Spiritual Inquiries: 8. The Mental World - Part 1 of 2

[Guest guest]

What is called mind is a wonderous power residing in the Self. It

causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such

thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from

thought, there is no independent entity called the world.

 

In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the

states of waking and dream, there are thoughts and there is a world

also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself

and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the

world out of itself and again resolves it into itself.

 

-- Sri Ramana Maharshi

-------

 

The Mental (or Manasic) World belongs to our consciousness working

as thought. Thoughts arise in the mind. The mind works in its own

world, besides expressing itself through the physical brain.

The word 'man' comes from the Sanskrit root man meaning 'to think'.

So 'man' is a 'thinker', named after his most characteristic

attribute, intelligence.

 

The Nature of the Mind

----------------------

Neuroscience tries to explain mind and thoughts in terms of the

matter of the physical brain, as a result of neurochemical

processes. Is this a plausible and complete explanation?

 

Think of a horse. This thought immediately brings up the figure of a

horse that you can virtually see in your mind. The figure might be

vague, but still you can recognize it. As you concentrate on this

figure, with eyes open or closed, the figure gradually gets painted

into a picture. Not just a two-dimensional picture of a photograph,

but a cinematic, three-dimensional one.

 

Apart from seeing, you can also 'feel' the horse that your mind is

seeing. And from the model horse you are seeing, you can easily

derive and imagine other horses--larger horses, smaller ones, horses

with different hues, and horses in action! You are 'seeing' the

horses, which means you are employing the visual sense (the mind's

eye) to recognize them.

 

The impulse of a small thought has brought up so much of a visual

scenery of living horses in the mind! Such is the power of thought.

 

Obviously, the horses you see with your mind, occupy some space. Can

this space be purely physical, made of the grey matter of the brain

and nerve cells, and located inside the brain? If the space and the

processes are purely physical, they should account for where and how

the past impressions of a set of horses are stored, how these

impressions are retrieved from their storage and how and where they

are displayed for visually sensing them.

 

There are other points to consider with the thinking of a horse.

 

You are able to make up the figure of a horse in your mind, because

of one or more previous visual experiences of seeing horses.

Normally, a child cannot do it until it is taught about a horse.

 

Suppose you are asked to spell the word horse. In this case, you are

given a phonetic representation and are asked to translate it into a

symbolic representation of a language. You might not know the actual

spelling of horse, and might end up with 'hors' or 'haurs', for

example, in English, but that would still echo the sound of the

name. You can do this translation, even if you haven't seen a single

horse in your life or know nothing about it!

 

These two ways of thinking show that human mind thinks in terms of

pictures mainly, but can also generate thoughts based on sound.

Thoughts based on sound could be powerful with healing properties,

as in the case of chanting mantras. While a picture spreads out the

vibrations caused by the thought, sound channelizes them.

 

Now, think of an animal in general terms. Here you think in terms of

a concept or an idea that cannot be formed into a figure. The term

animal might actually conjure up the picture of any animal, but you

use it only to arrive at the features and behaviour of an animal.

Even without conscious thinking you could 'know' the idea of an

animal.

 

Thus we understand that the term animal is a lingual representation

of an abstract thought. The term horse refers to a concrete shape of

an abstract thought, which has a form (rupa) and a name (nama).

 

Which came first, name or form?

 

It seems that we can't think of a form without a name. At the same

time, ideas or concepts have names but no forms. How do we resolve

this conundrum?

 

The vibration generated by a name manifests as sound energy, while

forms generate the configurational world. So, can we say that it is

the sound that comes first, and sound creates the forms?

Essentially, that's what the great religious truths say.

 

Hinduism affirms that the primordial sound Aum creates, maintains

and dissolves everything in this universe. This divine vibration Aum

is the undertone of every atom, physical and spiritual. It is the

song of the atoms, the song of the celestial spheres. It manifests

as the Trinity, as the three gunas that constitute the universe and

all its beings. It purifies body and soul, regulates breath and

accelerates spiritual evolution in a human being.

