What is consciousness?
October 20 , 2007
Hello and
thanks for your inquiry "what is
consciousness?"
Philosophers have been trying to answer this perplexing question for ages. For a proper response we take information from the Vedic literature which is descending knowledge for the transcendental source of all knowledge, God. The Vedas inform us that consciousness is the symptom of the soul and is experienced in three states - wakefulness, sleeping and deep sleep. One can easily see the effects of consciousness and its being the symptom of our spiritual nature by observing the difference between a living and dead body. Remove the soul from the body and consciousness ceases.
We also observe that our consciousness is greatly affected by the circumstances of our existence and environment. Because of our involvement in material existence we have become forgetful of our eternal position as spirit soul, our consciousness has been polluted and we now misidentify ourselves with these temporary material bodies. Unfortunately this material misidentification results in our experiencing many miseries which are not inherent in our true spiritual existence.
Therefore we recommend that one take to a process of self realization whereby this false illusory material consciousness is replaced with Krishna consciousness, God consciousness, which allows us to experience the true spiritual nature of the soul - eternity, knowledge and bilss.
This change in consciousness is easily accomplished by chanting the Holy Names of the Lord
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
and is the basis for this Krishna consciousness movement.
Again my thanks for visiting Krishna.com, please continue to explore the wonders of this magnificent philosophy.
Sincerely,
Dulal Chandra dasa
Philosophers have been trying to answer this perplexing question for ages. For a proper response we take information from the Vedic literature which is descending knowledge for the transcendental source of all knowledge, God. The Vedas inform us that consciousness is the symptom of the soul and is experienced in three states - wakefulness, sleeping and deep sleep. One can easily see the effects of consciousness and its being the symptom of our spiritual nature by observing the difference between a living and dead body. Remove the soul from the body and consciousness ceases.
We also observe that our consciousness is greatly affected by the circumstances of our existence and environment. Because of our involvement in material existence we have become forgetful of our eternal position as spirit soul, our consciousness has been polluted and we now misidentify ourselves with these temporary material bodies. Unfortunately this material misidentification results in our experiencing many miseries which are not inherent in our true spiritual existence.
Therefore we recommend that one take to a process of self realization whereby this false illusory material consciousness is replaced with Krishna consciousness, God consciousness, which allows us to experience the true spiritual nature of the soul - eternity, knowledge and bilss.
This change in consciousness is easily accomplished by chanting the Holy Names of the Lord
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
and is the basis for this Krishna consciousness movement.
Again my thanks for visiting Krishna.com, please continue to explore the wonders of this magnificent philosophy.
Sincerely,
Dulal Chandra dasa