Consciousness & Awareness

The east Indian holy man, Nisargadatta Maharaj, distinguished between awareness and consciousness, while I do not.  In his view, as I understand it, awareness, which is formless and is part of the Supreme, gives rise to consciousness, which is based on forms and concepts and is part of the mind.  In my view, awareness and consciousness are simply different levels of consciousness.  I take this approach because they feel the same to me, except that the consciousness at the level of the Supreme (what I call God), is a lot more intense and feels timeless, formless and real, while the consciousness of the mind feels transient and based on concepts.  It seems important to me that when what Nisargadatta calls the “food body” dies, that consciousness expands, is no longer attached to the body and moves to the God place.  Probably because of my cultural background, they each feel like love, with the Supreme feeling very pure, intense, timeless and formless.