Mind-body and soul connection, Mystery and Science
Mind-body and soul connection – Mind is a repository of all the knowledge. It is the mind only which departs you from the Supreme energy.
It makes a wall between you and Almighty God. Remove the wall and you will be face to face the God.
This wall can only be removed through the complete surrender of your ego to the God.
Deep meditation and full devotion are the keys to remove the wall.
Science doesn’t know anything about the mind. Science knows about the brain only. Yogis, devotees or the person who practices deep mediation can only understand the true nature and working of the mind. The mind is one of the Ashta-Prakritis: “Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, reason and egoism. (Gita, VII-4)
Mind never tiered. It is the brain that tires and needs rest and sleep. A Yogi who has a full control over the mind needs no rest and sleep he relaxes during the meditation.
How the Mind Originated?
The mind is an “Atma-Shakti”. Through the mind “Brahman” manifests itself via a differentiated universe with varied entities.
- Brahma thought and formed the world and created the mind through his heart. From his heart-mind came out. From the mind, the moon came out, the deity of the mind. In fact, the heart is the seat of the mind. In deep meditation (Samadhi), the mind goes to its original seat or heart.
- During sleep, the mind rests in the heart with a veil of ignorance between it and Brahman. (Aitareya Upanishad).
- Cosmic energy or Brahman is a cosmic mind. He is the sum (Samashti) of all the minds. The individual mind remains connected with the cosmic mind and takes consciousness from the cosmic mind.
- The cosmic mind is also referred to in various places through various authors as “Hiranyagarbha”, superconscious mind, infinite mind, and universal mind, etc.
- God (Brahman) is cosmic energy or life force (“Prana Shakti”) also. He is a thread-like Self (Sutratman). The cosmos is a cosmic power-house like an electric powerhouse. The different living beings are like cosmic bulbs.
As electricity from the electric power-house, flows into the electric bulbs, the same cosmic energy from the Cosmos flows into the living beings.
Astral body (Linga Sarira) and inner body (Antavaha Sarira)
Mind is the most important element (“Tattva”) of astral body (“Linga Sarira”).
Linga Sarira is the astral body (“Sukshma Sarira”) that is linked to the physical body through breath (Prana Vayu).
It separates itself at death from the physical body and travels to the astral world or heaven.
It is the body that does coming and going (“Avagamana”). This body melts during the liberation.
Astral body (Linga Sarira) and inner body (Antarvaha Sarira) both are different.
Linga Sarira is an astral body with seventeen elements viz., five Karma-Indriyas, five Jnana-Indriyas, five Pranas, Mind, and Buddhi. The inner body (Antarvaha Sarira) is very pure.
It is full of purity (Sattva). It is free from any sort of darkness (Rajas and Tamas).
It is with this body that a Yogi passes from one body to another body called (Parakaya-Pravesh).
Mystery of Mind
The 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 to exist. The mind is the subtle form of matter and hence the prompter of the body.
The mind is made up of subtle facts of the matter.
Soul or Cosmic soul
The soul is the only source of intelligence; it is self-evident; it shines by its own light. But the organs (mind and senses) derive their principle of activity and life from the soul.
By themselves, they are lifeless. Hence the soul is always a subject and never an object. The mind can be an object of the soul.
And it is a key principle of Vedanta that which is an object for a subject is non-intelligent (“Jada”).
Even the principle of self-consciousness or (“Ahankara”) “I” is non-intelligent; it does not exist by its own light. It is the object of apperception to the soul.
Mental Aura
The mind has an aura. Aura is radiance or halo (Tejas) that radiates 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.
Power of Strong Mind over less strong Minds
A strong mind has a great impact on less strong minds. A hypnotist with a strong mind hypnotizes a big group of people of less strong minds.
A person of a purified mind becomes a center of attraction. All the lesser strong, impure, weak minds are instinctively drawn towards the purified, strong mind, as they receive healing, love, peace, and strength from the strong and purified mind.
It is in fact, difficult to express the feeling of what a person feels in the presence of a person of a strong and pure mind.
To sit in his presence, though he hardly speaks a sentence or even a word, is to feel a healing sensation so much as to feel new inspirations touching one mentally.
It is an extraordinary experience.
Mind Is Ever-Changing
The mind is a composition of the following:
- Fruits of Past actions (Samskaras)
- Habits
- Desires arising from contact with different objects
- Feelings positive and negative aroused by world
- Ideas gathered from different objects
- Feeling of attachments
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.
New and old both work in harmony and this harmony sustains the identity of the mental existence.
The mind is not only made daily but always made. Every minute, it changes its colors and shapes.
It is very wavering (Chanchala) and unsteady)(Gita, VI, 26).
The mind evolves every second through experience. In fact, the world is the best teacher or Guru.
Seat of Mind
The mind has various faculties and it operates through corresponding physical faculties of the brain.
Mind, Buddhi, and understanding are associated with the astral body (Linga Sarira); but they operate through corresponding centers of the brain.
