Namaste dear ones,

In this day and age, and especially in spiritual communities, there is no avoiding of the expressions “being conscious,” “living a conscious life,” ”being part of a conscious community” and so forth. So, what does all this actually mean? What is Consciousness? It is generally understood as a form of awareness. Allow me to be a geek first hand and start with the Oxford dictionary’s definition(s) of the term:

“1. The state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings;
2.0 A person’s awareness or perception of something;
2.1 The fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.”

In light of the upcoming yearly Mahashivaratri (Sanskrit for “The Great Night of Shiva”) event happening on 13 Feb, a topic which I wrote about last year around this same time (read it here if you missed it), I am feeling inevitably inspired to revisit the topic of what Shiva represents: Pure Consciousness. Back in April 2016, I also wrote an entry about Shiva, speaking to the story, aspects, and symbolisms behind Shiva in Yoga. This time around, I would like to revisit the topic from a slightly different angle by looking at different approaches to the topic of Consciousness.

CONSCIOUSNESS IN KASHMIRI SHAIVISM & TRIKA THOUGHT

The topic of Consciousness is often visited in the weekly Kashmiri Shaivism study groups at Agama, recently touching upon two different aspects of consciousness: pure consciousness (the Shiva aspect which perceives), and reflective consciousness (the Shakti aspect which perceives of its own awareness). Both are two sides of the same coin, and the main relevant question for spiritual practice remains: what can we do in daily life to realize the infinite nature of the essence of our being, which is ultimately Pure Consciousness? The answer to this question is manifold considering the myriad of “legitimate” spiritual paths available to people of different temperaments. Somewhat ironically, when it comes to the experience of Pure Consciousness according to the Trika Philosophy (which basically deals with the intellectual and practical approach concerning the existence of the Self), all techniques end up eventually falling away, leaving us with the direct experience of Pure Consciousness, achieved by what is described as the “no-method method” in the Tantraloka  (a spiritual text which describes a profound philosophy, and methods to attaining Shiva consciousness). Attaining Shiva consciousness is a phenomenon we can basically understand as identifying our individual consciousness with the Cosmic Consciousness. This can happen through a process of visualization, meditation…or any direct experience really….and a little detail: there is always the requirement of Grace! Nothing ever really happens without it, and any objection to this comes from a rather egocentric view of the nature of reality.

Consciousness is…not static! There are different levels of it. A full awakening of consciousness implies the rising of Kundalini. It is a vibration (spanda) with awareness. It has activity. It has characteristics. It has power. It has radiance. It can be interiorized or externalized. It is everywhere. It is innate to everything which is. It is everything!

I want to take a little moment to just make clear that I am not writing here from a place of “been there, done that, let me teach you how it’s done.” I am an aspiring humble beginner in this practice. What is it that I am aspiring to? Well, the state of Jivanmukta (a state of liberation while living), “..in this state an aspirant has the perfect experience of identity with the Absolute” (Pandit, 2012, p.16)

To learn more about this school of thought, I would  highly recommend you to read texts on Kashmiri Shaivism. Some of the best gems on this topic in books about Kashmiri Shaivism would be the Paramarthasara, the Tantrasara, and the Tantraloka. Any decent translations of the works by the great tantric master Abhinavagupta, the teachings of Swami Lakshmanjoo, and some of the other literary works and commentaries by Lilian Silburn, Mark Dyczkowski, J.C. Chatterjee, and Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. Hareesh) to name a few will also give you some further insight into this topic. When reading all of these materials (or anything for that matter), I feel it is healthy to keep somewhat of a discerning eye/mind and to not take anything we read as an Absolute given truth. We can only ever come to know the Absolute by direct experience. No 100 books or theory can amount to that. Without complicating matters any further, one thing to be said is that our self-shining consciousness is proved by the fact that we, as individuals, are conscious of ourselves!

Consciousness is the foundation of being itself. Within our being, we can find different levels of consciousness at the level of the five major bodies of consciousness (the koshas– anamayakosha, pranamayakosha, manomayakosha, vijnanamayakosha, andanandamayakosha), and at the level of our chakras.

CONSCIOUSNESS IN PSYCHOLOGY
“Carl Jung (founder of analytical psychology, and best known for his theory of the collective unconscious) understood “our individual identities to be formed out of…a collective reservoir…called the collective unconscious…,” from where “…all the elements, instincts, desires, conceptual tendencies, and transcendental or spiritual yearnings that have ever been, or will probably ever be, cast onto the shores of human consciousness.” (Breaux, 1989, p. 31). In a manner similar to that of the Indian scriptures, he recognized a transcendent function in the psyche and called it the Self. He saw the Self as identical with the source of God-images, and called this process of identification “the realization if the Divine within” (Breaux, 1989, p. 29).

