Jai Sai Master!

Srusti,

very good question!! And a question that is still a puzzle!!

WHAT IS MIND? Is it different from brain?

This is a question that is yet to be definitively solved. Philosophers and scientists are yet to come up with a satisfying answer.

As of a 'body part' (organ), brain fits the bill. But it is difficult to say 'brain thinks.' All we can say is that 'we use brain (somehow) to think'.

Now think, what is mind?

To answer this, you have to think 'what is thought? Where do thoughts come from?'

No one else can answer this better than you can, trust me. Just sit quietly when you have time and try and observe the thoughts you get. Try and catch a thought as soon as it starts! See where it starts! Also, if you can, find out when thoughts change. That is, you were thinking about school, then suddenly you remember something about your relative, for example. Try and catch the change of thought and observe where the new thought comes from.

Its not easy, but if you try, you can catch it sooner than later.

Jai Sai Master!!

Jai Sai Master, Babu garu..
Jai Sai Master, Sai Bandhus..
Jai Sai Master, Srusti..

Sai Bandhus, I don't mean to be funny but here it is.

Brain: Physical part of our body.
Mind: Thinking process that happens in the Brain.
Heart: Although a body part, in this particular context, it is an unseen sense perception, something like "thinking with the heart", which again is amost like Mind. So, in this particular context, Mind and heart are similar processes, only they take 2 different roads, one logical and one illogical, materialistically speaking.

Babu garu, Srusti has asked a very good question. It is my inability to give crisp answers that I don't even want to attempt an answer to this budding mind of Srusti. But at the same time I just wanted to share my thoughts on the following.

In the meanwhile, I would like to give this link to Srusti to go through which you have typed. Please delete it if you think that it is beyond the scope of this discussion, because what you have typed there should last several years to even understand them.

http://www.brchaitanya.org/saimasterforums/index.php?topic=47.165

Also Babu garu, these are some of the things that I read.

Thought is an electrical impulse that happens in the brain. With the latest technology, the scientific community has gone to the extent of video recording the nerves to get the electrical impulses that are happening whenever a person is thinking. Science is giving particular importance to this process probably because they want some groundbreaking knowledge on treating Alzeimers disease.

So, just like you said, Science is able to successfully see that the sparks are there in the brain, whenever a thought occurs, but we are still not able to see the source of that firing process. One example that I can readily see is this.......

We have 2 wires in each hand and when we touch one with the other, we see some sparks. That's exactly what is happening in the brain, and so we can (can we??) equate the process of touching wires to thinking. I am just trying to see how we can relate Spirituality to science in this context.

Everytime, I observe this point, it just stops dead in its track. When you THINK (or see or observe) where a particular thought is coming from, it gets blank. COMPLETELY BLANK. It's like you in a room with a bright light, suddenly the light is gone, and it is completely pitch dark, you cannot see anything in front, you will feel like you are blind. The same blindness happens to the mind when we try to investigate where a thought is coming from. At this point, I am sure Sai Bandhus are thinking I am Weird. 

Regards to all,
Jai Sai Master!

Ananth

Jai Sai Master!

Ananth,

come to think of it, the mind-brain dichotomy is age old. Does brain control mind or is it the other way round? To put it briefly, with experience, one understands that brain is a PART of mind.

For example, you are inside a box with a hole just big enough for a finger. you just stick it out so that we can see. All we can see from outside is your finger, say. Now, say, i am asking you questions and you have to answer. if you move your finger up and down it is yes, side to side it means 'no'.

now when ever i ask a question, presumably you cant speak from inside, you can only answer with your finger. For some one who doesnt understand that you are inside the box, it seems like the 'finger' is responding to my questions!

similar is the case. people understand and see brain 'moving' but not the mind that is moving it. but just like your finger is part of you, the brain is part of the mind. i hit the finger, you feel the pain. i hit the brain, mind might get effected similarly.

However, materialistically-minded philosophers and scientists say that the brain somehow 'creates' or 'generates' what we call 'mind'. This cant be right, otherwise, we will all be simply chemical robots and autobots and all the morals and everything else simply become meaningless. Besides, its obvious that we can alter brain activity by our thought processes which shows the superiority of thought over brain.

Now, regarding catching thoughts, when you find that blank, try and observe where that 'blankness' comes in, how long does it stay, etc. What is telling you that it is blankness? That is mind. Thats what I want you to catch.

Read Buddha Dhyana Hrudayam for clarity on mind.

Jai Sai Master!!