What does it mean to be conscious?
Western thought has long treated consciousness as a byproduct of the brain, a
phenomenon emerging from matter. Indian philosophy reverses that assumption. It
holds that consciousness is not produced by matter but that matter itself is a
projection within consciousness.
This single shift changes
everything. If consciousness is primary, the universe is not a dead mechanism
but a living field of awareness. The individual is not an isolated fragment but
a wave in the ocean of the cosmic mind.
This idea, central to the
Upanishads, reshapes our understanding of both self and cosmos. It tells us
that the search for ultimate reality is not a journey outward but inward into
the depths of the very awareness by which we perceive the world.
The Upanishadic
Revelation
The Upanishads, written over 2,500
years ago, are humanity’s earliest sustained exploration of consciousness.
Their seers the rishis were not theorists but explorers of the inner world.
Through meditation and self-inquiry, they discovered that beneath the layers of
thought, emotion, and perception lies a silent, luminous awareness.
They called it Atman, the Self. It
is not the personality, not the ego, but the witnessing presence that endures
through all changes.
The Chandogya Upanishad declares,
“Tat Tvam Asi” Thou art That. The same reality that pervades the cosmos
(Brahman) dwells as the essence of the individual (Atman). To know this
directly is to transcend the illusion of separation.
This insight is not mystical poetry
but a radical redefinition of what we are.
The Mirror and Its
Reflections
Imagine consciousness as a
perfectly clear mirror. The world of experience sights, sounds, thoughts are reflections
within it. The reflections change constantly, but the mirror itself never does.
In ordinary life, we identify with
the reflections. We say “I am angry,” “I am happy,” “I am lost.” But the
Upanishadic teacher would ask: Who is the ‘I’ that knows these states?
That question is the beginning of
Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge. When followed sincerely, it leads to a
startling realization: everything that can be known is an object in
consciousness, but consciousness itself cannot be known as an object. It is the
knower of all.
This is why the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad says, “You cannot see the seer of seeing, you cannot hear the hearer
of hearing.” Awareness is the unseen foundation of all perception.
From Cosmos to
Consciousness
If the Self is the inner witness,
what is the cosmos? According to Indian thought, it is consciousness expressing
itself as multiplicity.
The Mandukya Upanishad describes
four states of consciousness:
·
Waking
(Jagrat): outward awareness of the physical world.
·
Dreaming
(Svapna): inward awareness of the subtle world of images.
·
Deep
Sleep (Sushupti): undifferentiated potential where individuality rests.
·
Turiya:
the silent background that underlies and transcends the other three.
These are not just personal states;
they represent the structure of reality itself. The cosmos, too, moves through
waking, dreaming, and sleeping manifestation, maintenance, and dissolution, all
grounded in the same eternal awareness.
This is why the Yoga Vasistha says,
“The world is nothing but the vibration of consciousness.”
Consciousness as
the Substance of Reality
In the West, we often think of
consciousness as something that happens inside us. The Indian view reverses
that: it is the world that happens within consciousness.
This is not a metaphor. The Advaita
Vedanta school, developed by Adi Shankaracharya, argues that consciousness is
the only reality that never comes and goes. Everything else body, thought,
time, even space appears and disappears within it.
When you fall asleep, the waking
world dissolves, yet consciousness does not cease; it simply becomes
unmanifest. When you wake, the world reappears within that same field of
awareness.
From this perspective, the cosmos
is not made of matter but of mind not personal mind, but infinite intelligence.
The Play of Maya
If consciousness is one, why do we
see multiplicity? The Upanishads explain it through Maya, the power of
appearance.
Maya does not mean illusion in the
sense of nonexistence. It means that the world, though experienced, is not what
it seems. It is real as experience but not as independent existence. Like a
dream, it has coherence within its own frame but vanishes when the dreamer
wakes.
The Gita uses a powerful image:
just as wind moves within space without disturbing it, all actions occur in
consciousness without altering its essence. The play of Maya is the divine
imagination at work, Lila, the cosmic play.
The Scientist and
the Sage
Interestingly, this ancient vision
finds echoes in modern physics and cognitive science. Quantum theory reveals
that observation affects reality; the observer cannot be separated from the
observed. Space and time are not fixed containers but relative to
consciousness.
While scientists debate what this
means, the rishis arrived at a conclusion long ago: consciousness is the
constant; everything else is a variable.
Yet where science stops at
description, Indian philosophy seeks realization. The goal is not to theorize
about consciousness but to wake up as consciousness.