The brain is not minded at all. The mind gains experiences of this physical universe through the vibrations of the brain.
The whole kingdom belongs to a king, but he makes a special place for his residence.
Same, the mind, though it is all-pervading throughout the body, has got three places to reside in during the three states-Jagrat, Svapna and Sushupti.
The seat of mind in deep sleep is the heart. In a dream, the seat of the mind is the neck. In waking state, the seat of the mind is the right eye or Ajna Chakra.
For instance, during deep thinking, you hold your finger in the chin, turn the neck to the right side, and turn the gaze towards the space between the two eyebrows and then start to think deeply on the issue in the hand.
This proves that the seat of the mind is the Ajna Chakra.
Mind-body and soul connection
It is wrong to say that consciousness is a feature of the mind. It is the soul only that is Pure Conscious.
The mind takes light from its source, Soul. Mind borrows its light and power from Cosmos (Brahman) only just as iron-rod borrows its heat and effulgence from the electricity.
The mind is non-intelligent but appears intelligent by borrowing light from Brahman, just as water heated up by taking light of the sun.
- The mind can do only one thing at a time. It is finite. It is nonintelligent, perishable, ever-fluctuating. It is a flux of ideas, samskaras, habits, impulses, and emotions. It borrows consciousness or light from the Brahman.
- You can control the mind. The thinker is different from thought. There is no functioning of the mind in deep sleep. You always say, “My mind”, as if the mind is one of your instruments just like your umbrella. Therefore, the mind is not the self-shining like a soul (Atman). In fact, I (soul) am self-shining but not my umbrella or my mind.
- Even in the cases of illusions and paralysis of the mental functioning, where a man loses his partial or whole memory, the person remains to mean the ‘I’ exists.
- The mind is like your property and outside of you as the organ, the cloth you have worn, or the house you live in. Therefore, the mind is different from ‘I’.
- The mind is changing every second. If food is withdrawn for a few days, it cannot function or think properly. There is no working of the mind during deep sleep. It is full of impurities and cravings. It gets puzzled during anger. In fear, it trembles. In shock, it sinks. It is totally different from pure consciousness or self.
- The mind is an organ of sensation and thought. This instrument is under the control of someone who uses it. The human is not the director of the mind, because as we see that ordinary men cannot control their minds.
- They are the victims of anger, emotions, fears, etc. Therefore, there must be someone, who is the controller of the mind. Who is that one?
- He is the Lord of mind or Brahman. There is a silent viewer of the mind, who is eternal and unchanging, witnessing the changes that arise in the minds of humans (Jivas).
- At the same time, he has full cosmic consciousness. He knows what is going on in each and every mind. He is omniscient.
- Absolute Consciousness is common in all. This pure consciousness is one only. Even though consciousness is one, when a person Ram is stung by a dog, only Rama feels and not his friend who is standing near him.
- The mind is different in every person. It is the mind that limits a person who is, in reality, identical with the Brahman or Supreme Soul! This identity is realized when the sheet or veil of ignorance is removed.
- A Soul directly cognizes all the phenomena of the mind, viz., desire, imagination, doubt, belief, disbelief, shame, intelligence, fear, etc.
- The soul remains quite unattached and unaffected like the crystals which reflect in different colors in the light of the sun. In fact, the soul is the main source of mind.
Body and Mind
The mind is intimately connected with the body. The mind acts upon the body and the body reacts upon the mind. The mind has influence over the body.
A pure, healthy mind means a healthy body. Grief in the mind weakens the body. The body influences the mind. If the body is strong and healthy, the mind also becomes healthy and strong.
If the body is sick, the mind also becomes sick.
Wrong Thoughts, the main Cause of Diseases
- The main causes of diseases that afflict the body are wrong thoughts. Whatever you hold in your mind will be reflected in the body.
- Ill-feeling for others immediately affects the body and produce disease in the body. Feeling of hatred, longstanding jealousy, anxiety, hot temper destroy the body cells and produce disease in the heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, and stomach, etc.
- Hot temper damage the brain cells, produce harmful chemical products into the blood, produce general shock and depression and suppress the secretion of gastric juice, bile, and other digestive juices in the alimentary canal, drain away from your energy, vitality, induce premature old age, and shorten the life.
- When the mind is restless, the body also becomes restless. Wherever the body goes, the mind follows. When both the body and mind are agitated, the life force (Prana) flows in the wrong direction. Then the food is not digested properly. Diseases originated. If the primary cause is removed, then all diseases will disappear.
- The pains that afflict the physical body are called secondary diseases, wrong thoughts affect the mind and generate primary diseases. If bad thoughts are destroyed, all bodily diseases will vanish.
- The purity of the mind means a healthy body. Therefore, be careful about your thoughts. Always entertain noble, sublime, loving, and kind thoughts in order to get a healthy and shining mind and body.
[Ref:www.dlshq.org/saints/siva.htm]