Category Archives: Consciousness

Consciousness

If I am non-dual consciousness, why don’t I know all?

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Question: If consciousness itself is present in every form and it is one, why does not one form know about what all forms perceive?

Answer-1: Imagine that you are the only passenger in a stationary train. You change compartments to view outside through different windows. You get to see different things. It is the same you having different views but you have only one view at a time. Likewise it is the same essence of one consciousness in every form, but the forms are different and one form does not know what other form perceives.

Answer-2: When you dream in which you are present yourself along with others, even though it is your mind that is creating the dream, the you present in dream does not know about what is going on in the minds of other dream-mates. Let us say that K is dreaming in which K himself as K’ along with A, B and C are present.

Dream Example

In the figure,  though it is K’s mind that is projecting the dream, K who is himself present in the dream as K’ does not know what is going on in the minds of A, B and C. This is like one way traffic in the direction of arrows. For the K’ to know the mind of A the information would need to flow is opposite direction which does not happen.

PS: The figure above shows K outside the dream boundary. This is just for simplicity sake. Since K’s mind is projecting the dream, we can say that the K’s dream is within K’s mind and the following figure looks at it in this respect and can be considered as more accurate:

Dream Example II

Consciousness

Awareness – An Analogy

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Let us say that in a home with 24×7 electricity, there are many bulbs. When current flows through a particular operational bulb by switching it on it glows. When the switch is off it obviously does not glow. Also, when the bulb is not operational even if there is electricity it does not glow. Also, what happens with one bulb is not related to another bulb as it is driven by another switch. Here is the analogy:

Bulb = A Person
Bulb with switch off = Person in unconscious state
Bulb with switch on = Person not in unconscious state
Bulb not operational = Death of the body of the person
Light from the bulb = Sensation of sound, light, emotions etc. experienced by a person
Current = Awareness
From the above analogy it can be seen that just as the light from the bulb is possible due to current, or in other words current is expressing itself in the form of light, the experience (via senses, thoughts etc.) of the person is possible due to awareness or awareness is expressing itself in the form of experience. If the bulb is not giving light it does not mean that the electricity does not exist, it only means that either the bulb is switched off or is not operational. Likewise, if a person has no experience (via senses, thoughts etc.), it does not mean that awareness does not exist, it means that either the person is unconscious or the body is dead.
Consciousness

I = Awareness: Simple Proof

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One morning Anand had quarrel with his wife. Later while driving car to the office, he had a brush up with another car which led into a futile argument. He reached his office late and asked his secretary about some work. When she said that she could not complete it in time, he (I = ego) asked her to resign within a week.

After reaching home while playing with his young kid he thought that he (I = ego) was wrong in taking the decision hurriedly of firing the secretary and that he (I = intellect) would make up for it tomorrow first thing in the morning.

Next day after reaching his office he called his secretary and first asked about the same work to begin the conversation feeling quite sure that it would have been over by yesterday noon. She said that it would take more time to complete it. Anand thought that this work should have been over by yesterday comfortably and till now it is not done. He decided not to do what he thought earlier about making up with her. In the afternoon a colleague of Anand told him about some personal problem his secretary was facing. After hearing this he (I = compassion) took back the decision of firing the secretary.

Anand is just one, there cannot be many permanent Anands as I = ego or I = intellect or I = compassion etc. In this episode the only thing that remained permanent/constant was Anand as I = awareness. It was ego that took place in awareness, it was intelligence that took place in awareness and it was compassion that took place in awareness. Everything happened on the screen of awareness. The screen did not change but what was played on the screen was changed. This means that Anand is awareness and so are we.

Consciousness, Self Realisation

We are Consciousness Proof & Self-Realisation

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When Anand is awake, he is a Physicist. Let us call him Anand-P. One day he wakes up in the morning and remembers that he was singer in the dream and that he was giving a live performance but he does not remember when the book that he was reading at bed time fell from his hands and even from the bed. Let us call Anand the singer as Anand-S. On waking it is obviously Anand-P who is associated with, “I” and not Anand-S. When Anand-S was singing, he existed as, “I” who felt real and could see the audience and hear sounds and Anand-P did not exist as, “I”. In fact Anand-P at those moments did not even know that he existed at all. Then how does Anand-P as, “I” on waking know about Anand-S who was a different, “I”? If I do not exist as I then how can I remember witnessing something? This is different from memory of waking state where Anand-P alone exists as, “I” everything else being, “other” and experiences things and remembers some of them. Clearly, something is telling Anand-P about Anand-S. It means that there is a link connecting the two Anands. This connecting link is Self or consciousness which is the real I. This real, “I” is same for both Anands. “I” that is used generally is false “I” attached with ego. One way to realise your true nature is as follows:

Notice your immediate reaction when you suddenly wake up from your dream. Do you feel that it was the same you that was present in the dream at the very instant of waking up before body senses start taking over? If it is the same non-changing I associated with you during this transient state of observation, then the real you must be consciousness. To put it mathematically,

Let t be the instant at which you suddenly wake up while watching dream, if you find that:

{\lim }\limits_{\delta \to 0} {I_{t - \delta }} = {\lim }\limits_{\delta \to 0} {I_{t + \delta }}

Then it implies that,

{\lim }\limits_{\delta \to 0} {I_{t - \delta }} = {\lim }\limits_{\delta \to 0} {I_{t + \delta }} = I = {\rm{Constant = Consciousness}}

The above understanding* can open the door to Self-realisation.

*This is called Jnana Yoga, i.e. Self-realisation from knowledge.

Consciousness, Soul

What is Embodied Soul – A Modern Perspective*

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Jivatman, rooh, embodied soul etc. are different words used in different religions/cultures to speak of the localised divine presence.

Svetasvatara Upanishad – Chap 5 Mantra 9 is as follows:

vālāgraśatabhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca
bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa cānantyāya kalpate

The above means, “Know the embodied soul to be a part of the 100th part of the point of a hair divided a 100 times; and yet it is infinite.”

From modern perspective, there is nothing physical known within the body that can be called as, “subtle body” or embodied soul so if we do not take the above literally, the implied meaning of the above appears to be that if we try to discover embodied soul, it is apparently very difficult to discover it, so in that respect it is subtle. But, since it is reflection of Atman/Consciousness/Self, actually it has infinite presence. We know that mind is not a physical thing and it has the imagination to be anywhere. So, mind can broadly be called Jivatman**. Although consciousness is everywhere, when it is associated with the physical bodies, it gets individualised and one feels oneself separate from the Self. Just like in a room there are various radio signals that are detected by various radios to different degree, consciousness is detected by different bodies to different degree. Be it stone, plant, animal or human or empty space, consciousness is everywhere and is detected to a different degree by different things/beings.

One can think of mind as made of several layers. The outermost layer of mind is where we mostly live, that is waking conscious state, the next layer is subconscious state, the next is unconscious state. All these states happen on a screen or a background. Most of us are not aware of this background as we identify ourselves with body-mind. This background of the mind can be considered as consciousness. It can only be reached when there are no thoughts in the mind and the identification with body-mind ceases.

*Different religions may use different terms and explanations.
**Ramana Maharshi says, “What is called ‘mind’ is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Self does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines) the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue). What is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exists only in dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (jiva).”