Mind and Its Mysteries

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Just as a busy officer works alone in a room by closing all the

doors, so also the busy mind works alone in a dream by shutting out

all the doors of the senses.

 

Mind is a power born of the soul. It is through mind that the Lord

manifests Himself as the differentiated universe with heterogeneous

objects.

 

Mind is merely a bundle of thoughts. Of all thoughts the thought 'I'

is the root. Therefore, mind is only the thought " I " .

 

Mind is nothing but a collection of Samskaras or impressions. 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 are constantly departing from their storehouse of the mind,

and new ones are replacing them.

 

In the waking state, the seat of the mind is the brain; in the

dreaming state the seat of the mind is the cerebellum; in the deep

sleep state it rests in the heart.

 

Mind always attaches itself to something objective. It cannot stand

by itself. It is only this mind that asserts itself as 'I' in this

body.

 

The things that we perceive all round us are only mind in form of

substance. Manomatram-Jagat Manah-Kalpitam Jagat. Mind creates. Mind

destroys.

 

The occult phenomena that take place in the mental world are all

based on scientific laws. Occultists and Raja Yogins should have a

comprehensive intelligent understanding of these laws. Then only will

they be able to control the psychic forces easily.

 

Practice of telepathy, thought-reading, hypnotism, mesmerism, distant

healing, psychic healing, etc., clearly proves that mind exists and

that a higher developed mind can influence and subjugate the lower

minds. From the automatic writing and the experiences of a hypnotised

person, we can clearly infer the existence of subconscious mind which

operates throughout the twenty-four hours.

 

If an idea is planted in the mind, it grows at night through the

operation of the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind never takes

any rest. It works vigorously throughout the twenty-four hours. Those

who know how to manipulate this subconscious mind can turn out

tremendous mental work. All geniuses have control over their

subconscious mind. You must understand the ways of extracting work

from the subconscious mind. Subconscious mind is a wonderful

underground mental factory.

 

Mind is the greatest force on this earth. He who has controlled his

mind is full of powers. He can bring all minds under his influence.

All diseases can be cured by psychic healing. One is struck with awe

and wonder at the marvellous and mysterious powers of the mind of a

man. The source or home or support of this mysterious mind is God or

Atman.

 

Any action that is done by the physical body is the outcome of a

preconceived idea. The mind thinks, plans and schemes at first. Then

the action manifests itself. He who invented a watch at first had all

ideas in his mind about the construction of the lever, various

wheels, dial, minute-hand, second-hand, hour-hand, etc. These ideas

materialised later on into actuality.

 

A spark of light presents the appearance of a continuous circle of

light if it is made to rotate quickly. Even so, though the mind can

attend but to one thing at a time, either hearing or smelling, though

it can admit of but one kind of sensation at a time, we are led to

believe that it does several actions at a time, because it moves from

one object to another with tremendous velocity, so rapidly that its

successive attention and preception appear as a simultaneous

activity.

 

The best philosophers and seers (Rishis and sages) are unanimously

agreed that the mind cannot actually attend to more than one thing at

a time, but it only appears to be doing so when it is shifting with

prodigious rapidity backward and forward from one end to the other.

 

Change of thought, relaxation of mind by dwelling on thoughts of

pleasant objects, cheerfulness, Sattvic food, mental recreation of

Sattvic nature are necessary for mental health.

 

The mind assumes the shape of any object it intently thinks of. If it

thinks of an orange it assumes the shape of an orange. If it thinks

of Lord Jesus on the Cross it assumes the shape of Lord Jesus on the

Cross. You must train the mind properly and give it proper pure food

for assimilation. Have a Divine background of thought or mental

image.

 

If all the thoughts are eliminated, then there remains nothing which

can be called mind. So thoughts are the mind. Again there is no such

thing as world, independent of and apart from thoughts. Two thoughts,

however, closely related to one another, cannot exist at the same

time.

 

The mind becomes that on which it dwells. This is an immutable

psychological law. If you begin to think about the Dosha or defects

of a man, for the time being at least your mind dwells on the bad

qualities and becomes charged with these qualities, whether the man

possesses these bad qualities or not. This may be your vain

imagination only through your wrong thinking, wrong Samskaras or

wrong (bad) habits of the mind. He may not possess even a bit of the

bad qualities which you have superimposed on him through ill-will or

some form of jealousy or petty-mindedness or habitual Dosha-Drishti

or fault-finding nature. Therefore, give up the dangerous habit of

censuring others and finding fault in others. Praise others. Develop

the power or vision of finding only good in others. Do not bark like

a wild dog about the bad qualities of others. Glorify others. You

will grow spiritually. You will be liked, honoured and respected by

others.

 

Deep sleep (Sushupti) is not merely a state of inactivity or passive

repose. It has deep philosophical significance. Vedantins study this

state very deeply and carefully. It gives the clue for non-dual

philosophers to trace, search and find out the hidden, silent

witness.

 

Atman is ever awake, although all the minds are at rest. Mother of

this world, Rajesvari, takes the Jivas back to Her and Her Lord

during deep sleep, hugs them to Her bosom, bestows on them refreshing

peace, new vigour, vitality and strength and makes them quite fit for

the ensuing battle of life on the following day. But for this sleep,

life would have been absolutely impossible in this physical plane

when miseries, diseases, cares, worries, fears and anxieties of

various kinds trouble men every second. If a man does not get sound

sleep even for one night, if he loses his sleep one night for three

hours by keeping watch over a sick patient or attending the cinema,

how miserable, gloomy, depressed he feels the next day!

 

Mind is atomic according to the Indian school of logic. It is all-

pervading according to Raja Yoga school of Patanjali Maharshi; it is

of the middling size (same size as that of the body) according to the

Vedantic school.

 

Mind is material. Mind is made up of subtle matter. This

discrimination is made on the principle that the soul is the only

source of intelligence: it is self-evident; it shines by its own

light. Mind is formed out of the subtlest portion of the food.

 

Mind can be compared to water. Water exists in four states, viz.,

causal state, in the form of hydrogen and oxygen; subtle state, in

the form of water; gross state, in the form of ice: and gaseous

state, in the form of vaporised steam. Even so the mind is in a gross

state during Jagrat state when it enjoys sensual objects, is in a

subtle state when it functions in the dream state, is in a causal

state when it gets involved into its cause, Mula-Avidya, during deep

sleep and it evaporates as gas when it melts or dissolves in Brahman

during Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

 

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 the different layers of the mind by intense

practice.

 

Just as you nourish the physical body with food, so also will you

have to give food for the mind and spiritual food for the soul.

 

When your business fails, or when you are in heavy grief by the death

of your only son, you get emaciation of body even though you eat

nourishing, substantial food. You feel tremendous internal weakness.

This clearly proves that mind exists and cheerfulness is a good

mental food.

 

When a lady is deeply engaged in the management of the affairs of her

daughter's marriage, she forgets to take her food. She is always

happy. Her heart is full of joy. The joy and cheerfulness are

powerful tonics for her mind. She gets inner mental strength although

she does not take any food.

 

(Source: Essence of Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda)