CHAPTER TWO: Consciousness

Consciousness in Sanskrit is called Vijnana and in Japanese is called Shiki. It means to become conscious about the situation where you are. In reality - are you there? You read my book, but did you really read it or not? I was no different. Until two years ago, I was physically involved in the event taking place but mentally not conscious about facts. Say, I was eating but thinking about what will happen if I fail the exam? I did not take interest in the food in front of me. I did not enjoy the food. So, consciously I was not there, therefore the activity of eating simply became robotic. At least one exercise or task should be settled in your body with complete awareness - waking, eating, working, sleeping, or dreaming. Doing multiple things together says a lot about your problems and solutions. But most of us don’t admit to that. Doing multiple things without awareness affects your problem-solving abilities. If you take tension and stress out, then everything appears to be opposing you. You start feeling that every person and everything is wrong. Ego enters your body, and your eyes gather more dust. It makes your vision rough. You are stuck running in circles.

Consciousness brings solutions to all problems. You live in the present and not in the future. In reality, there is no past or future. Energy changes form. Walking, eating, drinking, sleeping, dreaming - all of these should happen with consciousness. While walking, you are a different person and while dreaming, you are a different person. So, become simple and real. Give gratitude every day, every minute. It will change your mind. You will become more compassionate. You can attract more positivity in your life. Gratitude brings more of what you want in your life. Love, compassion, meditation, and gratitude change your mind.

To become conscious, be relaxed while you are breathing in and breathing out. Consciousness plays an important role. The human mind is very logical. In every situation, it asks questions. The subconscious mind gives answers, and our awareness can find these answers. If you don’t have this awareness, then it can create problems. Whenever you are walking in the street, market, shopping mall, universal mind sends many signs to us to analyse and solve problems. The human body has a mysterious body mechanism, it works in a dimensional world. If consciousness goes out, then whatever you know matters i.e., the physical world. If consciousness goes to the center of mind, then whatever you know is dimensional world i.e., nonmatter/nonphysical.

Mind is very fickle. So many thoughts keep coming and passing. The mind is always buzzing with thoughts and never silent. But when it reaches a state of euphoria, it becomes silent and devoid of thoughts. This is a ‘no mind’ state. When there is complete silence, the mind connects with nature’s energy to bloom. That’s the key to a ‘no mind’ state. That’s why I tell you to not fight against thoughts. Flow with the river not against it otherwise you will create a problem for life. So, be aware of the situation. Do not become angry in any situation. Anger is not the solution. In my experience, in this type of a situation, our conscious and subconscious mind do not work in co-operation creating an imbalance between them. Therefore, a person is unable to make the right decision to solve the problem.

One of my favorite quotes of Buddha is, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned”.

Anger makes us unconscious. A conscious mind can find a solution in every situation and remain peaceful and happy. We are living, but we are not aware that we are. There is no self-awareness. Whether you are eating, bathing, or walking, you are doing everything, but you are not aware of YOU. You are aware of everything around you – the trees, houses, traffic, but you are not aware of your own being – that YOU ARE. You may be aware of the whole world, but you are not aware of yourself. That awareness is false. Why? Because the mind can reflect everything, but it cannot reflect you. If you are aware of yourself, you transcend the mind. Consciousness cleans the mind. The mind is a link between the body and no body within you. It is a link between the material and non-material within you. It is one of the most mysterious bridges. It bridges two contradictory things – matter and spirit.

Most people only think of the body as a body of flesh and bones. You must accept this inner world of yourself. Love yourself. You can see light and miracles in your life. You live in a divine world (nonphysical world). Without meditation, we cannot enter this divine world. Unless you enter this divine world in your mind, you cannot see this divine world. There is a divine spiritual being living in the nonphysical, dimensional world. If you can, conceive the paradox. Usually, you make a bridge over a river where both banks are material. But in this case, mind is the bridge between one bank which is material and the other which is non-material - between the visible and invisible, between life and death, between the body and spirit. Mind bridges such contradictory things; it is one circle. If you can break this chain of circle, you can get victory from life and death. You can swim in an ocean of energy and bliss. You can become a master God. Consciousness is very helpful in opening this door; therefore, I am emphasising on this point. It is always moving from visible to the invisible, from invisible to visible.

One should have awareness of perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. You should fill yourself with natural ingredients and feel natural air, water, fire and earth’s energy. In Buddhism, ‘Six Senses’ refers to the five physical sense organs - Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, and the Body. The mind is referred to as the sixth sense, and it is this that is associated with objects in visual forms, sound, odors, flavors, touch, and mental objects.

