[Advaita-l] Can Anyone Answer My Doubt?

[Krishnamurthy Ramakrishna]

antah-karaNa
The antah-karaNa is the seat of thought and feeling consisting of  manas
(mind), buddhi (intellect), chitta (memory bank) and ahankAra (ego).
The literal meaning is "internal tool". The outer sense organs are the
bAhya-karaNa or "external tool". The information captured by the external
tool is captured by the internal tool, processed and offered to the jIva for
his experience/decision. The most subtle part of the food, the jIva consumes
forms the fuel for the antahkaraNa (the most gross portion is excreted, the
middle portion transforms to flesh). So food is an essential ingredient for
proper function of the antahkaraNa. The antahkaraNa is impacted by the type
of food we eat. sAtvika, rAjasa, and tAmasa foods(gIta 17-8,10) promote
respective guNas in the antahkaraNa and drive respective reactions in the
jIva. This is why many seekers carefully choose what they eat.
As stated earlier, the antah-karaNa consists of manas (mind), buddhi
(intellect), chitta (memory bank) and ahankAra (ego). The mind is the origin
of thoughts - "sankalpa vikalpAtmakam manah"; sankalpa pertains to
imagination, volition, mental resolve, intention, determination etc.;
vikalpa relates to doubts, uncertainty, indecision, hesitation, suspicion
etc. The mind is a tool for the conduct of the jIva and is also called
manOmaya kOsha - manOmayah icchA shaktimAn karaNa rUpah. The buddhi sorts
the thoughts and helps in deciding them in to right and wrong (nischyAtmika
buddhih). The buddhi has the agency of doing and is called vijnyAnamaya
kOsha - vijnyAnamayO jnyAnashaktimAn kartru rUpah. The chitta stores the
thoughts. The ahankAra provides an identification - I am a man, I am a
woman, I did this, I am rich, I am poor etc. The presiding deities of mind,
intellect, memory and ego are Moon, BrahmA (chatrmukha brahma- four headed
brahmA), vishnU and Rudra respectively. Any action originates as a sankalpa
in the mind, going through the stages of deciding and storing the
thought/action and expresses in ego - I did this, I did not do this etc. So
it is in the anthah-karaNa that the fruit of the action accumulates.

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of Sharath T
Poojary
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 8:49 AM
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: [Advaita-l] Can Anyone Answer My Doubt?

Hi,

When they say the soul is born again and again, WHOM are they refering to?
The SELF is birthless and stays where it has been. The body, ego and mind,
since they are the part of material world are destroyed with the body on
death.

You see mind is actually material in nature. It is caused by the background
working of the body, especially the BRAIN. Of course, the sense of
PERCEPTION and Realness that seems associated with the mind/thoughts is due
to SELF (CONSCIOUSNESS). Self illumines the mind, but mind belongs to the
material part (body). This being so, WHO is there to take RE-BIRTH? WHO is
the CARRIER of VASANAS to the next birth?

I hope someone who has seen through this problem will help me see it too.
I'm anxiously waiting for a reply.

Regards,
Sharath

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