The Relationship between Brain and Mind : 2.

Discussion : between a devotee with Swamiji ( Q - A )



Everything in the world, right from inanimate matter up to the human level, maintains a self-identity, and it will not become another thing. You are what you are, and you cannot be something else. That self-identity consciousness, which maintains itself and cannot become other than what it is, that is the mind, and it operates universally everywhere in the cosmos. It is not only inside you. When it operates as an individualised affirmation in one particular centre, it becomes an "I" in the case of some person; and when it operates in another person, it is the "I" in another. When it is in an insect, it is the "I" in the insect. When it is in a tree, it maintains an individuality of its own, also; it has its own mind also, in a biological state. It is not so very conscious, but it is biologically alive, in protoplasm and other things.


Essentially, the whole mind is cosmic. It is operating everywhere. There is only one mind, finally. It is called the Cosmic Mind, like an ocean, a sea. And it appears like drops, or waves, or ripples operating individually in different persons, things, individualities, etc.


Whenever there is a consciousness of individuality, of any person or any thing, the mind at once starts operating, because mind and consciousness of individuality mean one and the same thing. If anyone is conscious that one exists as an individual, that consciousness is called the mind. So, the origin of individuality is the same as the origin of the mind.

Swami Krishnananda

To be continued  ...