The Discriminating Power of Consciousness
Gaṇeśa is the remover of obstacles, often called upon at the beginning of a pujā ceremony. One of his name's is Buddhi Priya, referring to the discriminating power of Consciousness. Begin your day calling upon your own discriminating capacity to choose openness.
Within the nondual tradition, the term buddhi is most accurately defined as “the capacity of discrimination.” Buddhi is also understood as the power of Consciousness to know Itself — often referred to as vimarśa, our own self-reflective capacity. For us, this means that it's not enough to simply be conscious. We must also know that we're conscious. Sādhana is that which helps us uncover the highest consciousness, which is our one true essence. Our spiritual practice is how we allow that awareness to reveal itself — and this is only possible because of our inherent capacity to know ourselves. Discrimination plays a key role in the unfoldment of our spiritual growth.
All movement toward liberation, freedom, enlightenment, nirvana —or whatever you want to call it — expresses a desire to know God, who is referred to as Śiva in our tradition. This movement results in an expansion of our own individuated, limited consciousness into the unbounded Consciousness that is none other than Śiva, Himself. Consciousness does not know Itself as some other, but we often experience a separation from God’s Consciousness, even though it is within us. Through our practice of Kuṇḍalinī Sādhana, the energy of kuṇḍalinī śakti frees Śiva’s power to know Himself in us and as us. This awakens within us our inherent capacity to know ourselves as Consciousness.
The Power of Discrimination
Buddhi is a level of awareness that has not been buried in a dungeon, unable to see beyond the limited self. As buddhi is awakened in us, we gain the capacity to discover the divine Consciousness that exists within us — as it does in all levels of awareness. This power of discernment grants us the ability to see and choose our state, which is another way of describing vimarśa, consciousness doubling back on itself.
Just as we can see the difference between physical objects, we also begin to have the capacity to discriminate between what is our ego and what is not our ego. We see both our tension and our openness. If we were unable to discriminate, we would become so buried by our tensions and our contractions that we would not be able to find any alternative. Buddhi gives us the ability to observe when we are closing and to choose to open instead.
Gaṇeśa is traditionally known as the son of Śiva and Śakti, but our nondual teaching explains that he is not an external deity, but a deity of our own consciousness. As we internalize Gaṇeśa’s ability to remove obstacles, we can harness this same power to remove anything that binds our capacity to know our deepest essence. Although buddhi is an aspect of our own consciousness, it needs to be awakened — and then, over time, the more we use it, that power strengthens. If we don’t use this capacity, it will atrophy.
You can practice employing this power of discrimination every day by choosing your state. Rather than allowing yourself to become bound by your patterns and contractions, understand that there is no condition that can limit your awareness unless you let it. This is the gift of the capacity to choose. However, this does not mean that we are changing the conditions in our lives. Rather, the capacity for discernment means making conscious choices daily that hand our lives back to God, so that we may know God’s purpose for us, which is to know Him. This is the singular purpose of sādhana. It is not to fix our problems, nor is it to gain siddhis and powers, which are generally just distractions that sidetrack us from knowing the God within us.
Conscious Choice is Always the Key
Make a conscious choice every day. Don't get out of bed until you've made the choice to know God. And then remember that choice every moment of the day. After morning meditation we might be like perfected yogins and yoginīs who are very quiet. And then, as soon as we engage the noise of the world, our perfect quietness disappears! We must develop the capacity to maintain our stillness while also dealing with the static that comes from the challenges that life presents. Ironically, as you cultivate more silence, stillness, and openness, you may notice that the resistant parts of you start blaring loudly, like several radio channels playing all at once.
The good news is that with practice you will be able to recognize that this noise is just the limited capacity of the ego doing everything it can to distract you, because it knows that your stillness is an indication of your increased capacity to free yourself from its grip. By bringing your attention back inside instead of engaging the turmoil you develop the muscles of discerning capacity. So take a breath, open your heart, and remember that you are alive for the very purpose of knowing God as yourself. Continue to develop the capacity to discern at every moment during your day, especially when you have lost contact with your original intent to know God — the same decision and choice you made before you got out of bed.
After a while you won’t get distracted by other choices. You will be able to use your discerning capacity to know God, moment-by-moment, whether you are experiencing clarity or confusion. This is the conscious discipline that you must strengthen. My teacher Rudi always talked about our inner capacity as the “muscles of spirituality” — both the energetic psychic muscles that can open and channel energy, and the muscles of discriminative awareness. In my experience, the biggest muscle you can flex is that of surrender. Let go of anything that does not allow you to discover the Divine within. That’s how Consciousness comes to know Itself, as you.