Mind is the basis and source of our life. Where there is mind, there is desire. If there is desire, we have an activity, an aim, work and life itself. What is mind? How are its nature, function and environment created? Do creatures other than man also have mind? Man has the faculty of thinking. Do other creatures also possess this faculty? Can they think like human beings? Do they understand the functioning of the mind? Man is careful about dharma and the goal of his life. All the scriptures have been written for him. Most people have a common aim, i.e. unravelling the mystery of the mind.
After all, what is there in the mind that makes it imperative for us to understand? The mind we perceive and experience is not the pure mind, it is its mere reflection. The real mind is obscured by the layers of nature and our karma. What one grasps is very different from the original mind. On account of this difference alone, we are not able to come out of the tangles of our life and experience happiness. We struggle all our life but fail to achieve peace of mind.
Creation means creating something new. A product is an integral part of creation only if it retains all the constituents of the creation and remains connected with it. For this reason, every unit of creation in Hindu scriptures is termed as a unit endowed with sixteen elements. Vedas elaborate in detail the appearance of shaudshi purusha (the purusha having sixteen kalas). Purusha stands for the living spirit existing in the pur. Pur is that which has a center as well as circumference. Man is also a shaudshi purusha. The indestructible constituent of the creation is purusha who creates the destructible or keshara, as well as the indestructible akshara sections of the creation. The imperishable, or avyaya purush has five kalas (attributes) named ananda (bliss), vigyan (science), mana (mind), pran (vital force), and vaak (matter). They are the pure forms in themselves. Pure bliss is Brahma. Pure special knowledge is intellect. The reflection of this intellect is our individual intellect. When this special knowledge-oriented intellect seeks to expand creation in some way, it inches towards the intermediary form of mana. Keeping mana or mind in the center, or vital forces bring vaakroop creation in the form of matter into existence which is known by the sequence of naam roop or intermediary the form and name'.
This single universal mind pervades the entire creation in the intermediary form of the avyay, or the imperishable. It is this very entity which is known as the soul. When it expands itself retaining its indestructibility, it assumes a novel form hemmed in by nature or prakriti (sattva, rajas tamas, or reality, passion and darkness respectively). Then is born ego or aham which distinguishes jiva (the individual) from God. We are introduced to this very reflection of the mind endowed with three gunas or characteristics. The pure mind which is known as shvovasiyas cannot be grasped by ordinary people. When Lord Krishna says in the Srimada Bhagavata Gita that the imperishable component or avyaya is the foundation of creation, he means this original mind or mana sans attributes. It is this alone that remains present.
in all as the soul. "That which is within you is also within me. Mind is the base of the roles in life. Brahma, Vishnu and Indra of the indestructible (akshara) creation are also integrated with this mind in the form of prana or the vital force. Brahma creates as well as expands. Vishnu nourishes and Indra destroys, or purges. This divine trinity joins the five kalas to create a world known as agnisomatmak, or having the nature of the fire and the water. The destructible creation is developed. Vital force is at the core of it. The mind continues to be pressured at the centre and its obscurity increases.
It is why the mind is conspicuous by its absence in the five kshar kalas (pran, up, vak, anna, and annand or vital force, water, matter, food and fire respectively) of the destructible kshar purusha. The mind of the imperishable or avyaya is reflecting itself in the kshar, which is always eclipsed by the combined effect of triguna, i.e. reality, passion and darkness.
Like mind, our intellect is also shrouded by triguna. It can be realised in the form of pragya or wisdom by practice or strong will. As it progresses further, it emerges as something great and joins the bliss in the form of vigyan buddhi (higher form of intellect). The mind has been described as fickle and unsteady. The reason is that our senses are ever engrossed in their favourite objects every moment. Control over senses symbolises valour or heroic courage, and it alone makes a person mahavira, or a great warrior. It is the layers or coverings that cause many kinds of fears in one's mind. In order to conquer the mind, people embrace asceticism. When Vyasa's son Shukadev sought his permission for being initiated, Vyasa told him that one could lead the life of an ascetic even being a householder. He sent Shukadev to visit King Janak, who himself was a great seer of his age. When Shukadev visited Janak, he found the latter frolicking in the company of his damsels. Shukadev was amazed at his conduct.
'What sort of seer is he'? thought Shukadev. 'I came here hoping to see an entirely different scene.
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