Somesh: Can you tell what is different between awareness and content of consciousness. Can one exist independently?
Please respond to me as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Sundari: There is no difference between Awareness and Consciousness, they are names for the Self, though both names fall short, as do all words, to describe what is indescribable, the Self. All words are in duality, but we must use words to teach, and as long as we use them correctly and explain their usage, we can avoid confusion. We had this same discussion the last time you wrote to me.
Both terms have implied meanings built-in – Awareness implies unaware, and Consciousness implies unconscious. But Awareness/Consciousness is never not aware or conscious, though not in the way we think of being aware or conscious. Our awareness/consciousness (the jiva) is reflected awareness. It is borrowed from the light of Awareness/Consciousness, which is only aware of itself because there is only itself. The jiva is the Self apparently under the spell of ignorance, but in truth, the Self is completely unaffected by Maya, duality. It is an object known to it and known to be not-self. It is only when Maya appears and the world/jiva manifest that there is seemingly ‘something’ for Awareness/Consciousness to be aware of. Please note the word seemingly.
When we do not examine our experience because we are under the spell of Maya, we think we are the witness of what is happening to us and in us. But who is the witness, and what is it witnessing? Your answer will depend on whether you are identified with the experiencing entity, the jiva, or the Self (Awareness/Consciousness), the non-experiencing witness. The non-experiencing witness is the non-dual Self, but it functions in two ways, as the opaque witness or jiva (saguna brahman – with qualities) and the transparent witness (without qualities – nirguna brahman).
The opaque witness is the mind/ego watching itself, and the transparent witness is the Self, pure Awareness. The Self is a seer that never began or ceases and is the all-seeing eye or “I” that sees only itself because there are no objects for it to see. It is self-effulgent as there is nothing but itself. Eventually, we must drop all these terms, even nirguna brahman because that implies saguna. It would be more appropriate to say that the Self, seeing only itself, is that which knows the seer with reference to the seen, only when Maya is operating. The Self-aware Self appears as a seer; but it never actually is a seer, unless seeing refers to its own Self.
Whereas, when ignorance is operating the jiva thinks that the seer is different from the seen, the subject and object are different. Isvara is also known as saguna brahman because it operates Maya (the gunas), but unlike the jiva, it is never deluded by them. When tamas and rajas arise in saguna brahman, then Awareness apparently becomes a jiva and is deluded by Maya.
So, how is the impossible possible? How can the Self which ‘knows’ only itself produce Maya, duality? The Self has all powers, or it could not be unlimited. Maya is a power in Awareness to seemingly limit itself, though it never actually does because Maya is not real, meaning it is not always present and always changing. But the Self (Awareness is always present and never changes. It is the one and only constant factor.
What do you mean by “content of Consciousness’? Consciousness does not have content, how can it if it is not an object and is a partless, indivisible whole? Consciousness is like space: It cannot be seen, it is the container for everything, there is nowhere it is not, it pervades everything, yet it has no content. Consciousness is that which makes all content (objects) possible, but it is free of all content/objects. The way Consciousness differs from space is that it is aware and ‘sees’, whereas space is an inert object incapable of knowing or seeing anything, not even itself. Space is another object known to Consciousness.
And what do you mean by ‘can they (Awareness/Consciousness) exist independently’, I presume you mean of each other? There is only one Self. This is a non-dual universe. Awareness/Consciousness is an indivisible whole, they are NON-DUAL EXISTENCE itself, but the Self is independent of all objects. Maya (the hypnosis of duality) is merely a superimposition onto non-duality, the Self. Maya is just like a mirage on the desert floor. It looks real but it isn’t.
Om
Sundari
