Mind : ( 24/10/2012. )

FOURFOLD MIND OR ANTAHKARANA CHATUSHTAYA : Antahkarana is a term used by the Vedantins to include mind, Buddhi, Chitta and Ahankara. When used in a broad sense, it means the internal instrument. ‘ Antah’ means internal; ‘Karana’ means instrument. It is the inner instrument (as distinguished from the term Bahya Karana, outer instrument or the senses or Indriyas) through which you sense, perceive, think and reason out. Ahankara is derived from Prithvi-Tanmatra. (Tanmatras are Sukshma Bhutas or subtle elements. The five gross elements are derived from the Tanmatras.) Chitta is derived from Jala-Tanmatra; Buddhi from Agni-Tanmatra; mind from Vayu-Tanmatra; heart from Akasa-Tanmatra. Mind is Chetana (intelligent) when compared with the senses. It is Jada (non-intelligent) when compared with Buddhi. Sankhya Buddhi or Buddhi in Sankhya Philosophy is will and intellect combined. Some put Chitta under mind, Ahankara under Buddhi. Swami Sivananda To be cont...

MIND IS EVER CHANGING : 2. Mind is not only made daily, but always made. Every minute, it changes its colours and shape like a chameleon. It is very Chanchala (wavering) and Asthira (unsteady)—(Gita, VI, 26). Mind is constantly changing. You are gaining new experiences daily. Your beliefs and conscience of 1932 and the faculty which judges right from wrong will change in 1942. The mind evolves through experience. The world is the best teacher or Guru. According to the state of his knowledge, man’s conscience is built up and changes from time to time with the correction of his views, in the light of further knowledge gained subsequently. Conscience is one’s own convictions arrived at either instinctively or by reasoning. The conscience of a child or a savage is entirely different from the conscience of a fully grown civilised man and, even amongst  civilised men, knowledge varies so much that their consciences direct different lines of conduct. The ...

MIND IS EVER CHANGING : Mind is nothing but a collection of Samskaras. It is nothing but a bundle of habits. It is nothing but a collection of desires arising from contact with different objects. It is also a collection of feelings aroused by worldly botherations. It is a collection of ideas gathered from different objects. Now, these desires, ideas and feelings constantly change. Some of the old desires and feelings are constantly departing from their storehouse, the mind, and new ones are replacing them. This constant change does not in any way interfere with the harmony of mental operations. Only some of the old desires, ideas and feelings depart. Those that remain work in healthy co-operation and concord with the new arrivals. The new arrivals are strongly magnetised by the old ones. They both work in harmony and this harmony sustains the identity of the mental existence. Swami Sivananda To be continued  ...

INFLUENCE OF STRONG MIND OVER WEAK MINDS : 2 Mark the influence of a highly developed mind over a less developed mind. It is impossible to describe what it is like to be in the presence of a Master or developed adept. To sit in his presence, though he hardly speaks a word, is to feel a thrilling sensation so much as to feel new inspirations touching one mentally. It will be an extraordinary experience. If you want to drink water at a tap, you will have to bend your body. Even so, a lower mind will have to bend (to be humble) before a developed mind if it longs to imbibe its virtues. The thought itself must be calm and unruffled. Then only you can draw inspirations. In such conditions only benign influences can be thrown down into the lower mind from the higher. In such calm, mental states, you can hold communion with God. Planning, angry and depressed moods—all disturb the mind and act as stumbling blocks to God-realisation. Swami Sivananda To b...

INFLUENCE OF STRONG MIND OVER WEAK MINDS : A strong mind has influence over weak minds.  A hypnotist with a strong mind hypnotises a whole bunch or circle of boys of weak minds. There are those among us who are much more sensitively organised than others. As an organism, their bodies are more finely and more sensitively constructed. These, generally speaking, are people who are always more or less affected by the mentalities of others with whom they come in contact, in whose company they are. He who has purified his mind becomes a centre of force. All the lesser, impure, weak minds are unconsciously drawn towards the purified, greater mind, because they derive peace, power and strength from the greater, purified mind. Swami Sivananda To be continued  ...

