Nisargadatta Maharaj

[Guest guest]

Awareness and Consciousness

 

Q: What do you do when asleep.

Nisargadatta Maharaj: I am aware of being asleep.

Q: Is not sleep a state of unconsciousness?

M: Yes, I am aware of being unconscious.

Q: And when awake, or dreaming?

M: I am aware of being awake, or dreaming.

Q: I do not catch you. What exactly do you mean? Let me make my terms

clear: by being asleep I mean unconscious, by being awake I mean

conscious, by dreaming I mean conscious of one's mind, but not of the

surroundings.

M: Well, it is about the same with me. Yet, there seems to be a

difference. In each state you forget the other two, which to me there

is but one state of being, including and transcending the three mental

states of waking, dreaming and sleeping.

Q: Do you see in the world a direction and a purpose?

M: The world is but a reflection of my imagination. Whatever I want to

see, I can see. But why should I invent pattern of creation, evolution

and destruction? I do not need them. The world is in me, the world is

myself. I am not afraid of it and have no desire to lock it up in a

mental picture.

Q: Coming back to sleep. Do you dream?

M: Of course.

Q: What are your dreams?

M: Echoes of the waking state.

Q: And your deep sleep?

M: The brain consciousness is suspended.

Q: Are you then unconscious?

M: Unconscious of my surroundings - yes.

Q: Not quite unconscious?

M: I remain aware that I am unconscious.

Q: You use the words 'aware' and 'conscious'. Are they not the same?

M: Awareness is primordial; it is the original state, beginning-less,

endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts, without change.

Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state

of duality. There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there

can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep.Awareness is

absolute, consciousness is partial and changeful, awareness is total,

changeless, calm and silent. And it is the common matrix of every

experience.

Q: How does one go beyond consciousness into awareness?

M: Since it is awareness that makes consciousness possible, there is

awareness in every state of consciousness. Therefore, the very

consciousness of being conscious is already a movement in awareness.

Interest in your stream of consciousness takes you to awareness. It is

not a new state. It is at once recognized as the original, basic

existence, which is life itself, and also love and joy.

Q: Since reality is all the time with us, what does self-realization

consist of?

M: Realization is but the opposite of ignorance. To take the world as

real and one's self as unreal is ignorance, the cause of sorrow. To

know the self as the only reality and all else as temporal and

transient is freedom, peace and joy. It is all very simple. Instead

of seeing things as imagined, learn to see that as they are. When

you can see everything as it is, you will also see yourself as you

are. It is like cleansing a mirror. the same mirror that shows you

the world as it is, will also show you your own face. The thought

'I am' is the polishing cloth. Use it.