Consciousness

nanda chandran vpcnk at HOTMAIL.COM
Wed Sep 2 11:08:29 CDT 1998


I was thinking about the subject yesterday and something struck me.

I explained the concept of being conscious and how in this process there
has to be a subject and an object. For example if we see a tree, we're
the subject, the tree the object and the process of cognition is the
consciousness.

Then there're thoughts. The incessant, every flowing stream. Many a time
have I suddenly in the process of thinking caught myself and tried to
catch my thoughts. It's like catching a glimpse of the tail of a tiny
mouse running behind a large cupboard. I'm barely able to catch the
thought. But definitely even a fleeting glimpse endorses the fact that
we're not the thought itself.

So in this scenario, I'm the subject and the thought the object. NOTE
THAT THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM THE USUAL PROCESS OF COGNITION WITH A
PHYSICAL OBJECT. HERE WHAT (ATLEAST SO I THOUGHT) WAS THE CONCIOUSNESS
IS ITSELF THE OBJECT. SO DOES THIS PROVE THAT THERE'S A SUBTLER
CONSCIOUSNESS WHICH REACHES OUT?

So anyway if it be said that we, the subject, is the conciousness
itself, then for the equation to fit, there cannot be any true subject,
but just the object and the consciousness (which is the process of
knowledge).

Maybe. As Yagnavalkya states in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, how can
the knower itself be known?

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