Sunday, July 23, 2006
The Architecture of Mind
Note:
In case you are accessing this blog for the first time you are advised to go to the first blog at the bottom of the page. Do not try to read through the entire blog in one go. Instead read one item at a time. Let some time elapse before you read the next item.
Any suggestions to enhance the utility are welcome. Please post them to abhaygupta307@yahoo.com.
The Architecture of Mind
In Gita Chapter VI Arjuna expresses his difficulty to Krsna,
‘The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna,
and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.’
English language has no equivalent for the mind as described in our scriptures where it is called antahkarana.
Before we embark upon understanding the mind, we may recall the difference between an instrument and a sensor. A thermometer measures temperature; it is an instrument to measure temperature. An intelligent thermometer is a sensor called a thermostat – not only does it measure the temperature, it has some intelligence of its own which triggers some further action. Our five senses are of the nature of instruments while the mind is of the nature of sensor; it has its own limited intelligence.
Antahkarana has three distinct components, manas (mind), buddhi (intellect) and ahamkaar (ego). Each of these components has its peculiar characteristic. These sensors work in an integrated mode with a lot of cross-term synthesis of information.
Manas has two characteristics – raag and dwesha (attachment and aversion). Patanjali describes them as - That which experiences pleasure is raag and that which experiences pain is dwesha [Sukhanushi raga, dukhanushi dwesha]. The cause of our likes and dislikes, our desires and our hatred is the Manas.
Buddhi has a single characteristic – avidya (ignorance).
Ego’s characteristic is Asmita (false identity).
Stand in front of the mirror and look at your image. Now visualize that the image says that it (the image) is the truth of your existence. Will such an argument be correct? Can you, the object whose image the mirror is reflecting, really do anything about such an expression from the mirror? This is asmita at work.
Activity III that you did at the end of the previous blog was a representation of these characteristics of your antahkarana. Let us recall:
The list of things you like to do was an expression of raag,
The list of things things you do not like to do was an expression of dwesha,
Being satisfied with the current level of knowledge is an expression of avidya. Unwillingness to explore into the yet unknown is the result of dynamic interaction of the manas, avidya and ahamkaar.
The list of things you feel convinced about was an expression of ego.
A Glimpse Into The Nature of Mind
It has tremendous speed. Close your eyes and direct your mind to a place thousands of miles away. The mind reaches that place in the shortest frame of time!
It distorts the truth. The mind is forever in a state of movement. Movement is its nature. If the surface is calm the reflection will be nearly true, but when the surface is not still the truth is lost, just like the moon reflected gets distorted in the second slide.
So long the mind is operating in its own nature of raag / dwesha, avidya and Asmita the system is operating in the limited field of intelligence of the sensors.
What is perceived by the mind operating in its own nature (its Prakriti) is not the truth. The truth can be obtained by the engineer who understands the whole mechanism and can over-ride any component by short-circuiting it. The engineer is the Purusha which can reclaim control from the auto-mind.
We have to go beyond the mind.
How to Go Beyond Mind?
You can go beyond the mind the same way you go beyond any obstacle. If you wish to scale Mt Everest you need to first acknowledge its existence. Acknowledge that there is a mind.
Before attempting Mt Everest aspiring climbers rely on the experiences of the veterans who have done it in the past. To go beyond the mind we have to follow a similar approach; we have to understand its nature, its characteristics, know its pattern of throwing up challenges and have faith that it is possible to go beyond.
Your acceptance of its existence is the first step. Your willingness to go beyond comes later.
To go beyond the mind we will adopt the pole-vaulters’ technique. We will use the pole (mind) to go beyond the bar. And like the pole-vaulter aiming for a clean landing on the other side, we will have to let go of the pole (mind) at a precise time.
We have to use the mind to go beyond the mind!
Once the mind is so transcended there is no misery, in this world or beyond.
May we all become no-minds.
May we learn to use the mind instead of letting the mind use us.
Tamaso maa jyotir gamay (May we move from darkness towards light).
**********************************************************************
In case you are accessing this blog for the first time you are advised to go to the first blog at the bottom of the page. Do not try to read through the entire blog in one go. Instead read one item at a time. Let some time elapse before you read the next item.
Any suggestions to enhance the utility are welcome. Please post them to abhaygupta307@yahoo.com.
The Architecture of Mind
In Gita Chapter VI Arjuna expresses his difficulty to Krsna,
‘The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna,
and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.’
