Universal Consciousness

Recorded in the spring of 1971, soon after her return from India, it is the album on which she is first heard on the Wurlitzer organ. She tied the choice to her interest in Hindustani classical music, comparing the organ to harmonium and tanpura, and said that playing it gave her the freedom never to have to depend on anyone else musically. Jimmy Garrison plays bass, with Jack DeJohnette, Rashied Ali and Clifford Jarvis on drums and Tulsi on tanpura. On three tracks a quartet of violinists, John Blair, Julius Brand, Leroy Jenkins and Joan Kalisch, plays parts she arranged and Ornette Coleman transcribed.

Andy Beta wrote in Pitchfork in 2025 that it was composed barely five months after Journey in Satchidananda and plunges straight in, with violins against frenzied harp in the opening seconds of the title track. He singled out Sita Ram, based on a bhajan chant she heard in India, and Hare Krishna, and noted the Wurlitzer duets with Rashied Ali. AllMusic's Thom Jurek called the album a true masterpiece, and the Penguin Guide thought it perhaps her finest achievement on record. It was followed by World Galaxy and Lord of Lords, completing a trio with strings.