SIZE OF THE MENTAL BODY : Mind is atomic (Anu) according to the Nyaya School; is all-pervading (Vibhu) according to the Raja Yoga School of Maharshi Patanjali; is of middling size (same size as that of the body) according to the Vedantic School. MENTAL AURA : Mind has got aura (mental aura or psychic aura). Aura is Tejas, brilliance or halo that emanates from the mind. The aura of those who have developed their minds is extremely effulgent. It can travel long distances and affect in a beneficial manner a large number of persons who come under its influence. The spiritual aura is more powerful than either the psychic or Pranic aura. Swami Sivananda To be continued  ...

TYPES OF MIND Every man has a mental world of his own. Every man entirely differs from another man in mode of thinking, temperament, taste, mentality, physical characteristics, etc. Physically also a man differs from another man, although there might be slight resemblance. Observe carefully the nose, the ears, the lips, the eyes, the eyebrows, the arrangement of teeth, the shoulders, hands, fingers, toes, look, voice, gait, way of talking, etc., of different men. You will find vast differences between any two persons. Even the lines of the palm will differ. No two leaves are alike. Variety is the beauty of creation. There are various types of mind. The Bengali type of mind is emotional and fit for devotion and art. TheSouth Indian type of mind is intellectual and clever in Mathematics. The Punjabi type of mind and Maharashtra type of mind are chivalrous. Bengal has produced emotional saints, Lord Gouranga or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Ramakrishna Para...

THE MENTAL BODY : Just as the physical body is composed of solid, liquid and gaseous matter, so also the mind is made up of subtle matter of various grades of density with different rates of vibration. A Raja Yogi penetrates through different layers of mind by intense Sadhana. The mental body varies much in different people. It is composed of coarse or finer matter, according to the needs of the more or less unfolded consciousness connected with it. In the educated, it is active and well-defined; in the undeveloped, it is cloudy and ill-defined. There are several zones or slices in the mental body just as there are various compartments in the brain for particular types of thought. During intense anger, the whole mind is suffused with the black hue of malice and ill-will, which expresses itself in coils of thunderous blackness, from which fiery arrows of anger dart forth, seeking to injure the one for which the anger is felt. Swami Sivananda To be continued ...

MIND IS SUBTLE MATTER : Mind is not a gross thing, visible and tangible. Its existence is nowhere seen. Its magnitude cannot be measured. It does not require a space in which to exist. Mind and matter are two aspects as subject and object of one and the same all-full Brahman, who is neither and yet includes both. Mind precedes matter. This is Vedantic theory. Matter precedes mind. This is scientific theory. Mind can be said to be immaterial only in the sense that it has not the characteristics of ponderable matter. It is not, however, immaterial in the sense that Brahman (Pure Spirit) as such is. Mind is the subtle form of matter and hence the prompter of the body. Mind is made up of subtle, Sattvic, Apanchikrita (non-quintuplicated) Tanmatric matter. Mind is all electricity. According to the Chhandogya Upanishad, mind is formed out of the subtlest portion of food. Mind is material. Mind is subtle matter. This discrimination is made on the pri...

LINGA SARIRA AND ANTAVAHA SARIRA : Mind is the most important Tattva of Linga Sarira. Linga Sarira is the astral body or Sukshma Sarira that is linked to the physical body through physical Prana. It separates itself at death from the physical body and travels to Svarga or heaven. It is this body that does Avagamana (coming and going). This body melts in Videha Mukti (disembodied salvation). There is a difference between Linga Sarira and Antarvaha Sarira. Linga Sarira is astral body with seventeen Tattvas, viz., five Karma-Indriyas, five Jnana-Indriyas, five Pranas, Mind and Buddhi. Antarvaha Sarira is very pure. It is full of Sattva. It is free from Rajas and Tamas. It is with this body that a Yogi passes from one body to another (Parakaya-Pravesa). Lila, through the grace of Sarasvati, came out of the physical body and travelled to higher worlds with this Antarvaha Sarira. You will find this in the Yogavasishtha. Sri Sankaracharya, Raja Vikramaditya, ...