The sixth type of consciousness is the eye - Third Eye. With this you can see your subtle body which is within you. This type of consciousness is separate from your mind. This consciousness is related to the divine world. It becomes the bridge. Whenever common people talk about specific senses and mind objects, this consciousness acts as the ‘life force’ by which there is a continuity across rebirths. Humans have become a contradiction which has also become a problem in this time. Accept everything in your life. If you become negative about cosmic energy, nothing will exist. After I became positive and accepted everything, I realised this divine cosmic energy.

As I said earlier, I accept everything, I do not make divisions in matters. Do not make yourself a prisoner. Fill yourself with love. Only true love can flame the light in your body. You must first find yourself and self-knowledge. Then you can understand the universe. This universal mind sends you many signs about your body. Try understanding them with logical knowledge. Buddha said, “Be aware of your breath as it is coming in, going out – coming in, and going out”.

I have become more aware of this quote. I realise it is the key to the divine world. Just be aware of breathing in and out, whether you’re at the office or in a marketplace. I like to sit under a mango tree in a garden and practice this breathing technique. You also practice this in a garden because you will connect with nature and feel alive. In tantra, ‘each outgoing breath is death, and each new breath is rebirth’. Every second we are reborn, and we are dead. If you go very deep, you will say this is right. Each incoming breath equals being more alive. And each outgoing breath equals more rest because we all are born from this darkness. Sleeping is also like death. When we want to sleep, we like our rooms dark. This darkness provides us with high relaxation. When your breath touches your nostrils, feel it there. Then let the breath move in and you move with the breath, fully conscious. When you are going down with the breath, do not miss the breath. Do not go ahead and do not follow behind, just go with it. Remember this, do not go ahead, do not follow it like a shadow— be simultaneous with it. Breath and consciousness should become one.

Buddha particularly tried to use this method therefore this method has become a ‘Buddhist method’. In Buddhist terminology, it is known as Anapanasati yoga. And Buddha’s enlightenment was based on this technique - only this. Across Bharatvarsh (India), Tibet, China, Japan, Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka etc., thousands have attained enlightenment through only one method. This is also the first method or technique of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra of Shiva. I would like every person to try this method and become divine because our surrounding environment gives shape to our mentality. A child is born with pure consciousness and grows surrounded by energy and its vibrations. A positive environment gives more positivity and divinity.

I want to say - observe a flower. You cannot observe it for long before you get distracted. You will see it for a moment and then you will begin to think of something else. It may be about the flower, but it will not be the flower itself. You have moved. Now the flower is no longer in your observation; your field has changed. You may say it is red, blue, or white…then you have moved. Observation means remaining without verbalisation. With no bubbling inside, just be with your observation. If you remain with a flower for three minutes completely, with no movement of mind, things will happen, beneficently. You will realise.

Do not judge a child’s knowledge or learning to establish good manners and develop character. Children are taught meditation to respect other people and be gentle to animals and nature. They also learn how to be generous, compassionate, and empathetic. Besides this, the kids are taught qualities like self-control, justice, and self-confidence. There is a great reason behind this system – students increase their mind’s control capacity and become more aware of consciousness. They also increase decision capacity, working capacity, creativity, self-confidence, positive energy, love, compassion, and gratitude. They learn that peace, love, compassion, meditation and gratitude are the most powerful in this world.

If I become aware of consciousness and live in the present situation, I will become Buddha and you can too. Buddha had given the most importance to consciousness and living in the present situation. Buddha is the greatest scientist of this world, and his area of expertise is infinite and just not limited to a specific area. He has the solution to every problem because he accepts everything.

Time is an illusion; nothing is past or future. If you are out of this circle, you will become free from this prison. Everything is happening at once in this dimensional world. Buddha told people, “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment”.

Buddha remained silent about God not because there is no God (and those who are vocal about God really show they have no experience). Whenever Buddha would visit any town, he would declare, “Please do not ask me anything about God. You can ask me about anything but not about God.” Scholars and pundits, who had no experience really but only knowledge, started talking about Buddha and spreading rumors. They said, “He is silent because he doesn’t know. If he knows, why wouldn’t he say so?”, and Buddha would laugh. That laughter could be understood only by a very few. The main reason behind the silence was that Buddha didn’t want people to became more confused about God. They didn’t talk about heaven and hell. The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Jesus says, “Love Is God”. Love is the greatest source of power. Even Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret affirms, ‘What we think we attract’.

Meditation gives the answers to all the questions of life. If you can control your mind, you can create your own reality. We are the creators. Buddha says, ‘Each and every one is God. We are God’. Bring inner positivity and become God. Buddha does not believe in the ideology that ‘our body is a temple’. He gives more importance to humanity than rules.

