The three terms denote the functional level of consciousness. What we generally refer as consciousness is material consciousness.

There are four functional stages in development of consciousness. The first stage is common to all living beings. This is the urge to seek commodities and facilities for balancing physical needs such as hunger. Once this is achieved, the consciousness in man proceeds to the next stage to enjoy the beauties of nature and interpret them to others. That was how the fine arts came in to being.

The third stage is to probe into the secrets of nature. This is the dawn of the sciences. Seeing any object or phenomenon, man becomes curious to learn about the origin, existence, functioning and the end and also relationship between that and other living beings and the pain, pleasure or peace out of that relationship.

Earnestness in the inquiry leads to clarity of perception and the spirit of inverting, implements and instruments that could argument the power of senses, which are, by themselves, subject to limitations. The growth of science is only an index of man's urge to unravel the mysteries of nature.

Science represents the third stage of development of consciousness. The fourth and the final stage in the development of consciousness is philosophy, the thrust of which has been, is and will remain as the understanding of the subjective substratum of the observed universe, wherein objects appearances and beings function with a pattern, precision and regularity. In this exhilarating stage of investigation, the consciousness seeks and strives to know itself and its relationship with that substratum and source, the unchanging absolute, which was same yesterday, which is same today and which will be same tomorrow. So, philosophy is actually an endear or to find an answer to the question on 'Who am I?'

When consciousness is functioning through the five senses, getting contact with worldly objects, it becomes charged with emotions and, as a result rolls, with gamut of pains and pleasure, develops likes and dislikes, sorts out experiences and discriminates one from the other, thereby is in continuous agitation. When consciousness is thus engaged in sensory activity for a long period of time, the awareness becomes dormant.

But, when we are in the process of understanding the function of our mind, the consciousness gradually develops and we start realizing the evils of our old habits. In the intermediate state, we may be in position where we can neither neglect our experience nor change our habits. Caught in between the habit and wisdom, we may have to struggle for some time. It is here that restlessness and disappointments are experienced.

When we are in material consciousness only, the imprinted forces in the life-force will be dominating. When we develop our mind in spiritual knowledge, the imprints are getting very very subtle and pure energy will be increasing more and more. Consequently the Divine energy takes place of the mental energy.

The sub-conscious mind is cosmic intelligence. It is universal in its nature and is common treasure of humanity, that is, whatever anybody, anywhere in the world has ever thought, felt or done, that information is stored in the cosmic mind. The mind, which we are currently using, is only a small part of the sub-conscious mind.

Whatever function is done by consciousness, every result is getting imprinted in the brain cells. When we are not purposefully using our mind, already imprinted experiences are reflecting, as thoughts and their working order are the sub - conscious mind. According to the scientific discovery an average person utilises only five to ten percent of his total potential, the rest remaining untapped and unexplored throughout life due to inattention and ignorance.

We have to learn to use all the power of our sub-conscious mind in order to realise our full potential and fulfil our dreams and ambitions and do some thing novel and active. In fact, the sub-conscious mind listens and obeys our commands. The controlled and trained mind is our best friend.

From the starting of the first energy particles in the universe up to the present moment, all actions of the Universe in the evolutionary process and all experiences of living beings, are imprinted in the 'Akash' particles, which are packed up in the entire universal field. Thus, it is called the cosmic consciousness. Small portions of these akash particles are working in every human being as life force.

When the mental frequency comes to very very subtle frequencies some of the imprints in the universal energy particles (Akash particles) are reflected as cosmic consciousness to the human mind. This faculty and its working order is what is called as Super-Consciousness or Super-Conscious mind.

From the foregoing we should understand the need to develop our mind to its full potential. From the limited we have to work for the development of consciousness to its totality. In other words, we have to go from material consciousness to soul consciousness, that is sub-consciousness level, and then to Super-consciousness and God consciousness, which is also called Truth consciousness or Totality. This path is known as Self-realization.

Now, let us try to understand clearly the various stages of development with the help of a mango fruit. We see the mango with our eyes and recognize it by its shape and colour. So, we are conditioning our mind limiting the consciousness with the shape and name of the fruit. Here, we are not going deeper to understand the secrets. There, we are in material consciousness.

If we go beyond this illusion and understand that it is only our eyes that give us the shape of the mango and that, in reality, it is only the association of energy particles and space jointly functioning is giving the shape of the mango, then, we are transcending to the spiritual consciousness, other - wise known as 'Soul consciousness'.

Then when we go further to know what is energy particle and understand that it is nothing but a wave or whirling motion and that the whirling motion started as a wave from the static state, we are in Super conscious state or God conscious state. In this state, we will understand that the energy particles are only broken Static State, which are whirling in the Static Space.

That is, that minute portions of the Static Space are separated from it by the whirling motion, just like a wave generated from the mighty ocean. When the energy particle stops its whirling motion, it becomes one with the space and the energy particle ceases to exist, similar to the wave merging with the ocean when it subsides. So, when we are in constant awareness that the energy particle is fraction of the totality, the Absolute Static Space, we are in Super Conscious State, that is, in God Conscious State.