MIND IN SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY : In Sankhya philosophy, Mahat is the term used to denote “cosmic mind” or “universal mind.” It is the first principle that is derived from Avyakta. It is the first principle that is manifested out of the unmanifested Avyakta. The wheel of the bullock-cart rests on the spokes. The spokes rest on the nave. Even so, the mind rests on Prakriti and Prakriti rests on Brahman. From Mahat comes Ahankara. From Sattvic Ahankara comes mind; from Rajasic Ahankara comes Prana; from Tamasic Ahankara, Tanmatras; from Tanmatras, gross elements; from gross elements, the gross universe. Mind is no other than Ahankara, the idea of ‘I’. It is, indeed, difficult to eschew this idea of ‘I’. Mind always attaches itself to something objective (Sthula). It cannot stand by itself. It is only this mind that asserts itself as ‘I’ in this body. The idea of ‘I’ is the seed of the tree of mind. The sprout which first springs up from this seed of Ahankara i...

COSMIC MIND AND INDIVIDUAL MIND : 2 The mind, being very subtle, is in close apposition or contact with other minds, though the human skull intervenes between them.  As mind evolves, you come into conscious relation with the mental currents, with the minds of others— near and distant, living and dead. The individual mind of A, although separated from the mind-substance used by other individuals, B, C, D, E, X, Y, etc., by a thin wall of very finest kind of matter, is really in touch with the other apparently separated minds and with the universal mind of which it forms a part. If A is a friend of B, A’s mind is connected with B’s mind. The minds of friends, relatives, brothers of A are attached to A’s mind. Several minds are similarly linked to B’s mind also. The minds of those who are attached to A’s mind are, therefore, connected, in turn, with the minds of those who are hanging on B’s mind. In this manner, one mind is in touch with all minds in the whole...

COSMIC MIND AND INDIVIDUAL MIND : 1 Hiranyagarbha, otherwise known as Karya Brahman and Sambhuti, is cosmic mind. He is the sum total (Samashti) of all the minds. The individual mind is connected with the cosmic mind. Cosmic mind, Hiranyagarbha, superconscious mind, infinite mind, universal mind are synonymous terms. Different authors have used different terms. Do not be puzzled. Do not be confused. It is Sabda-bheda only. Hiranyagarbha is cosmic Prana also. He is the Sutratman (thread-like Self). He represents the electric, cosmic, power-house. The different Jivas represent the different, small bulbs. Electricity from the power-house flows through the insulated copper wires into the bulbs. Similarly, the power from Hiranyagarbha flows into the jivas. Swami Sivananda To be continued  ...

3. HOW THE MIND ORIGINATED : Mind is Atma-Sakti. It is through mind that Brahman manifests Himself as the differentiated universe with heterogeneous objects. Brahma thought, “There, indeed, are the worlds; I shall create the protectors of the worlds.” He gathered the Purusha (Hiranyagarbha) from out of the waters only and fashioned him. He heated him by the heat of meditation. When he was thus heated, his heart burst out. From the heart, the mind came; from the mind the moon, the presiding deity of the mind. (Heart is the seat of the mind; so, the mind came out when the heart burst out. In Samadhi, the mind goes to its original seat, i.e., heart. In sleep also, it rests in the heart with a veil of ignorance between it and Brahman) (Aitareya Upanishad, 1-3-4). Swami Sivananda To be continued  ...

THE MIND— A MYSTERY : Western psychologists know something. Western doctors know only a fragment of mind. The afferent nerves bring the sensations from the periphery or extremities of the spinal cord. The sensations then pass to the medulla oblongata at the back of the head, where the fibres decussate. From there, they pass on to the superior frontal gyrus or superior frontal convolution of the brain in the forehead, the supposed seat of the intellect or mind. The mind feels the sensations and sends motor impulses through the afferent nerves to the extremities—hands, legs, etc. It is a brain-function only for them. Mind, according to them, is only an excretion of the brain, like bile from liver. The doctors are still groping in utter darkness. Their minds need drastic flushing for the entry of Hindu philosophical ideas. It is only the Yogins and those who practise meditation and introspection that know the existence of the mind, its nature, ways and subt...