English language has no equivalent for the mind as described in our scriptures where it is called antahkarana.
Before we embark upon understanding the mind, we may recall the difference between an instrument and a sensor. A thermometer measures temperature; it is an instrument to measure temperature. An intelligent thermometer is a sensor called a thermostat – not only does it measure the temperature, it has some intelligence of its own which triggers some further action. Our five senses are of the nature of instruments while the mind is of the nature of sensor; it has its own limited intelligence.
Antahkarana has three distinct components, manas (mind), buddhi (intellect) and ahamkaar (ego). Each of these components has its peculiar characteristic. These sensors work in an integrated mode with a lot of cross-term synthesis of information.
Manas has two characteristics – raag and dwesha (attachment and aversion). Patanjali describes them as - That which experiences pleasure is raag and that which experiences pain is dwesha [Sukhanushi raga, dukhanushi dwesha]. The cause of our likes and dislikes, our desires and our hatred is the Manas.
Buddhi has a single characteristic – avidya (ignorance).
Ego’s characteristic is Asmita (false identity).
Stand in front of the mirror and look at your image. Now visualize that the image says that it (the image) is the truth of your existence. Will such an argument be correct? Can you, the object whose image the mirror is reflecting, really do anything about such an expression from the mirror? This is asmita at work.
Activity III that you did at the end of the previous blog was a representation of these characteristics of your antahkarana. Let us recall:
The list of things you like to do was an expression of raag,
The list of things things you do not like to do was an expression of dwesha,
Being satisfied with the current level of knowledge is an expression of avidya. Unwillingness to explore into the yet unknown is the result of dynamic interaction of the manas, avidya and ahamkaar.
The list of things you feel convinced about was an expression of ego.
A Glimpse Into The Nature of Mind
It has tremendous speed. Close your eyes and direct your mind to a place thousands of miles away. The mind reaches that place in the shortest frame of time!
It distorts the truth. The mind is forever in a state of movement. Movement is its nature. If the surface is calm the reflection will be nearly true, but when the surface is not still the truth is lost, just like the moon reflected gets distorted in the second slide.
So long the mind is operating in its own nature of raag / dwesha, avidya and Asmita the system is operating in the limited field of intelligence of the sensors.What is perceived by the mind operating in its own nature (its Prakriti) is not the truth. The truth can be obtained by the engineer who understands the whole mechanism and can over-ride any component by short-circuiting it. The engineer is the Purusha which can reclaim control from the auto-mind.
We have to go beyond the mind.
How to Go Beyond Mind?
You can go beyond the mind the same way you go beyond any obstacle. If you wish to scale Mt Everest you need to first acknowledge its existence. Acknowledge that there is a mind.
Before attempting Mt Everest aspiring climbers rely on the experiences of the veterans who have done it in the past. To go beyond the mind we have to follow a similar approach; we have to understand its nature, its characteristics, know its pattern of throwing up challenges and have faith that it is possible to go beyond.
Your acceptance of its existence is the first step. Your willingness to go beyond comes later.
To go beyond the mind we will adopt the pole-vaulters’ technique. We will use the pole (mind) to go beyond the bar. And like the pole-vaulter aiming for a clean landing on the other side, we will have to let go of the pole (mind) at a precise time.
We have to use the mind to go beyond the mind!
Once the mind is so transcended there is no misery, in this world or beyond.
May we all become no-minds.
May we learn to use the mind instead of letting the mind use us.
Tamaso maa jyotir gamay (May we move from darkness towards light).
**********************************************************************
# posted by Abhay Gupta @ 10:46 AM 
Comments:
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Dear Abhay Uncle,
A few things; one each entity you write is called a "post". So you might want to change the "...you are advised to go to the first blog at the bottom of the page..." to something like this:
"... advised to go to the first POST at the bottom of the page..."
Two, I would recommend to remove your email address as it is very easy by spammers to pick it up and then you will be getting a few hundred spams a day - something which is not very nice as you would need to trawl through those looking for legitimate emails. You might want to encourage people to instead use comments.
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A few things; one each entity you write is called a "post". So you might want to change the "...you are advised to go to the first blog at the bottom of the page..." to something like this:
"... advised to go to the first POST at the bottom of the page..."
Two, I would recommend to remove your email address as it is very easy by spammers to pick it up and then you will be getting a few hundred spams a day - something which is not very nice as you would need to trawl through those looking for legitimate emails. You might want to encourage people to instead use comments.
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