1258. What is Consciousness???

I wish to share what I comprehend…

Consciousness (Chaitanya) is ever present expression of life. If it is a dancer and the entire universe is a dance. Consciousness is the mind of Awareness and every individual is the projection of it. Consciousness presence in our physical body is like presence of sweetness in sugar.

We individuals do not possess a separate Consciousness but what seems to be plurality is merely a series of different aspects of the one thing, produced by deception. Our body doesn’t own Consciousness; it is Consciousness that projects as body. For both the knowledge as well as ignorance it is Consciousness which is the source.

Without Consciousness neither can there be Delusion nor Reality, as there exists no wave or wave froth without ocean water, but ocean water can remain without wave or its froth as also without Delusion or Reality Consciousness can remain. 

Without Consciousness neither knowledge nor ignorance can be cognised. Just as the ocean water evaporates to gather as cloud and then come back in the form of rain from the cloud, the same is true with Consciousness. There can be no Consciousness without Awareness; but there can be Awareness without Consciousness, as we experience in Deep Sleep.

It is not that an individual possesses Consciousness; but the Consciousness assumes the form of individual, just as ocean water assumes the form of wave. It is the same Consciousness that expresses as mind, ego and intellect, and also appears as physical body. Consciousness when individualised suffers from ego and emotions. Consciousness in the body is not same as bird in a nest; it is like the whole in the part like gold in the ornament. The source of Consciousness is Cosmic, but its expression is individual creation. The fantasy experience of the dream is recollected in the waking stage. This shows the continuity of Consciousness in all the three stages namely waking, dream and deep sleep.

There is a misconception that once the vital breath (Prana) leaves the body the Chaitanya (Consciousness) too will leave the body. But in reality it is only the Chetana (Liveliness) that leaves the body and makes it Jada (Lifeless). The Chaitanya is still intact as the negative process of Apaksaya (Decay) is taking place. When the Prana Vayu leaves the physical body, that body will not remain the same like a rock but will undergo Vikara (Putrefy). To change from Sakara (Energetic) to Vikara also Chaitanya plays an important role. Even the apparent unconscientious stage of the rock conceals the innermost dormancy of Consciousness.

Chaitanya as a philosophical term is a divine, pure consciousness that can pull the mind into a meditative stillness. According to Advaita this Chaitanya appears in different categories namely Brahma Chaitanya (Absolute Consciousness), Iswara Chaitanya (Cosmic Consciousness), Jiva Chaitanya (Individual Consciousness), and Sakshi Chaitanya (Witness Consciousness). As told above there Chaitanya is never experienced in plural. It is singular; it has no plurality but is viewed so due to delusion.

To explain it simple, let us suppose Jute is Brahma Chaitanya, the form and name it acquires when it is made a rope is Iswara Chaitanya. In dark assuming that rope to be snake is due to the play of Mind and Intellect, that is Jiva Chaitanya. Being aware that the jute has manifested as rope and there is no snake at all is what Sakshi Chaitanya as Antaryami grants when we ask for “Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat” (in Gayatri Mantra).