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In the Western materialistic ontology, events are supposed to be objective: that is, all observers present witness the same thing. If only one person witnesses an event or phenomenon, this is considered subjective. Subjective events are ridiculed as imagination, dreams, or even hallucinations, if they cannot be confirmed by another observer.

But what if an event occurs that is subjective by nature. Is it real? For example, I can observe that I am conscious, but you cannot observe that I am conscious, except indirectly. For all you know, I may be a clever automaton and only you are conscious. Thus according to Western materialistic ontology, consciousness is ephemeral because it is intrinsically subjective.

In the Vedic transcendental ontology of consciousness, however, subjective events are considered as real, if not more real, than so-called objective events. Let us say, for example, that a certain person has a vision of God. Others present nearby do not notice anything unusual. Yet the person who has had the vision is deeply affected by it; it changes his whole life.

According to the Western materialistic ontology, the person with the vision has had an hallucination, or even a temporary episode of psychosis. But the Vedic ontology accepts the subjective experience as real. Depending upon the subsequent effects and symptoms displayed by the person, it may even be more real than material so-called reality.

What is so real about material reality anyway? When we wake up from sleep, we remember dreaming but we say, “That was only a dream; it wasn’t real.” It seemed real while we were dreaming; so why do we say it isn’t real after we awake? Because the dream is temporary; it does not persist across the boundary from sleeping consciousness to waking consciousness.

Similarly, this so-called waking life is also like a dream. What happened to the body we had when we were a child? Where did it go? It did not persist across the boundary of time. And this current body will also disappear in the current of time, to be replaced by another, older body. At the boundary of death, this body will disappear altogether; it will not persist into the after-death state. So this life is also like a dream.

However, the subjective existence of consciousness is eternal, at least as far as we are concerned. Can you remember a time when you were not conscious? Of course not. Therefore, as far as our subjective awareness is concerned—and there isn’t any other kind of awareness, really—we have been conscious eternally.

The Vedic literature says there are four kinds or states of consciousness: deep sleep, dreaming, waking and transcendental consciousness. Although the spiritual living entity passes through these four states of consciousness in different experiences, consciousness and the living being himself itself always remain the same. Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself states in the Esoteric Teaching:

“The spirit soul is eternally the same despite his material condition of life. We have practical experience of this. When we are absorbed in deep sleep without dreaming, the material senses become inactive, and even the mind and false ego are merged into a dormant condition. But although the senses, mind and false ego are inactive, one remembers upon waking that he, the soul, was peacefully sleeping.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.3.39]

We all have experience of the first three states of consciousness—deep sleep, dreaming and waking—in our everyday lives. Yet there is a fourth, transcendental state of consciousness in which one sees both himself and the Lord in spiritual reality, through the senses of one’s spiritual body:

“When one seriously engages in the devotional service of the Personality of Godhead, fixing the Lord’s lotus feet within one’s heart as the only goal of life, one can destroy the innumerable impure desires lodged within the heart as a result of one’s previous fruitive work within the three modes of material nature. When the heart is thus purified one can directly perceive both the Supreme Lord and one’s self as transcendental entities. Thus one becomes perfect in spiritual understanding through direct experience, just as one can directly experience the sunshine through normal, healthy vision.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.3.40]

Once we experience our pure spiritual consciousness, uncontaminated by material conditioning, then we can easily perceive the impure covering influence of material consciousness. Then we can easily perceive the different degrees of covering as deep sleep, dreaming and so-called waking consciousness:

“While awake the living entity enjoys with all of his senses the fleeting characteristics of the material body and mind; while dreaming he enjoys similar experiences within the mind; and in deep dreamless sleep all such experiences merge into ignorance. By remembering and contemplating the succession of wakefulness, dreaming and deep sleep, the living entity can understand that he is one throughout the three stages of consciousness, and that he is transcendental. Thus, he becomes the lord and master of the senses and mind.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.13.32]

This meditation on the nature of pure consciousness happens automatically when we engage in the chanting and hearing process of bhakti-yoga. The spiritual power of the Holy Name cleanses the consciousness of the living entity of millions of births of material contamination. Finally, we can understand our real identity is as spiritual being in an eternal loving relationship of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa continues:

“You should consider how, by the influence of My illusory energy, these three states of the mind, caused by the modes of nature, have been artificially imagined to exist in Me. Having definitely ascertained the truth of the soul, you should utilize the sharpened sword of knowledge, acquired by logical reflection and from the instructions of sages and Vedic literatures, to completely cut off the false ego, which is the breeding ground of all doubts. All of you should then worship Me, who am situated within the heart.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.13.33]

All these phenomena—the four states of consciousness, the meditations and considerations of the living entity, the knowledge gained from transcendental experience of the soul and Supersoul, the logical reflection on these experiences, and the final conclusion that leads to complete self-realization—are all completely subjective. Does that mean that they are unreal?

The Western ontology would say so. The actual results of worship, yoga practice and self-realization are all subjective, because they are states of consciousness. The Western insistence on objective, verifiable observations refuses to accept the subtle consequences of exercises of consciousness. Does that make them any less real to one who experiences them? Of course not.

The Western ontology is great for building things and fighting wars and such, but it is simply crippled when it comes to understanding consciousness. We cannot let the tyranny of the majority sabotage our spiritual growth by convincing us that our subjective spiritual experiences are unreal. Actually, consciousness is the only thing that is real. For without consciousness, all other issues are moot.

Next: The Miracle of God's Love