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is consciousness? Why?

So far, science has not managed to come up with a definition of consciousness.

In the Vedas, life in a material body is defined by six transformations - it comes into being, grows, stays for a while, produces some by-products, dwindles, and then dies. Consciousness in its pure state is defined by sat-chit-ananda - eternity, knowledge and bliss.

An Indian scientist, I think I was Sir Chandra Bose, proved in an experiment that plants can recognize different persons.

He put two plants in a room, and fitted one of them with electrodes to measure electro-magnetic waves. A person were sent in who just wandered about the room without doing anything. The plant’s reaction was observed by the wave measurements.

Then an aggressive person came into the room, who proceeded to smash the plant without electrodes into smithereens. The wave measurements of the monitored plant went off the charts.

The aggressive person went out, and the normal person came back it, and the plant calmed down. When the aggressive person came back into the room, the plant freaked out again.

This experiment not only shows that plants are conscious, but that they can recognize different persons.

"There are 900,000 species of aquatic life; 2,000,000 species of plants and trees; 1,100,000 species of insects; 1,000,000 species of bird life; 3,000,000 species of beasts, and 400,000 species of human life." (Padma Purana)

“One attains the human form of life after transmigrating through 8,400,000 species by the process of gradual evolution. That human life is spoiled for those conceited fools who do not take shelter of the lotus feet of Govinda.” --Brahma-vaivarta Purana

The evolution spoken of in this verse, obviously, is an evolution of consciousness.

The soul, which is an atomic particle of God’s consciousness, is situated in all living entities. The human life-form is a rare occurrence for the soul. Every piece of grass, every microbe, every bacteria, every ant is a soul, so we can understand how rare it is for a soul to obtain a human life-form.

In the material world, the consciousness of the soul evolves gradually from fish, plants, insects, reptiles, birds, animals and then to humans (including demigods, Rakshasas, Gandharvas etc). A human who does not take advantage of this rare opportunity to develop love of God, will by nature be put back into yet another cycle in the lower species.

Srīla Prabhupāda says:

As far as the soul is concerned, the evolutionary process is going on, and we are struggling for existence, struggling to come to the point of eternal life. That eternal life is possible. If you try your best in this human form of life, in your next life you can get a spiritual body. Your spiritual body is already within you, and it will develop as soon as you become free from the contamination of this material existence.

That is the aim of human life. People do not know what actual self-interest is; it is to realize oneself, to realize, "I am part and parcel of God, and I have to return to the kingdom of God to join with God."

—Back to Godhead Magazine-Build Your Nations on the Spiritual Platform - An Address Given At The University of Nairobi by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada