Continuing the question and answers sessions of Swami Tadatmanandaji.
I am not posting the video here as it is an unlisted video. Instead here is a transcription more or less of the Satsang - some interesting questions of students answered here.
Q. ‘Consciousness is the same in all beings’. Then why do we have separate experiences? What is that gives these beings their individual distinctiveness.
A. (Swami Tadatmanandaji) And just allow me to fill in a little the
backstory of that statement. It works like this.
You are a conscious being. Okay?
Your consciousness, how tall is your consciousness?
How wide is your consciousness?
What is its shape?
What is the form of that consciousness?
And you'll probably say, "No, consciousness doesn't
have height or width or shape or size." Okay?
That which has no height or shape or width or size has no
dimensions. If it has no height, it doesn't have the dimension of height.
If it has no width, it doesn't have the dimension of width. If it doesn't
have dimensions, it's dimensionless. Dimensionless means boundaryless. Boundaryless
means limitless. Limitless means all pervasive.
This is a good example of how Vedanta takes you from what is
self-evident consciousness, then takes you further, to discover the full true
nature of that consciousness.
Consciousness because it has no size or shape, is dimensionless, boundaryless, limitless, all pervasive.
Therefore, the questioner says consciousness is necessarily
the same in all beings. If consciousness has no edge or boundary, how do you
separate one consciousness from another?
Often space is given as a metaphor for that which has no
boundary. Space pervades the cosmos. Can you have two spaces? You can't
differentiate one all pervasive space from another all pervasive space, one
infinite space from another infinite space.
For this reason, what the ancient rishis discovered and
taught is that there is but one consciousness which is boundaryless,
limitless and all pervasive. Therefore,
the consciousness present right now in your experience and the consciousness
present right now in my experience are one and the same consciousness.
Of course, that begs the question, why
do we have separate experiences?
And the answer to that is consciousness reveals the activities of your
mind, (pointing to the listener) over there). Consciousness reveals the
activities of my mind over here. And it's due to the difference of our minds
that our experiences are different.
Oh, something very fundamental that I haven't mentioned and
must mention. Experience takes place in your mind and is revealed by
consciousness.
What is experience? Experience is the sum total of all
your thoughts, everything you see, hear, taste, smell, and touch and all your
emotions. The sum total of all that is what you call experience. And all of
that takes place in your mind as mental activities, as vrittis.
So even though the same consciousness reveals the
activities of your mind and my mind (which is different from yours), it's one
and the same consciousness. Our experiences are absolutely different
because our minds are different.
Answering the question
what is it that gives these beings in their individual distinctiveness? And
the answer is mind. Consciousness revealing the activities of your mind
creates your distinctive unique experience. Consciousness revealing the
activities of my mind creates a different distinct experience that I'm having.
Q. Is chitta the
same as atma?
A. Chitta is a common word for mind or a mental faculty. So chitta is not a
synonym for atma. Chitta is a mental faculty.
Q. What is soul?
A. I have used Gemini Ai to summarize Swamiji’s answer to
this one. And that is given below.
The term "soul" is described as a source of
confusion due to its vague, varied definitions, with the speaker's teacher,
Swami Dayananda, specifically avoiding its use. The text distinguishes the
all-pervasive, non-traveling Atma (limitless consciousness) from the
"soul," which is commonly used to describe the entity that
reincarnates [1]. Proper spiritual understanding requires precise terminology,
distinguishing Atma from concepts like Chitta (mind) and Prana
(life force).
Q. So if the same consciousness is aware of your thoughts
and my thoughts why don't I know your thoughts why don't you know my thoughts.
A, Before I answer
that question, we should acknowledge the fact that thank goodness we don't know
what everyone else's thinking. Can you imagine how difficult it is to deal with
your own mind? Suppose you had to deal with the contents of everyone else's
mind simultaneously. What chaos that would be! Fortunately, that's not the
case.
When you say ‘if consciousness your consciousness and my
consciousness are the same so why don't I know your thoughts’ tell me that
question is asked by whom? Where does that question arise? Does atma have a question or does your mind
have that question? We haven't discussed it thoroughly.