Chapter 1 WHAT IS MIND? “He who knows the receptacle (Ayatana) verily becomes the receptacle of his people. Mind is verily the receptacle (of all our knowledge).” (Chhandogya Upanishad, V-i-5) That which separates you from God is mind. The wall that stands between you and God is mind. Pull the wall down through Om-Chintana or devotion and you will come face to face with God. THE MIND—A MYSTERY The vast majority of men know not the existence of the mind and its operations. Even the so-called educated persons know very little of the mind subjectively or of its nature and operations. They have only heard of a mind. Swami Sivananda To be continued  ...

The affirmation of Absoluteness is suited only for the highest class of aspirants whose minds are ready to receive the higher spiritual Light. When the Sadhaka practises such severe assertions the physical consciousness will try to revolt against all measures taken against its well-being. The general result of such affirmations by weak-minded aspirants is great fear and shock. The Divine Consciousness tries to manifest itself in the individual and shatters the ego like a mad elephant that has entered a small hut. This supreme meditation is called Brahmabhavana or Brahmabhyasa. The force of intense meditation lights up the entire materialised nature and at once liberates the soul like a sudden flash of lightning. At one stroke the universe dwindles into nothingness and the Majesty of Brahman is revealed. This is the Goal. end. Swami Krishnananda END. Next : MIND : ITS MYSTERIES  AND CONTROL :

One must continuously meditate on the truth that he is non-different from mind thus direct all his activities, thoughts and emotions towards this end, affirming without break that he is the One Brahmam himself. This method is the most difficult one, because one has to feel here the whole universe as the one essence of Akhanda-Satchidananda. By constantly brooding over the absolute existence of Brahmam, one becomes Brahmam only due to the power of meditation. That person who affirms Brahmam in this manner acquires all power and all knowledge, for, he affirms that which is everything. His Self becomes the Infinite Whole, Satyam, Jnanam and Anantam. The mind vanishes for want of objects of perception. When the One Brahmam alone is seen everywhere, where is the occasion for the appearance of objects? The breath also stops thereby and the Absolute Experience shines alone. Swami Krishnananda To be continued   ...

Just as gold is purified by heating it on the fire, so also mind is purified by the fire of meditation. Yoga is in its strictest sense Meditation on the Absolute Reality. The way to such a meditation lies through suffering and pain. The road to bliss always passes through self-sacrifice and self-purification. Gold becomes lustrous when it is purged of all dross and the self shines in its own Nature when it is disciplined through meditation. Spiritual meditation is practised through constant affirmation of one's being identical with Brahmam. Thereby the mind returns to Peace. When the Self is asserted to be in tune with the Great Expanse of the Reality the mind which is a shadow of the Self turns back to its substance, the Self. The mind being annihilated, the vital currents or the Pranas stop their activity, because the Prana is only an appearance of the power of the mind. The practice of deep affirmation of the Supreme Tattwa subordinates all other spiritua...

Jnanam is a means for Self-realization and not merely an intellectual conviction. Scriptural study may help further Knowledge but by itself it is only in the realm of Maya. Jnana is not a philosophical creed but an intuitional comprehension of the entire being. The individual should expand into the Absolute and should live as the Absolute. Actual living in the Experience of Brahmam, the Divine Being, is what is indicated by true Jnanam. The eradication of the mental function is not done in a moment like a magical trick. The attachment of the Jivatma to its finitude has come since aeons.  A mere intellectual grasping may make one believe in the illusory nature of the world, yet, the illusion does not thereby stop tormenting the individual. The cessation of Samsaram takes place only through the actualisation of the undying Knowledge and practice of Yoga. Yoga should be a discipline neglecting no aspect of life. The physical, mental and spiritual aspect...

