Cx BG 5.17

 

If consciousness cannot be seen, touched, or measured completely, how do we know anyone other than ourselves is truly conscious?

On our own we can’t be sure, but if we hear from an authority then we can.

Consciousness manifests as awareness. Only living beings are aware. Machines can replicate awareness, they can respond to input, but they aren’t aware of the input - they don’t experience it. Plants respond to stimuli because something in the plant is aware of it. There is an experience. The plant doesn’t have a brain or think, but it’s still conscious. It doesn’t know why it should turn towards sunlight but it’s conscious enough of the sunlight to register which direction it’s in. Obviously it’s a different level of consciousness to a human or some other mammal, but it’s still consciousness because wherever there is life there is a degree of consciousness.

That may sound like some interesting thoughts but they are much more than that. These are the words of Sri Krishna who is the leading authority on consciousness. He explains that all living beings are fragmental parts of Himself. Because He is conscious, His parts are likewise conscious - but only of their own experiences. That’s why by ourselves we can never be sure because we only experience our own consciousness. However Krishna is in the heart of all living beings, so He experiences everyone’s consciousness as well as His own. From that unique position He can say what’s what.

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind. Bhagavad gita 15.7

The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. Katha Upanisad 2.2.13

So on the authority of Sri Krishna and the Upanisads we can know that every living being other than ourselves has some form of consciousness because living beings are cognizant. How much cognizance the living being can manifest is dependent on the body it’s in. Consciousness has to be uncovered, not built up.

The fun part is that the more complex the body is, the more the consciousness is uncovered. That’s why we humans with our complex brains, are more aware than animals and plants. But to science it looks as though the more complex the body is, the more consciousness is created and there is the idea that computers can become so complex that they become conscious. Not going to happen because only living beings are conscious.

Two different ways of seeing the same observation that humans are more conscious than other creatures.