Question: Is it possible that the soul is in any way connected with what we call consciousness?

Sri Chinmoy: Consciousness is always connected with the soul. But what we in the human life call consciousness is not real consciousness at all; it is a mere feeling. When we perceive something subtle which we cannot define, we call this awareness of ours consciousness; this is actually not real consciousness at all. It is rather very subtle desire. We enter into it and immediately we feel it is our consciousness. But real consciousness is the Light which connects Heaven and earth. Heaven itself is in our consciousness.

Consciousness and the soul can never be separated, whereas the body can easily be separated from the soul and also from consciousness. When we use the term “physical consciousness”, we are referring to the finite consciousness. It is a portion of the infinite Consciousness which has entered into the gross physical and is now possessed and utilised by the physical itself. The same can also occur with the vital consciousness and the mental consciousness. But the divine Consciousness is a vast unity which houses silence and power. When it houses silence, it houses its own true form. When it houses power, it manifests its inner reality.

The soul, which is eternal, and Consciousness, which is infinite, go together. They have a common source, which is Life, eternal Life. The soul has eternal Life and consciousness also has eternal Life. They complement each other. The soul expresses its divinity through Consciousness and Consciousness expresses its all-pervading silence through the soul.