Destruction of Sankalpas is really destruction of the mind. It is only Sankalpas destroyed beyond resurrection that constitute the ineffable, imperishable and effulgent Brahmic seat. The Sankalpas should be destroyed beyond resurrection. The resuscitation of Vasanas allows the tree of Samsara to grow once again and therefore, the purpose of all methods of Yoga is the utter removal of all the possibilities of further appearance of the mind. Calm, sure and steady should be the way of approach to Self-realization. There is no other way to attain Liberation than the Knowledge of what really exists, for the bondage consists in the forgetfulness of the Absolute which is here and  Liberation cannot be attained by mere living in a forest and practising self-mortification. It is not even the renunciation of Karma that is required for the purpose of Self-realization. It is Knowledge that is wanted and nothing short of it. Knowledge consists in the conviction that Brah...

The destruction of the ego is the destruction of the mind, and it is done through the practice of Yoga. Yoga is a process running along two lines, namely, the denial of individuality and the affirmation of the Self. The ego or the individuality does not consist only of intellect but also of feeling and activity. The practice of Yoga, therefore, is done through three aspects: Intellectual assertion and conviction of one's not being an ego but the Absolute Brahman, negation of desire, infatuation and attachment, etc., and practice in stopping the ceaseless functioning of the vital current or Prana which does the activity of life by its rising and setting. These methods bring moments of rest to the psychic activity which corresponds to the moment of rest in consciousness, however little it may be. This long practice brings permanent rest of mental activity and opens the door of intuition. When Sadhana is practised – be it of any particular aspect of self-transformation ...

The ideas of 'mine' and 'thine' are only the creation of the mind. If the mind is destroyed through Vichara, these ideas will vanish. Destruction of the mind alone is Moksham. "I", "Mine", "Thine", and such other ideas are based on the belief in a multiple universe. The intensity of these ideas differs in the various degrees of ignorance and knowledge that characterise the individuals. There are seven grades of ignorance and seven grades of knowledge. These fourteen stages of evolution are dominated by fourteen degrees of nescience which hide the Reality little by little increasing as the darkness becomes thicker and the intelligence more obscured. The Sadhana that is practised to remove this ignorance should consist in a gradual unveiling of the Self through systematic self-restraint and The ideas which reign over the mind are its own offshoots which later on gain independence over its natural quiescent state, and act like irr...

The ego is a monad in absolute consciousness. It strongly desires to express itself and this power of expression creates the appearance of space, time, sound, touch, colour, taste and smell in limitless being. The origin of the world is the desire to egotise in opposition to the Self. The grosser the ego-manifestation, the more real appears the world and the farther is the Jiva from the reality. The ego or the individuality does not consist in being a simple spiritual entity or a soul but in being a mind which is a peculiar mode of the Supreme Brahman determined by a special movement or will. This self-same ego is called by various names when it performs different functions. Buddhi, Ahamkara, Chitta, Manas, Karma, Vasana. Sankalpa, Kalpana, Bhavana, Prakriti, Shakti, are all the appearances of the different forces which manifest themselves from the root of individuality in order to fulfil certain particularised conditions of self-existence. The ego and the mind are related ...

Ahamkara which is the source of all troubles has its seat in the mind. Annihilation of egoism will bring about destruction of the mind and annihilation of the mind will cause destruction of egoism. Ahamkara or egoism is the main sense of the Jivatma. It is the master-manipulator of diverse life. The ego is the hardening or the concretising of the universal consciousness at a point in space. It is formed of the stuff of arrogating itself and excluding all else from being. Ahamkara need not necessarily be taken to mean pride merely, but it is essentially the feeling of "I am" or self-awareness. This self-consciousness is the pivot of the rotation of the incessant revelation and the withdrawal of self-asserting forces thrown out by the ego by its powerful spells of thought. The whole universe is in fact this magical incantation of the sense of the ego which has at its background the ocean of the mind. Swami Krishnananda To be continued   ...