The most beautiful visualization of consciousness is the dance of Krishna and the gopis. Krishna is the consciousness, and gopis are the various vrittis or creations of the mind. All of the gopis think they are with Krishna but yet there is only one Krishna.

To understand this further, let’s take the example of a pitch-black room. When the curtains are drawn, the sunlight gradually seeps into the room and slowly reveals the bed, the table, the clock, the bookshelf, and other objects. The sunlight reveals all these objects. However, the sunlight itself is not the table, the clock, or the bookshelf. These objects cannot reveal each other. Also, the sunlight does not need anything else to reveal it.

That’s why the Upanishads define consciousness as the light of lights. It shines forth and reveals everything. What is this consciousness revealing?

We think we are the body. But we did not make the body. Can we stop aging if we decide that we want to remain a teenager forever? When we get hurt, we can experience the pain. If you think of the sunlight lighting up the objects, our consciousness is the sunlight, and the body is the table. Our consciousness is making us aware of the body. Since we are aware of it, we cannot be the body. If we dive a little deeper, we can say that our body is feeling hungry or tired instead of we are feeling hungry and tired.

The next argument you have is that we are not the body but the mind which perceives everything. The same logic applies here. Your thoughts are revealed to you. You can observe, experience them and, to an extent, direct them. Since you can view it and experience it, you cannot be the mind. Just like the right revealing the table is not the table, the consciousness revealing the mind is not the mind. If you extend this thought, you can say “I am feeling angry” vs. “I am angry.” This approach will help you control anger.

So think of the Krishna and the gopis example. Your consciousness is Krishna, and all your physical and mental sensations are the gopis coming from Krishna. All of the gopis think they are with Krishna but yet there is only one Krishna.