Consciousness is your third eye. The Upanishad says, “Knowing the one, one knows all”. These two eyes can only see the finite. The third eye sees the infinite. These two eyes can only see the material. The third eye sees the immaterial, the spiritual dimensional world. With these two eyes, we can never feel the energy and vibrations. According to my experience of the third eye, I can say I feel everything. I feel the vibrations and I can see the subtle body. I feel like swimming in the big ocean. You will know everything about reality. Everything changes the moment energy transforms shape. There is nothing bad. Everything is magical. All suns in universe are connected with each other, so its one chain of great energy. All ancient civilisations knew the reality of human beings. They had created the great pyramid with this divine cosmic energy and vibrations. In ancient India, people could fly in vimana (airplane).

Did the fuel use cosmic energy?

When, for the first time, the inner space is illumined, you see that everything is in you and that you become the universe. The space between our two eyes is not a space confined to our bodies. It is an infinite space which has penetrated us. Once this space is known, you will never be the same person again. The moment you know this inner space, you have known the ‘deathless. Then there is no death. You are infinite in this universe. It’s just transformation of energy by birth and death.

When you get to know this space for the first time, your life becomes authentic, intense. For the first time, you will actually feel alive. No security is needed. You become free. Because you not only live in the physical body but also in this infinite universe. No security is needed, no fear is possible. Now you cannot be killed. Now nothing can be taken away from you. You are the universe. Those who have known this inner space, they have cried in ecstasy, “aham brahma swami! I am universe, I am existence”. Every day you will see the sky and laugh…

We live in the senses; therefore, we live in objects. The senses are on the boundary of the being, in the body, and objects are beyond the boundary. Consciousness is the center, and you are the center, and this open sky is the whole universe. Mostly, I like to sit under the open sky and look at it. I feel like there is no one on earth except me.

This makes you the whole universe. Just looking, not thinking. The sky is infinite; it ends nowhere. Just look at it - there is no object and that is why we choose the sky. The sky is not an object – don’t look at stars, moon, or clouds, but the objectless, empty sky. Look into it. If you are looking into emptiness, there is nothing to be reflected. Even inside of you, this emptiness will be reflected. This makes you a whole and not a specific object.

This life, intended, has no limit. We must become unlimited and infinite. The mind creates limits, and you take this circle as your life. Example – the frog in the well conceives of the well as his universe and life. The frog is right in this situation. But we are human beings with intelligence. Why are we letting our minds create this boundary? We are only walking in this well or circle. If your mind is not very educated, it will be easy for you to imagine. If your mind is educated, then the creativity will be lost.

The Indian education system, unfortunately, focuses on how to make your mind a storage space, a bank. The whole education system is basically a banking system. They go on banking and dumping stuff onto you. Whatsoever they feel must be dumped onto you, they do. They use your mind for storage and then obviously you cannot imagine. Whatever you do is just repeating what has been taught to you. This is the new ‘robotics system’.

Those who are uneducated or less educated make more money than the ones with higher education. Those who are uneducated can use their minds properly and independently. All those who are imaginative dreamers can imagine the infinite.

I will describe ‘Imagination’ specifically. Consciousness brings purity to the body. It purifies your mind completely. You call a child pure. He gets angry and he has greed, but you still call him pure. Why? What is pure in his childhood? Innocence! There is no division in the mind of a child. The child is unaware of the divisions between what is good and what is bad. This unawareness is innocence. Even if he gets angry, he has no mind to be angry, it is a pure and simple act. It is power. It becomes real. When anger goes, nothing is left behind. Child is the same again. His purity is untouched. It is a ‘no mind’ situation.

Let’s read the biblical story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden. They were naked like children. They were not aware of their bodies; they were not aware of anger, greed, lust, sex, or anything. God had forbidden them to eat the fruit of the ‘Tree of Knowledge’. But you know how children are – when you ask them not to do something, they do it. Similarly, Adam and Eve were attracted to eat this fruit. They were magnetised and hypnotised by the tree. They had to eat it and the moment they ate the fruit from the ‘Tree of Knowledge’, they lost their innocence. They became aware; they came to realise that they were naked. Immediately, Eve tried to hide her body. They became aware of anger, lust, greed, and everything else. They were then expelled from the garden. This is a deeply mysterious and beautiful story. The story of humanity. The story of innocence. The story of purity of wisdom.

To become innocent is the secret of life.

Jesus says, “Unless you become like children, you cannot enter into my kingdom of God”. This kingdom of God is your innocent mind, not geographical. This whole universe is run by brahma chetna (divine consciousness).