmātra, which is on account of the difference of sthula, sukshama, bija and sakshi whose avasthas are – 'waking', 'dreaming', 'dream-less sleep' and 'turiya'. Sakshi which is 'turiya' is the essence.
Panini
states that the same indicates a direct seer or eyewitness, Sakshi means Ishvara, the चेता, the sole Self-consciousness, who is the witness of all, who gives consciousness to every human being, thereby making each rational and discriminatory.
Vedanta
speaks of mind or antahkarana, and matter as the subtle and gross forms of one and the same reality; being the subtle aspect of matter, mind is not a tangible reality. The field of mind involves the duality of the seer and the seen, the observer and the observed, which duality is overcome in the field of pure Consciousness. Drg-drshya-Viveka tells us:- Sankara explains that knowledge does not destroy or create, it only illumines, that the senses are not the mind, the mind uses them as an implement.
