Rohin Raghavan – 11th Grade
The answer to this question varies greatly depending on the person. While some identify mainly with their familial role as being a sibling or a parent, others may build their persona around being an athlete or a musician. Also, quite naturally, people associate themselves with their body. It’s my hand, or my leg. Relating to the intellect and mind, people identify with their intelligence and emotions; I’m a smart person, or I’m a stressed person. But what if we could create separation from all these fluctuating factors and focus on a constant. A constant that grounds us, and stays with us throughout our life and after we die. The divine that resides in all of us. I argue that identifying with your consciousness, what we believe is God in all living things, allows us to live live more fully and live more peacefully.
So, what is consciousness(Om) really? Here’s a quick exercise to demonstrate it. Close your eyes for a minute. I want you to notice as thoughts pop into your head. Don’t entertain them, or in other words don’t think about the thoughts. Allow the ideas to drift away like clouds. Instead, focus on your awareness. Notice how you are able to perceive those thoughts your intellect is creating. That is consciousness. There is an awareness in you that recognizes everything your body feels. All physical sensations and all mental thoughts and emotions are being captured; There’s a silent camera in the background which records all your perceptions and lets you experience them. While many of us just attribute the brain to perceive and register everything, Hindu scriptures attribute the intellect to thinking up thoughts, and the mind to feeling emotions, but consciousness to be the background light that is powering our whole system. The exercise is a form of meditation called “being aware of being aware”(you are becoming aware of your awareness, that is your consciousness). We practiced this numerous times this past year in 10th grade. Still not convinced that consciousness is running our body? Here’s another tidbit. In deep sleep, your whole body can be completely motionless and have little to no activity. Let’s assume you didn’t dream at all. You may wake up and say “I slept soundly. I knew nothing”. The idea is that one feels like it was a continuous sleep, and has a distinct sense of being present throughout the whole night. There must have been a witness resting in the background as you slept to record this. One’s consciousness. If you still don’t understand the argument that we all have a divine, super awareness in us that we call consciousness, please do your own research as understanding this is crucial to understanding the reasons why it’s important to recognize your consciousness.
By identifying with your consciousness, you are able to take insults with a smile. You can give away favorite items without remorse. You can make mistakes without regret. Whether others belittle your intelligence(your intellect) or make fun of your appearance-your body). Realizing that your consciousness is the true “you” allows you to stifle reactions to silly things that affect the things you associate with yourself. Someone can belittle your intelligence(intellect) or make fun of your appearance(body), but if one can realize that consciousness is the eternal you, what do these misdirected insults towards these mortal objects around you actually mean for you? You will experience challenges throughout your life, but if you can fall back onto the divine power in you, you will walk through tumult unscathed. At the end of the day, what could be more reassuring and emotionally grounding than knowing God has left you with a piece of Him that you unknowingly carry around throughout your lives. Just like you put a murti on the dashboard of your car to protect you on the roads, position consciousness at the forefront of your being to look out for you in life.