Fundamentally, consciousness is simply aware. Then it becomes self-aware and interacts with itself, causing the appearance of forms and phenomena to arise. This self-interacting dynamic is true both cosmically and locally. We can say consciousness is nested or in layers.

With a transcending practice like effortless meditation, we go beyond the mind and emotions, settling into simple awareness without content, pure consciousness. In its pure form, it is beyond time and space, infinite and eternal.

This is usually how people come to know consciousness itself – simply resting in their own nature.

And yet, often we only notice a pause in content, a blank spot. We go beyond the field of experience but consciousness is as yet a little too subtle to be recognized. Or we’ve had tastes but the fog in the physiology interferes with regular clear seeing. Perhaps we notice when thoughts resume or we get a wave of happiness as we pass up through the bliss body.

Because of variations in tradition and experience, pure consciousness is known by many names. It’s such a key part of self-discovery. Pure awareness, the witness, the observer, pure subjectivity, Atman, Self, pure existence or being, Isness, and so forth.

The state of resting in that is known as samadhi or turiya. Samadhi means evenness of intellect (from a settled mind). Turiya means the fourth, referring to it as a distinct state along with waking, dreaming, and sleeping.

This is also referred to as Yoga, the complete settling of the mind.

As we practice true Yoga, we integrate this inner settledness into our daily life and purify the physiology. This prepares the ground so that when Self sees itSelf here, we can sustain an awakening.

And that is the essence of what awakens. We as a person never become enlightened. Rather, Self becomes alert within and then it wakes up to itself through this body-mind. Put another way, jiva wakes up to itself as Atman (see below).

To understand the mechanics, let’s explore the parts. Each of these are aspects of the same wholeness but it illustrates the process.

1) Self-aware consciousness: this is aware of itself globally and at every point within itself. This is Atman, the cosmic Self.

2) When one of the points expresses it is Jiva, a specific perspective of that wholeness. Jiva expresses forward into an experiencer, built up in layers or koshas. However, jiva is stepping forward to experience the world. It forgets its wholeness or global nature as Atman. It is experiencing itself as this form.

3) The local intellect distinguishes self from other. In a new incarnation, the child works to distinguish itself from mother. This gives rise to a subtle concept of I. This is ahamkara, the I-sense or ego.

4) When the I-sense is not aware of its deeper nature, it becomes identified with the content of experience – this body, this mind, these emotions. This leads to the my-sense, asmita. My body, my mind, my possessions. We become possessed by the forms of our experience.

This is a natural process of becoming a young person. However, without a practice that connects us back to our deeper sense of Self within, the small self becomes entrenched and defended.

Self Realization

With a regular practice of transcending, we soften the bonds of a personal self and experience our deeper nature. Then, when the time is right for this soul, an opening happens. If there has been some preparation, the jiva recognizes itself as Atman, the cosmic Self. (There is some <a href="https://davidya.