Question: Whatever work we are doing here, whatever steps we are taking towards improving ourselves, what is the relation between developing human consciousness?
'Chetna' or 'consciousness' is a word that is used in a very wrong sense. People have used it in some ways. So first of all I would like to explain the meaning of the word consciousness. What is consciousness after all?
You are made up of a lot of things. When you sit here as a life, it means that a certain amount of this earth is present here, more than seventy percent of water is present, there is air, fire and sky. Apart from this there is a fundamental wisdom, which combines all these things together in a special way and creates a life from them. There is a kind of wisdom which is making soil, trees, making birds, making insects, making humans, making elephants. How many things are being made one after the other with the same substance.
Because of which all this is possible, we usually call it consciousness. Why are we using this word? Because only by being conscious and aware you can know whether you are alive or not.
Extending the limits of your senses in such a way that if you are sitting here, then the whole world will feel your part, this is yoga. This is the development of consciousness.
If you are insensitive, you do not know if you are alive or not. Even if you are in a state of deep sleep, you do not know whether you are alive or not. If you feel life, feel its vibrancy, it is only because you are conscious.
So we are calling it consciousness. Now we want to develop this consciousness. You cannot lift it, you cannot bring it down, but we use it in another sense to develop consciousness. If you are sitting here with a strong identity with your body, then your boundaries are absolutely clear. This is me, this is not me. In this state you are a completely different existence. It is just a way of survival within a human being or within another creature. The boundaries of who you are in this are completely fixed. This is my body, this is your body. This is me and this is you. There is no way for both of them to be one.
'Chetna' or 'consciousness' is a word that is used in a very wrong sense. People have used it in some ways. So first of all I would like to explain the meaning of the word consciousness. What is consciousness after all?
You are made up of a lot of things. When you sit here as a life, it means that a certain amount of this earth is present here, more than seventy percent of water is present, there is air, fire and sky. Apart from this there is a fundamental wisdom, which combines all these things together in a special way and creates a life from them. There is a kind of wisdom which is making soil, trees, making birds, making insects, making humans, making elephants. How many things are being made one after the other with the same substance.
Because of which all this is possible, we usually call it consciousness. Why are we using this word? Because only by being conscious and aware you can know whether you are alive or not.
Extending the limits of your senses in such a way that if you are sitting here, then the whole world will feel your part, this is yoga. This is the development of consciousness.
If you are insensitive, you do not know if you are alive or not. Even if you are in a state of deep sleep, you do not know whether you are alive or not. If you feel life, feel its vibrancy, it is only because you are conscious.
So we are calling it consciousness. Now we want to develop this consciousness. You cannot lift it, you cannot bring it down, but we use it in another sense to develop consciousness. If you are sitting here with a strong identity with your body, then your boundaries are absolutely clear. This is me, this is not me. In this state you are a completely different existence. It is just a way of survival within a human being or within another creature. The boundaries of who you are in this are completely fixed. This is my body, this is your body. This is me and this is you. There is no way for both of them to be one.