He also made the important point that the mind is not equal to consciousness, but is rather a vehicle of it, having forms and functions in the same way the body does. When he says that “the mind may also be compared to a mirror…” and that “our experience of the world is a result of the functions of our minds.” (Breaux, 1989, p. 164), there is a direct analogy to be made here with the idea of Shiva being mirrored in everything we see around us depending on our level of consciousness!

With all that being said about some of the more philosophical approach to consciousness, let us have a look at what science has got to say about this.

CONSCIOUSNESS IN SCIENCE

I remember one day in College in The Netherlands, it must have been 2008 or so, there was a huge conference held on the topic of Consciousness for which some well-known leading figures in academics at the time were invited to speak from all over the country. In my naive and wishful thinking, I attended with the silly expectation that science would finally have something awesome to say about the spiritual nature of Consciousness! However, nothing was less true, and although the conference was interesting, I kept waiting for an “it” moment that never happened. I was waiting for something to be said which was never said. And this is because, Consciousness is not something to be said. Consciousness can only be felt. And this is why science will probably never reach a scientific consensus on the topic of consciousness. I have decided to be O.K. with that, after realizing that we cannot understand the totality of the nature of our existence with our limited minds, but we can come to directly experience it through the unlimited essence of our being.

Let’s have a look at a relatively representative example of some of what is out there in today’s mainstream science on the topic of Consciousness. The Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford Academics) is a journal publishing papers on the biological basis of consciousness, emphasizing empirical neuroscience. Herein, consciousness is understood as “a phenomenon.” I find some of the articles offered here quite fascinating to read. Interesting for sure. Mentally intriguing, and spiritually disappointing to be honest. For example, “An algorithmic information theory of consciousness” by Giulio Ruffini accepts the existence of consciousness as an axiom, and views reality as a “mind-construct.” Which would imply reality to be limited to the constructs of our minds. The study is further based on several assumptions, and does not address consciousness as the “fundamental origin of experience” (Chalmers 1995). Rather, it simply says that consciousness is the main factor giving rise to structured experience, but fails to go any further into what it actually is, and what role it plays in giving rise to structured experience, missing out on the whole foundation upon which the research is supposed to be based on.

WHY SCIENCE DOESN’T GET IT RIGHT

The reason why modern science will probably never get it right when it comes to getting to the bottom of the whole consciousness discourse, is that science is trying to explain consciousness in rather inappropriate, or unfitting terms. Namely, the scientific frustration will persist for as long as it continues to limit itself by trying to comprehend consciousness as an electro-chemical process without acknowledging the mental and more subtle “bodies” that make up our being.

LIVING A CONSCIOUS LIFE

There is huge difference between doing something, and doing something consciously. The self-observance, the awareness, the self-inquiry are some of the crucial factors making a difference here. For example, asking yourself: “Who is this I who enjoys music?” Even the simple practice of asking yourself “Who am I?” is a brilliant in and of itself!

You don’t necessarily need to be “spiritual” to be conscious. Of course we are all spiritual beings living out a human experience, and it is more that some people choose to define themselves as spiritual, and these are usually the people who are more focused on spiritual lives (but beware: also quickly falling into the trap of the spiritual ego!). If you are conscious, you will inevitably eventually come to discover that everyone is spiritual.

Do everything consciously and see how your view of life will change, and transform. There is a clarity, a serenity that comes when being settled in the Self. It is as if the purity of being is uncovered. It is usually in times when confronted by unpleasant surprises in life, for example when others do something shocking which we find unacceptable and our egos get offended, that we forget all about being conscious. Remembrance here is key. Your consciousness is the screen behind everything you perceive to be real. At the end of the day, your consciousness is the final judge. So be aware of it 😉

Consciousness is like an infinite ocean.  You can read 101 books, and do 1,001 meditations and still not grasp it all. The path of truth is never ending, and there are so many different levels of consciousness present on this Earth dimension- from the most ignorant to the most evolved. It is impossible to cover consciousness in an A-Z manner. We will never really be “finished” discussing consciousness or reach a conclusion about it, and there’s a great beauty to that!  It doesn’t mean it is not accessible. In fact, we can access consciousness at all times. It is what we are. Ultimately, it is all already within us, we just need to remember, and find the keys to access the treasures hidden within.

Thank you for tuning in again…and may you all find yourselves in Self.

With Love and Presence,
Aldona