In dream just one human mind creates many objects/personalities, or one appears as many. Maya is that power residing in consciousness by which one appears as many. In other words, Maya is the power that creates the dream of consciousness in which consciousness projects the dream appearing as many within the dream though it is actually just one. This dream of consciousness is the real world for the characters in the dream. When a character in the dream realises that it is not just a character but is the consciousness itself, Self Realisation takes place for that character. This character continues to be present in the dream, so the dream world is not over for the character. The world of maya goes on before/after enlightenment. It is just that now this character knows that while it appears to be present in this dream world, it is not really within it, but is actually projecting it. Removal of maya does not mean that the dream world collapses. It just means that now it is known that what was earlier considered to be real actually is apparent.
The image shows consciousness surrounded by (under the influence of) maya not knowing its true nature. Similar symbolic visualisations can be made using hand mudra or via coiled snake/kundalini etc.
The punch line in the lyrics of the song, “Allah ke bande” written by Vishal Dadlani according to me is, “Khoke apne par hi to usne tha udna seekha”. The meaning of this line is related to, “A blessing in disguise” idiom and spirituality.
Context: The lyrics mention about a bird falling from the sky to the ground losing its wings making it incapable of flying again. But the bird is not feeling low at all. On the contrary, it is quite optimistic.
Meaning: Khoke apne par hi to usne tha udna seekha means after losing the wings the bird learnt to fly. Nobody wants problems. But, sometimes problems are good as they make us look at the things from a completely different perspective and new solutions emerge. The spiritual meaning of the line is that you find the real You when you lose the false you (doer). Kabir says, “Jab mein tha tab Hari nahin, jab Hari hai mein nahin” which means when I (doer) was there God was not, when God is there I (doer) am not. Hari is pure consciousness and not someone sitting above the sky.
Q: While waking I know myself as awareness. But, if I am awareness which is permanent (Sat), why don’t I know myself during deep sleep?
A: It is your intellect that knows that you are not just body-mind but are awareness. It is your intellect that has got enlightened. You are pure awareness who is just powering the act of knowing by the intellect just like electricity powers a gadget. Since intellect is not operational during deep sleep, the sense of knowing is not there.
During the waking state, there is apparent subject and object split. So, it appears that your intellect (subject) is perceiving something (object). During deep sleep there is effectively no subject/object split and hence there is no perception*. This subject/object split during waking state is due to the apparent world. There is no world in deep sleep state and hence there is no subject/object split.
Awareness is silent witness. Whether something is known by the intellect or not awareness is witnessing that. In waking/dreaming, awareness is witness to the perception and in the deep sleep, awareness is a witness to the lack of perception.
*Strictly speaking, even during deep sleep there is residual/dormant subject/object split. A familiar experience of this can be of disturbance in sleep due to loud noise/mosquito bite.
Q (Mohan): If I am consciousness then why don’t I behave as one?A: Please see the answers below in two situations:
a) Before Enlightenment your mind does not know that you are consciousness and hence your mind keeps on identifying with false Is. This happens because of ignorance – thanks to maya.
b) After enlightenment, while your mind does know that you are consciousness your body still has to live in this world and hence mind has to behave accordingly. So, your mind acts as Mohan and not as consciousness while dealing with people like an actor acting in a movie. It is also possible that the false Is take over sometimes as the understanding that you are consciousness may not yet be sufficiently deep rooted in the mind.
PS: Enlightenment is for the mind. The real you is always consciousness whether the mind knows that or not.
Q: How does the individual sense of awareness/consciousness dissolve?
A: When you say, “my awareness” there is an individual sense. This is different from saying, “I am awareness” where the individual sense is lost. Awareness, like love, is a quality (abstract noun). When we say, “Love is blind”, it is not about X’s love or Y’s love. There is nothing personal attached to the quality love when used in this way. So, when you say that you are awareness, so is everybody else. There is no individual sense attached to the quality awareness here. The individual sense of awareness dissolves when the understanding that you are awareness gets deep rooted. You feel comfortable saying, “Aham Brahmasmi” (Translation: I am Brahman, Meaning: I pervade everything).
PS: Awareness and consciousness words have been considered to mean the same.
Q: What is the difference between attention and awareness?
A: Awareness is something due to which perception is possible, without awareness everything is insentient. Paying attention on something means concentrating on that thing. It is an act by which mind channelises awareness to shine on something of interest. Object of attention simply means focus of awareness. The following figure illustrates this with an analogy of convex lens:
Vedanta Deeksha, Vedic Astrology, Vaastu, Sound Healing Consultation & Courses Online or in India (Bhopal)
In dream just one human mind creates many objects/personalities, or one appears as many. Maya is that power residing in consciousness by which one appears as many. In other words, Maya is the power that creates the dream of consciousness in which consciousness projects the dream appearing as many within the dream though it is actually just one. This dream of consciousness is the real world for the characters in the dream. When a character in the dream realises that it is not just a character but is the consciousness itself, Self Realisation takes place for that character. This character continues to be present in the dream, so the dream world is not over for the character. The world of maya goes on before/after enlightenment. It is just that now this character knows that while it appears to be present in this dream world, it is not really within it, but is actually projecting it. Removal of maya does not mean that the dream world collapses. It just means that now it is known that what was earlier considered to be real actually is apparent.