Question: Are consciousness and thought the same?

Sri Chinmoy: No, let us take consciousness as a table and thoughts as flies. The flies are constantly sitting on the table, or seeking and flying from one place to another. The table will not be permanently affected, but it has to be cleaned. Now, how do you clean your consciousness? You clean it with your heart’s light.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Consciousness: God-Journey to man, man-journey to God, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, New York, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/gjm