Q: If pure consciousness is all and everything, how do the “I” and “mine” arise?
This is the effect of Maya. But how can Maya affect that which is pure consciousness? It cannot, but it can affect that which is energy.
Our body, feelings, emotions, sensory mind and intellect are all formed of vibrating energy, and as a result can be affected and even modified. The mind, as we can observe, can be totally deluded.
So the question arises: How does pure consciousness come into contact with and seemingly touch and experience energy-maya?
That is the subject of the Shiva Sutras, a major treatise of Kasmir Shaivism which is carved in stone in two places is Kashmir. I recommend that you obtain the commentary on the Shiva Sutras by I. K. Taimni which is entitled: The Ultimate Reality and Realization. Then if you want to go deeper, Shiva Sutras, the Yoga of Supreme Identity, by Jaideva Singh, is quite valuable.
But in the final analysis, only the accomplished yogi will ever really know the answer to these questions through his own experience.
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