The Journey Inward
Every spiritual practice in India
yoga, meditation, devotion begins with this insight. The outer search for truth
turns inward, toward the source of awareness itself.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
describe this process as the cessation of mental modifications (chitta vritti
nirodha). When thoughts settle, the self-shines in its natural luminosity. That
experience is not mystical trance but pure being, awareness aware of itself.
The Upanishads call it Brahmavidya,
the knowledge of the Absolute. The one who attains it is said to have crossed
beyond sorrow and death, because he no longer identifies with the perishable.
The Self Beyond
Birth and Death
The Bhagavad Gita expresses this
truth with poetic clarity:
“The self is never born, nor does
it die.
It is not slain when the body is
slain.”
To identify with the body is to
live in fear of death; to know oneself as consciousness is to recognize that
death is merely transformation, the dissolution of one form into another.
This understanding does not make
life indifferent; it makes it sacred. Every creature becomes an expression of
the same consciousness wearing different masks. Compassion arises not from
doctrine but from direct recognition: the other is also myself.
Individuality and
the Universal Mind
Does this mean individuality is an
illusion? Not exactly. Indian philosophy acknowledges individuality as a
functional reality, a temporary pattern within the infinite. Just as each wave
has its shape while remaining ocean, each person has a distinct personality,
yet the essence beneath is the same.
The ego (ahamkara) is a necessary
tool for navigating the world, but mistaking it for the whole truth leads to
suffering. The aim is not to destroy individuality but to see through it, to
act in the world without bondage to identity.
In that state, life becomes a
spontaneous expression of the universal. The sage acts, but without
self-centered motive. He is a conduit for the will of the cosmos.
Consciousness and
Ethics
This vision of unity carries
profound moral implications. If all beings are manifestations of one
consciousness, then harming another is, in essence, harming oneself.
The Mahabharata declares, “The
supreme religion is to see all beings as oneself.” This principle underlies
ahimsa, non-violence and the Indian reverence for life in all forms.
When consciousness is understood as
universal, ethics ceases to be a social code and becomes a natural response of
awakened intelligence. Compassion, patience, and humility are not cultivated
virtues but reflections of understanding.
The Silence Beyond
Thought
Language cannot capture
consciousness because every word implies division, subject and object, speaker
and spoken. Awareness precedes all such distinctions.
That is why the Upanishads often
fall silent. After pages of luminous reasoning, they conclude with a gesture
beyond speech: neti, neti “not this, not this.” Every concept is negated until
only the pure witness remains.
This silence is not emptiness but
fullness, purna. It is the silence in which all sounds arise, the space in
which all forms appear. To abide in that silence is the highest knowledge.
The Cosmos Within
One of the most beautiful aspects
of Indian thought is its conviction that the cosmos is mirrored within the
individual. The microcosm and macrocosm are reflections of each other. The same
forces that move galaxies move the breath within us.
This idea inspired the practice of
yoga, not as physical exercise but as union (yuj). Through breath, posture, and
meditation, the yogi aligns the inner cosmos with the outer, harmonizing
individual consciousness with the universal.
When the microcosm resonates with
the macrocosm, awareness expands. One begins to feel the entire universe as a
living organism, the Self breathing through countless forms.
The End of the
Search
Every seeker begins with a
question: Who am I?
At first, the mind looks for
answers in books, teachers, experiences. Eventually, it realizes that the
question itself arises within awareness and that the seeker and the sought are
the same.
When that recognition dawns, the
search ends. Not because all questions are answered, but because the need to
ask dissolves. The one who sought was never other than the consciousness in
which the seeking took place.
That is enlightenment, simple,
direct, without spectacle.
Living the Vision
For a modern mind, the challenge is
to live this understanding amidst the noise of daily life. The ancient texts
never demanded withdrawal; they invited participation with awareness.
To see consciousness in all things
is to transform work into worship, relationship into dialogue with the divine,
and every breath into a reminder of the infinite.
Even in confusion and conflict, one
can pause and ask: Who is aware of this moment? The answer is never far.
Awareness itself is the answer.
Closing Reflection
The Indian vision of consciousness
is both humbling and liberating. It tells us that we are not isolated observers
adrift in a mechanical universe but expressions of the infinite aware of
itself.
When we know this, the world no
longer appears as something outside us. The stars, the trees, the faces we love
all are movements of the same luminous field.
As the Mundaka Upanishad says,
“As sparks spring forth from fire,
so do all beings spring forth from the Self.”
To remember that is to live in
wonder to see the cosmos not as a cold expanse but as consciousness celebrating
its own existence.
And in that realization, the
ancient promise comes alive again: The knower of the Self becomes the Self of
all.
