Consciousness is the fact that you know that you exist.
Your body doesn’t know it exists. Your brain processes information, but it doesn’t experience it.
We experience. We feel, choose, care, and ask and answer questions.
What experiences consciousness is the jīva, albeit largely through the medium of the body in this world.
The jīva is: not the body, not the brain, not neurological processes, but the conscious “person” living through those things. We don’t get consciousness from our body, our body gets consciousness from us, the jiva.
In the Vedic understanding, consciousness does not emerge from matter.
Its ultimate source is Krishna, the supreme conscious being. Krishna has an internal spiritual energy called cit-śakti. Cit-śakti means: pure awareness, perfect knowing, consciousness that is never confused at its source.
The jīva is not cit-śakti itself, but it exists because of it. A helpful way to think of it is that cit-śakti is like the sun of consciousness. The jīva is like a particle of sunlight, real and luminous, yet tiny and dependent on its source,
Although the jīva is conscious by nature, its awareness can become misdirected or distorted. This does not mean the person is dull, inactive, or unintelligent. Material consciousness can be very active, creative, clever, and powerful. The issue is not lack of consciousness, because every jiva always has consciousness. It’s about where consciousness is focused. If it’s mainly on the body and temporary things then it’s materialistic consciousness and limited. When the same consciousness is properly aligned and directed toward its source, then it becomes Krishna consciousness.
Nothing new is added to consciousness, rather the limiting factors of matter are removed and awareness becomes clearer, deeper, and more satisfying because it is directly connected to its source and not filtered through the murky waters of matter.
To sum it up.
Consciousness is intrinsic to the nature of the jīva.
The jīva’s nature is dependent on the cit-śakti of Krishna.
The cit-śakti of Krishna is pure knowledge/awareness. Knowing without instruments, knowing without ignorance, knowing without effort, knowing without division into subject/object. This is the pure state of Krishna’s consciousness..
Krishna consciousness is pure awareness connected to Krishna’s consciousness, based on the premise that: “I am a jiva, eternal servant of Krishna, and I enjoy by pleasing Krishna.”
Materialistic consciousness is pure awareness distorted by the modes of nature, based on the premise that: “I am my body and mind, and I can enjoy independently of Krishna.”
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