Consciousness

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Consciousness

Cosmic Consciousness is a term often used to denote a higher or particularly spiritual level of awareness and consciousness. This type of awareness may be associated with an experience of “knowing God," or of transcending the five senses and finding a hidden consciousness or reality which is beyond the perceivable world. For many, the journey to experiencing cosmic consciousness involves practices such as yoga, meditation, prayer and acts of faith.

In Swamiji’s presence, when we are in His aura we can feel the flow of consciousness, enjoy that state of thoughtless bliss and joy. It is a state which we attain in that moment and that shows us the potential to be in that state all the time, if and only if we do our own spiritual practice and aspire to reach that state.

When we reach that state of cosmic consciousness in meditation, the mind becomes elevated beyond the awareness of the self and the ego, and enters a place of oneness and unity with the universe.

When that state of consciousness is reached, the individual moves from believing in the oneness of the universe to having a direct knowledge of that fact. At this level of consciousness, the superficial ego also disappears.

Our body is made up of the 5 elements which are a part of the universe – earth, water, air, fire and ether. There is a fundamental intelligence which binds these things together in a particular way to make life out of it. The same ingredients that are lying there in the mud sit here as the life we are. That is the incredible transformation caused by a profound and unimaginable intelligence that converts simple things like air into life. The only reason that we experience life and aliveness is because we are conscious.

There are four states of consciousness that humans live in. The first is wakefulness. If ten people fall asleep and they are awakened at the same time, then all of them may not be fully awake simultaneously, some will take more time and some will be watchful and alert instantly. Thus, there are different levels of wakefulness.

The next dimension of consciousness is the dream state. A dream state is far more vivid than the wakeful state for most humans. This can be correlated to the manner in which we watch a movie. The lights turn off and the movie starts, similarly our eyes shut and the dreams begin. This dream state is considered a more powerful state than wakefulness. Wakefulness is important for performing action in the world but for human consciousness, in terms of profoundness of experience, a dream is always more profound than walking on the street.

The next state is the dreamless one with awareness of dimensions of consciousness. It is a totally dreamless sleep state, but in complete awareness. There is no picturisation or video running in the mind, there are no people or words, but we are conscious in our sleep. This is a very powerful state if we really want to manifest something in our life.

The final state is turiya or consciousness – here there is no memory of any kind. In this state of consciousness there is only joy and bliss, nothing else exists – there is unity with the universe, only one exists, everything else just falls away.