the mind

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"rastanaga" <rastanaga

Mindless or Egoless?

 

Reading some of the books on Amma (Awaken Children) which seems

to me that are translations of Amma's words, I see her quoted

many times as saying the mind is an obstacle in some parts

of the book. Yet in others she is quoted as inspiring people

to educate themselves so they can work helping others (Amma has

schools that teach computer science, medicine and other scientific

topics).>>

 

In addition to the great discussion that's come out of your topic,

Rastanaga, I'd just like to add that our English language doesn't

really describe things very well, and when Amma says mind,

she may be referring to several different things at different

times.

 

You've mentioned Buddhi (bheda buddhi was the particular

form of buddhi that you mentioned). In general, Buddhi is

the aspect of mind that has wisdom, and can reflect and

understand things on a deeper level. This part of the mind

can be very helpful if in service to the spiritual growth of

the soul.

 

There's Citta, which is sort of the field of consciousness in

which the stuff of the mind happens, according to my

understanding. This exists, regardless, and we can observe

the stuff that goes on in this field. There are other schools

of thought that define Citta differently, but I'm mainly going

by what I understand from Patanjali, as you are also quoting.

 

Then there's Manas, which is the sense mind. It does the

basic day to day stuff of living - gotta wash the clothes,

adding up the check book, coordinating mind and body, etc.

It's necessary to our daily functioning, and again needs to be

in the service of the Self.

 

And finally (according to this four part interpretation of the

mind... there are other systems) there is the Ahamkara, or

I-maker, generally known as the ego. This is the part that

needs to be dissolved... or at the very least, again put into

service for the evolvement of the soul.

 

That's how I understand it... so when Amma says mind, we

may need to look into the context of what she's talking about

and try to understand exactly what aspect of the mind is

referred to, since Sanskrit is vastly better at describing

these subtle things! So it may not be a contradiction to

say that one needs to get rid of the mind on one day, and

then to say that one needs to utilize the mind for the

higher good on another day. Hope that made some sense.

Blessings,

Connie