Mind is not just the conscious mind that you know. There are deeper layers which you are ordinarily unaware of. Whatever is happening on the superficial level of the mind, is called the conscious mind. Underneath the conscious mind, is the subconscious and unconscious mind - in Sanskrit it is called ‘chitta’. It is the storehouse of all memories and past impressions.
When an electric current goes through a wire to a bulb; the bulb starts glowing -this analogy best explains the concept of ‘chetana’. It is loosely translated as ‘consciousness’. And the source of this chetana, is the ‘chaitanya’ i.e. the ever-conscious, supreme Self. The Self, that knows itself. The body, senses, mind and intellect cannot know the Self; yet it is the Self from which body, mind and intellect are being known.
In totality, chitta refers to the individual subconscious and unconscious mind, and the collective unconscious mind. The rays of consciousness are called chetana and the Self, is known as chaitanya. Chaitanya is eternally self-illuminated. It does not need anything for it to be lit. It is self-dependent and immutable.
