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QUESTION
6
Disciple: While there are different modifications
of the internal organ, viz. manas (reflection),
buddhi (intellect), chitta (memory) and
ahankara (egoity), how can it be said that the
destruction of the mind alone is release?
Master:
In the books explaining the nature of the mind, it is
thus stated: "The mind is formed by the concretion of
the subtle portion of the food we eat; it grows with
the passions such as attachment and aversion, desire
and anger; being the aggregate of mind, intellect, memory
and egoity, it receives the collective singular name
'mind', the characteristics that it bears are thinking,
determining, etc.; since it is an object of consciousness
(the self), it is what is seen, inert; even though inert,
it appears as if conscious because of association with
consciousness (like a red-hot iron ball); it is limited,
non-eternal, partite, and changing like wax, gold, candle,
etc.; it is of the nature of all elements (of phenomenal
existence); its locus is the heart-lotus even as the
loci of the sense of sight, etc., are the eyes, etc.;
it is the adjunct of the individual soul thinking of
an object, it transforms itself into a mode, and along
with the knowledge that is in the brain, it flows through
the five sense-channels, gets joined to objects by the
brain (that is associated with knowledge), and thus
knows and experiences objects and gains satisfaction.
That substance is the mind." Even as one and the
same person is called by different names according to
the different functions he performs, so also one and
the same mind is called by the different names: mind,
intellect, memory, and egoity, on account of the difference
in the modes -- and not because of any real difference.
The mind itself is of the form of all, i.e. of soul,
God and world; when it becomes of the form of the Self
through knowledge there is release, which is of the
nature of Brahman: this is the teaching.
Copyright
Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, India.
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