Am I the body? Is the body conscious (cit) or unconscious, sentient or insentient (jada)? Am I conscious or unconscious?

Consider first the body. The body can seem as if it’s sentient, or conscious, just because Consciousness shines on, in, and through it.

However, the body is jada–insentient, “dull,” or “dumb.” It can’t say, “I.” It can’t turn around and shine light on another. It’s always only an appearance–a sensation or a thought–that rises and falls; it’s always only that which temporarily shines by the line of another. As such, it is “dumb.”

No matter how hard one tries, one can’t get the body to “turn around” and shine light on Consciousness. This is because Consciousness is always shining with its own light, the very same light that shines on and through the body.

What, then, is the relationship between Consciousness and the body? For now, it can be said that the body is insentient while Consciousness is sentient. Hence, they are different.

Yet what is the relationship between “I” and Consciousness? No relationship! I am none other than Consciousness.

Therefore, at this provisional level of understanding, I, Consciousness, am not the body.