Are Awareness and Consciousness One? - 27th October 2017

One more if it's possible: In what aspects are awareness and consciousness similar? In what aspects are awareness and consciousness similar?

They are not just similar; actually, they are the same. We have one. It is just like this: there's a moving part to the car and there's the static power. Let's say the example which I like to use: there's a hand and there's a moving finger. Do you see? A hand or a finger moving is consciousness. This which is the unmoving where consciousness comes from is awareness. But actually, ultimately, they are one. That is why consciousness is only a dynamic aspect of the same Self.

It is another, actually, to say it's another theoretical construct, just like we created a theoretical function for body-mind. In the same way, this theoretical concept of awareness and consciousness is to define the unmoving, the unchanging part of the Self, and to define the changing, to define the quality-full. So, Nirguna Brahman, the Self, and the quality-full of attributes, Saguna Brahman.

So there's a beautiful bhajan which goes, 'Jai Saguna Nirguna.' Which means, today I can show you Saguna, full of qualities, or Nirguna, empty of all qualities and attributes. 'Saguna Nirguna Ekko Govinda.' Which means Govinda—a term for Krishna, the Absolute Self—whether with attributes or without attributes, there is only one Govinda, one God, one Brahman. That's why terminologies can vary, and that's why it helps a lot if we are on the same page in terms of terminology. So you know that the constructs that we are using to bring clarity... without being empty of constructs, if they are not properly understood, then you can seem a bit confused. Animate the quality aspect of the Self. Awareness is that which remains unchanging, irrespective of whether the view of qualities is there and with what view of qualities is happening.