What is mind: What is Soul or Consciousness ?
THIS world will soon become a better place to live in and we will soon have the Golden Age or the era of peace and plenty if man realises the self as distinct from the body, practises soul-consciousness and, on that basis, adopts the motto of World Brotherhood. In order to end the Iron Age, the society has to understand that the root cause of all sufferings and troubles in the world is that man has gradually come to identify himself with the body. To-day, little does he realise, and much less does he practise the truth that, in this body, which is made of innert Matter, dwells a conscient and immortal entity-the eternal spark of life and light, called the soul.
The body is like a temple and the soul is like the fiame of light or like the deity in a temple. The body is like a car and the soul like its driver. The body is an assemblage of instruments in the shape of various organs-whereas the soul is its user. The body and the brain are like a computer whereas the soul it is that programmes it and uses it. The body is not for its own sake but for a conscient user, called the soul.
The soul is like a micro star. It abides in the body, midway between the eye-brows, where the dovout in India apply Tilak-a sacred mark. Here, it is connected with the brain and the nervous system.
The soul has three intrinsic abilities which the body or anything else, made of Matter, does not possess. These are (1) the ability to think or wish or will, (2) the ability to judge, understand or investi- gate and (3) the ability to retain impressions of past thoughts in the form of attitudes, moods or habits. The first of these is known as Mind, the second as Intellect and the third as Samskaras or the Resolves.
It is these abilities which distinguish one man from another and determine the mental and moral state of a person. One who is given to violence and other evils is known as a sinner, the other who makes efforts to purify his thoughts, judgment and resolves is known as ‘a Mahātma’ or ‘an elevated soul’ whereas the one who has completely divinised himself, is called a devātmā or a deity. It should thus be clearly borne in mind that it is the soul that suffers or enjoys because of its bad or good actions, for mind is not an entity separate from the soul; rather, it is the name given to the manifestation of soul’s consciousness.
