Fwd: introduction

[Gummuluru Murthy]

On Tue, 20 Aug 1996, Ravi wrote in the forwarded introduction:

> hope of finding some answers.  before sharing my thoughts on advaita which
> are meager, I would like know your thoughts on a few basic concepts.  First
> and foremost is MIND.  My understanding of the mind is that:
> Mind is not a physical organ. It has no shape, form, color or any other
> physical attributes.  A healthy brain creates a healthy mind and a healthy
> mind is limitless. A living form including human is a deadwood without a
> mind.  Mind controls the body and senses not the otherway around.  Mind is
> preprogrammed and is essentially madeup of 3 gunas, Sattva, Rajo and Tamas in
> different proportions in accordance with prarabdha karma.  Food, drinks,
> drugs, teachings and other strong minds effect the brain and thereby further
> influence these gunas. There are so many teachings on the subject

These are my personal views and I do not have any scriptural references.
Hence, I may be wrong.

Mind is a product of maaya. Sattva, Rajo, and Thamas are properties of
maaya. Thus, if we give too much importance to the mind, we become deluded
by maaya and cannot see beyond it.

I see the usefulness of the mind: in that it allows us to discriminate
[between Real and unreal].

But, on the negative side, mind is also the one which receives maaya in
all its fury. Maaya has the fundamental property that it obscures the
Reality and projects what is not real. The mind is the one that receives
the maaya-projected world.

It is true, in very very select few, mind goes beyond this and
differentiates between what is Real and what is unreal. But in the
majority of humans, the mind simply perceives the maaya-kalpita world
and the human simply gets submerged in this unreality.

Mind, put to proper use (I mean, by proper use, the discrimination
between Reality and unreality) is very useful. Looking at the world
and the humans in the world, how many people do we see putting the mind
to proper use ?

I would argue, on the whole, that average human mind is a liability.
Simply put, maaya acts through the mind to delude us.


"How to
> control the mind".  Most say "You control the mind".  Whos is this "You" they
> are referring ?  I think they dont even know.  The individual body named Nagy
> can not control the mind.  The mind controls Nagy which ofcourse is natural.

In the context of my above comments, control of the mind is very
important. Who controls the mind ? The "I", the Atman has to control the
mind. In the ultimate Reality, the Nirguna Brahman is a silent witness in
the struggle between the Atman, "the consciousness" and the "mind" (the
product of maaya). the victor determines "punarapi maranam, punarapi
jananam"

> Appreciate your comments.
>                                            SHUBHAMASTU
>                                                                          Nagy

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
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Adau ante ca yan nAsti vartamAnepi tat tathA !
                                GaudapAda in Mandukya kArika
What did not exist at the beginning and what is not going to exist at the
 end is as good as non-existent even in the present.
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