Question: What is consciousness?

Sri Chinmoy: Consciousness is the connecting link between earth and Heaven. It is found inside the physical body, the subtle body and the causal body. Consciousness and the soul are like twin brothers; or you can say that the soul is ice and consciousness is water. Ice and water go together. This moment it is ice; next moment it is water. Consciousness can be earth-bound or Heaven-bound, limited or unlimited. Consciousness is like a drop in the ocean. If we want to separate the drop from the ocean, we can. But we have to know that it is the drops that have made the ocean. If we take away the countless drops, then there is no ocean at all. Inside the drop, we see the consciousness of the ocean. If we touch the drop, then immediately we will feel the consciousness of the water. So the drop and the vast ocean go together. Consciousness can be like the drop; again, it can be a big wave and it can be the ocean itself.

Consciousness is always immortal. After death, naturally there is consciousness, because consciousness is just like a flow. Sometimes it goes very rapidly; sometimes it goes very slowly. But consciousness does not die. It may progress in some cases very slowly; sometimes its progress is not satisfactory. But consciousness never dies; it is always progressing.