I am not this body, I am not this mind. So, am I consciousness? Or, am I conscious? What is consciousness? What does it mean to be conscious?
Two everyday events help get the idea. Moonlight, and a boiling pot of vegetables.
What we call as moonlight is actually the light of sun being reflected by the moon. Sun light illuminates the moon, which reflects the light and illuminates the earth. Two take-away principles to note from this example are illumination and reflection.
In a pot of boiling vegetables (potatoes), the heat in the potatoes is not inherent. Potatoes borrow the heat from the hot water around them. Similarly, the hot water borrows its heat from the hot pan around it. Likewise, the pan borrows its heat from the fire underneath it. But, the heat in the fire is inherent. Fire is the heat. Two principles to note in this example are borrowed and inherent qualities/properties.
Let us utilize the above principles to now understand body consciousness, and what is actually going on when we say “I am conscious”. Swami Sarvpriyananda draws our attention to the “trichotonomous view” of our personality, which is a three fold view of our body; Self + Subtle Body + Gross Body. (The yogic expression “look inward” means to analyze our subtle/inner body.)
Gross body is the physical body with its bones, muscles, flesh, etc. Subtle body is a collection of four parts – manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), chitta (memory), and ahamkar (ego). Self (साक्षी) is pure consciousness. The Self (साक्षी) can also be called as Brahman (ब्रहमन) or Atma (आत्मा). Hence, the statement अहम् ब्रह्मास्मी (I am the Brahman). In the Vedantic lingo, this Atma/Self or pure consciousness is also called as witness consciousness.
Now the game of reflection, illumination, and borrowing starts. Just as our face is reflected on a mirror, pure/witness consciousness reflects on the subtle body. Specifically, the pure/witness consciousness reflects on the ahamkar (ego). Our ego borrows its consciousness from the pure consciousness. Just as our face illuminates a mirror, the pure/witness consciousness illuminates the ego. And, just as our reflection is bound to the mirror, the pure/witness consciousness is bound to the ahamkar (ego).
The process of illumination/reflection and borrowing continues. The ahamkar (ego) illuminates the rest of the subtle body, which in turn illuminates the nervous system, which in turn illuminates the sense organs. The process of illumination stops at that physical body frontier of the sense organs. That is the boundary at which we define the limits of our “I”. So, we identify ourselves until that boundary or our sense organs, and the rest of the world which the sense organs interact with become the “outside” world, and is separate from the “I”.
Let’s look at it the other wary around. Our sense organs borrow their consciousness/awareness from the nervous system, which borrows its consciousness from the subtle body. In the subtle body the chitta, manas, and buddhi borrow their consciousness from the ahamkar. Just like a reflection is bound in a mirror, our ahamkar borrows the pure/witness consciousness (साक्षी, Self) and binds it in itself. But, the pure/witness consciousness is inherently its own thing, the root, just like fire is its own things. Edwin Bryant, in “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali” writes, “due to ignorance, this animated chitta considers consciousness to be inherent within itself, rather than an entity outside and separate from itself. It is this ignorance that is the ultimate cause of bondage and samsara.”
So, here we are. I am not this body, I am not this mind. “I” am pure consciousness. But my body borrows pure consciousness and makes itself aware (conscious).
The above is what Adi Shankaracharya, says:
Mano budhya ahankara chithaa ninaham, Na cha srothra jihwe na cha graana nethrer, Na cha vyoma bhoomir na thejo na vayu, Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham. Neither am I mind, nor intelligence, Nor ego, nor thought, Nor am I ears or the tongue or the nose or the eyes, Nor am I earth or sky or air or the light, But I am Shiva the all pervading happiness, Yes,I am definitely Shiva.
धार्मिक छवियाँ 