We are all conscious beings. The question is
where is our consciousness located? when did our consciousness originate?
Manifested consciousness
As per the medical science, the diencephalon
(a part of the brain) is the seat of human consciousness. Clinicians describe
the consciousness as the awareness and ability to respond to external and
internal stimuli. The parameters they use to measure the level of the
consciousness are eye opening (E), verbal response(V) and motor response (M)
[Glasgow coma scale]. It means clinicians take the objective parameters into
consideration while assessing the consciousness.
Unmanifested consciousness:
A newborn doesn’t fulfill the criteria of
Glasglow scale to declare itself conscious. However, it's each and every organ
responds to changes in its internal and external environment even before the
brain starts functioning fully in the mother’s womb. In fact, brain is last
organ to develop in the fetus. The consciousness about which the medical
science talks is the manifested consciousness. The consciousness which swings
into action by the time a zygote is formed is an unmanifested consciousness.
While the brain is the seat for manifested consciousness, unmanifested
consciousness operates in each and every cell of the body with ultimate
precision.
Where is consciousness located in the body?
If someone asks you about location or shape of the
machine you can describe. If someone asks us the location and shape of the
electricity running the machine we cannot describe. Human brain is a switch
which can regulate the distribution of the consciousness into this body. Switch
is designed for electricity but not the other way. In the same way human brain
works for the consciousness but it is not the producer of the human
consciousness. Consciousness is in every live cell of the body.
What is the source of the consciousness?
The consciousness doesn’t begin with zygote, it
is there even in the gametes, it is there in the parents, it is also there in
each and every cell of the ancestors .
The foetus has primarily two parts foetal
body and foetal consciousness.
A parent can contribute only to the body of the foetus. The foetal body is nothing but carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and water mixed in various combination. The parent or nature contribute to its body in the form of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Consciousness of the foetus cannot be made from the physical or chemical substances. The parent cannot synthesise consciousness. Consciousness is received by the offspring from his parent. The parent himself has transferred it from his ancestors. If we track the source of the consciousness back we reach unicellular organisms. The question arises who has transferred the consciousness to the first life on this planet ?We can conclude that the consciousness existed even before the life started on this planet.
Which is more certain, our
body or consciousness?
We may have hundreds of perceptions and
experiences daily. However, the one who experiences them is the
"consciousness".
Just like we wear and discard clothes, our consciousness changes its clothing (the body) many times in a single life span. Billions of cells are replaced daily. The body which the consciousness wears at the time of the birth is replaced many times before it sheds off its last clothing.
What is the relationship between the
consciousness and the body:
The carbon in my body today was a part of a plant yesterday.The
same carbon may become a part of some other plant after my death. This
carbon atom may become a part of an animal which eats the plant. This is called
carbon cycle.
Consciousness is just like a string connecting the beads of
bodies. If a string is kept in water at a freezing temperature. Each ice
crystal encasing the string feels that the string belongs to it. Once the ice
melts the string is free. Once again when the ice is formed and the string become a
part new ice crystals ( with different water molecules). The string remains the
same but the crystals keep on changing. People who identify themselves with
their body say " when the consciousness leaves, I will be dead". The
people who identify themselves with their consciousness say " When I leave
, this body will be dead"
Individuality can be an incapacity to experience the
universality:
There was frog living in a well. It used to live happily and used
to describe the well as the biggest water collection. An old frog living in the
well told that this well is connected to a lake. If you dig the well deep
enough you can reach there. The young frog out of the enthusiasm started
digging the well and after few days of digging found the water in the well is
coming from somewhere else. It swam and reached the lake. It was surprised by
the vastness of the lake. It enjoyed in the lake for few days. After some days
a frog in the lake told that this lake is connected in the deep to a sea.
Then the young frog once again started digging the bottom of the lake. After
few days of the effort it was able to get into the stream of water which took
it into the sea. Then its experience was completely different. The other frogs
which used to live in the well were happy with their life in the well.
The water in the well, lake, and the ocean is the same. In
the same way the consciousness in an individual is same as the consciousness
which exists in each and every living being. What is the thing that made the
difference between other frogs and the young frog? It is the enthusiasm to
experience the truth. It is the faith of the young frog that a huge ocean
exists and its faith that its efforts can take it to the ocean.
I, my name, my profession, my family, my home, my property is due
to my identification with the individual consciousness. However, the people who
act self-less and work to relieve others suffering can experience collective
consciousness. The frog has to leave the well if it has to experience the
sea. In the same way one has to lose the individual consciousness to experience
the universal consciousness. Just like the streams beneath the surface which
took the frog to the ocean, Yogic science describes four different paths which
make us experience the universal consciousness. They are Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga,
Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga. The Ocean is the truth for the young frog, the well is
the truth for the other frogs. In the transition from individual to universal
consciousness, a person realizes that he doesn’t possess the
consciousness but he is a part of the consciousness It is the certainty
that we have for a level of consciousness which limits us to experience a
higher consciousness. It is our longing for the pleasure and indecisiveness to
act that fastens us to a lower level of consciousness.
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