The consciousness is your friend, as well as paradoxically, your enemy if you do not transcend it. It is doorway to the Absolute (the Parabrahman- para meaning prior to or beyond). Right now the only connection you have to the Absolute is the consciousness. This consciousness is the source of all manifestation. As long as the physical body is nourished, the consciousness will continue to function through that body. When the body "dies", the consciousness merges with the universal consciousness and the body which is made up of the elements merges with the elements (water, air, earth, etc.). This consciousness is the source of the thought "I am". With this knowledge that you are (the knowingness- I am) you are able to say " I have knowledge". Based on this basic or primary knowledge that you exist, you are able to build all other mental concepts. And on these concepts, you want to build yet another concept of the Absolute or Parabrahman or whatever else you want to label THAT. However, you have ignored the primary concept of the knowledge that you are and instead have been chasing useless concepts. This Knowledge (that I am) has no name (namam) or form (roopam). Being formless and abstract, you have ignored this primary knowledge or knowingness or consciousness. This message 'I am' (consciousness) is the gateway or the door to the Absolute. The consciousness is your friend as hanging on to it will lead you to its source, which is the Absolute. The Absolute is beyond any words or mental concepts. Therefore, all that you can know is only in the realm of consciousness. Realize that!
Everything that is consumed or exhausted is unreal- meaning, not permanent. While consciousness is a reflection of the Absolute, it is unreal in the sense that it can manifest only through a body. If the body is not maintained and nourished, then the consciousness can no longer function through it. Since this body will eventually be exhausted, the consciousness itself is not going to last forever. But, it is all that is available to you. It is the source of all knowledge.
Therefore, after knowing the consciousness, one must not stop there and realize that the REAL YOU are PRIOR TO CONSCIOUSNESS. Many a seeker will stop at the level of consciousness and assume that the manifestation is real. Being grounded in consciousness, one is falsely led to believe that the world and the universe is real. Therefore, the statement that "the consciousness can be your enemy". To be in one's True State, one must discard even this consciousness as unreal and transcend it.
Once one fully understands the nature of consciousness, it is imperative to realize that you are not just the consciousness. The consciousness is the gateway or the doorway to the Absolute. You are at the boundary between consciousness and no-consciousness. Leaving consciousness behind, one is in the Natural State or the Absolute. You are THAT which is prior to consciousness. Having said that, consciousness is all that you have to express any kind of knowledge. Even this writing is because of consciousness and in consciousness. And because of consciousness, it is being read and comprehended by consciousness itself. In fact, all of this is happening in consciousness. There is no one (no entity) doing anything. Therefore, everything is consciousness. The content of consciousness is consciousness.
You are the KNOWER OF CONSCIOUSNESS. Since the Absolute is beyond any words, only pointers can be used to describe your True Nature, which is the Absolute. The word THAT is only a pointer to your Natural or True State.
