Does Hinduism claim that consciousness is all?
 

When it comes to Hinduism does it claim that consciousness is everything? Not so much "everything is God" or "everything is I" but rather "everything is consciousness"?

Can one do away with both the God and the I and just stick with consciousness?

Namaste, Honza.

"God", "I AM" and "Consciousness" are ALL interchangeable terms. It represents the feeble attempts by the human mind to try and "understand" that which exists beyond all thought, when doing that is pretty much futile anyway.

The human mind is governed by labels, concepts and comparisons due to cognitive bias through living a conditioned existence...but all "God" is... all "Consciousness" is, is a tool to help us go beyond that... until it becomes the lens through which we see and not the perception in and of itself.

It is also highly individualized and personal...no two snowflakes are alike and yet they are all snowflakes by definition... and yet, if the word "snowflake" did not exist, they would be perceived differently.

Whatever we are, is only a part of that which everything is, no matter WHAT it is called, yet the whole only exists as the total sum of its parts yet there is are no increments...no diminishing, because the universe is a closed system.

Aum Namah Shivaya

Only if you capitalize Consciousness.:tongue:

Or maybe say the One Consciousness.
Or maybe say the One Consciousness that is All That Is.
Or maybe say the One Consciousness that is All That Is that permeates and dwells in everything invisible and visible.
Or maybe if you say the One Consciousness that is All That Is that permeates and dwells in everything invisible and visible...on every dimension.
Or maybe if you say the One Consciousness that is All That Is that permeates and dwells in everything invisible and visible...on every dimension...eternally.

I dunno I'm not sure....then you could do away with the I and God words.:biggrin:

Thanks Shivani and Miss H.

Well doesn't it depend on who you ask and what school of thought they are a part of? Because I've heard Vaishnavists say there is matter and there is consciousness, i.e. a traditional dualism.

Namaste

It is a little more complicated than that.

Many Vaishnavas follow the schools and teachings of Ramanuja and Madhavacharya. They are called qualified monists and ascribe to the philosophy of Vishishtadvaita or Bheda-abheda Tattwa....Unity in diversity...non duality within duality...The ocean becomes the drop, but the ocean is still the ocean and the drop is still the drop.

All schools of Shaivism are non dualist...I am about the only one who exists that has applied the teachings of Ramanuja to the worship of Lord Shiva...I have also studied under the Gaudiya Vaishnava school...I am like the Shaivite version of a Krishna devotee...yeah, confusing I know, right?

Aum Namah Shivaya

Hmm don't think I understand.. because the drop becomes part of the ocean, but not the other way if drop is separated. If the drop is part of the ocean it vanishes, it is absorbed.

I think it's cool that you are the Shaivite version of a Krishna devotee.. don't think I've ever met one! :smile:

I believe schools' purpose is to give you skills, not to put limits to your mind. They should teach you how to reach conclusions, not to fill you up with conclusions. Fishing ... not fish!

I meant schools as in different strands within ''Hinduism'', not literal schools.

Namaste.

The ocean is but a drop in the galaxy...God exists at once both as us and also separate from us.

It was a very long time ago...back to Sambandhar and the great Tamil Shaivite Nayanars...praises to Lord Shiva were sung in the streets...devotees danced around in ecstatic ecstasy...The Nayanars gave rise to Shaiva Siddhanta, but this school lost a lot over the past millennia.

The mantle became passed to a statesman, leader and religious reformer and philosopher called Basavanna, who was a great Shiva Bhakta and he founded the Lingayat (Virashaiva movent) around the middle of the 12th century AD.

Around exactly the same time in South India, Ramanujacharya founded the doctrine of Qualified Monism.....which also happened around the same time Angkor Wat was being built in Cambodia..

Back then, during the 11th to the 13th century, things were a lot different....The schools/sampradayas were different to how they are now and the weird thing is...I remember it.

I guess I am just a relic of a past time....but I am also glad you think it is cool. =)

Aum Namah Shivaya