conscious, conscience, consciousness... 3 levels of awareness

Swami said, “Look here, ‘conscious’ is mind. Conscious is our mind. It is the mind that thinks. It is the mind that feels. It is the mind that reacts, responds, pulsates, and vibrates. So ‘conscious’ means mind.”

Then Bhagavan went on to say, “’Conscience’ is the intellect. Why? Conscience is very close to the spirit, very close to the soul, very close to the Atma. Spirit, soul or Atma are one and the same. So, intellect is very close to Atma. This intellect is symbolized, conveyed or expressed by this word ‘conscience’.”

Then Bhagavan said, “Then, what is ‘consciousness’? ‘Consciousness’ is the soul, the Atma, which is all-pervading, which is encased within the body, yet present everywhere. It is within the body and yet also present everywhere. How? Air is present within a balloon. Air is present within a bicycle tire. Air is present within a car tire. Yet also, air is present all around. Similarly, the spirit or Atma is present within everybody and is also present everywhere.”

So these three words indicate three levels of awareness, three levels of consciousness, three levels of experience, three levels of comprehension, three levels of understanding, which we reach along the path of intensive sadhana or spiritual pursuit. We should not stop at a particular level. ‘Conscious’ being the mind -- if we stop at the level of the mind, we are only emotional; we are only passionate; we are bestial; we are more animal-minded.

If we stop at the level of the ‘conscience’ or intellect, we are rather intelligent, self-introspective, self-evaluating, and self-assessing. In other words, we stop at the level of self-inquiry. We should not discontinue. We should still proceed further to reach the state of ‘consciousness’, the ultimate, the reality, the Atma, the soul or the spirit, the real Self, the cosmic Self, which is the ‘Universal Self’, as Bhagavan put it.
From
http://www.saiwisdom.com



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