 

Aum is the Word that Bible refers to: "In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."--John 1:1.

The Word was God, the unmanifested nada Brahman.

 

Doesn't this mean that God as the unmanifested Brahman is formless

and that when he willed to manifest, he created the universe using

his Word Aum? But where did he create the universe from? Out of his

formless, abstract Self. And God created man in his own image so

that man would understand the underlying formless nature of the

universe, even while enjoying the temporal fruits of the formed

world, and ascend back to godhood.

 

As human beings, we need names to understand forms that exist in

this universe. We need names to express and understand our emotions

that take forms in the astral world. We need names for our concrete

thoughts that take forms in the lower mental world, and names for

our abstract thoughts that are generally formless in the higher

mental world.

 

In the same way, we need names and forms to understand and

experience God. This does not mean that the formed gods were

creations of human thought. Hinduism, Theosophy and the ancient

traditions have enlightened us that the infinite, formless Brahman

has indeed manifested as the Trinity, the other gods, devas, rishis

and the entire divine hierarchy, down to the grossest atom of the

physical world.

 

Formed gods are the milestones in the path of spiritual evolution.

At the end of the journey is the formless, nirguna Brahman, which is

the ultimate goal of every soul.

 

Hinduism has given us three beautiful paths to evolution: Karma,

Bhakti and Jnana. In the Karma yogic path, we have dharmic

milestones. In the Bhakti yogic path, love and compassion for all

that lives form the milestones. In the Jnana yogic path, peace and

bliss are the milestones to reach, walking all over the path of love

and compassion.

 

The three paths are not separate or different from one another. They

are involved in each other, just as the seven worlds interpenetrate

each other. For this reason, Hinduism has given the formula of

dharma, artha, kama, moksha, (righteous living, earning, enjoying

and the ultimate liberation) as the goals of human life, where

dharma is the underlying current of all the goals.

 

In English the word 'mind' stands both for the intellectual

consciousness and for the effects produced on the physical brain by

that consciousness. In occultism however, we must conceive of the

intellectual consciousness as an individual entity, a being, the

vibrations of whose life are thoughts, expressed not as physical

words, but as images.

 

Hinduism has four terms that describe the four functions of human

mind: manas, chitta, ahamkara and buddhi. Manas is the sensory,

processing mind. Chitta is the storage of impressions. Ahamkara is

the Ego, the 'I-maker'. And Buddhi knows, decides, judges and

discriminates.

 

The seven principles that make a human being are of two parts: the

higher triad (Atma-Buddhi-Manas) and the lower quartet

(physical-etheric double-astral-kamarupa). It is helpful to think of

the higher triad as the Self or the Ego, (notice the

capitalization), and the lower quartet as the self or the ego.

 

In the example above, the thought of a horse originated from the

ahamkara or ego, and brought up the impression of a horse from

chitta, which was played out by the manas, guided by buddhi.

 

That the brain is only a physical medium of expresion of the mind

can also be explained using the analogy of a computer system.

God created man in His own image, giving him the distinctive

features of intellect, wisdom and rational thinking. Man created

computer in his own image, but couldn't make it think like him

(thank heavens!).

 

In a computer system, the microprocessor (CPU) and the main memory

(RAM and ROM) represent the brain of the computer. The hard disk

drive is a storage area of reference and retrieval, located outside

the brain (as with a library). The peripherals such as the monitor,

keyboard, speakers, microphone, mouse, scanner, printer, modem, etc.

form the sensory units of the computer. All these hardware devices

form the physical body of the computer.

 

The consciousness of the computer is the operating system and other

software that run on the hardware. The operating system is the

ahamkara or ego of the computer. The hard disk drive is the chitta

where the impressions are stored. The impressions are brought up to

the computer's brain from the chitta by a piece of software that

represents the buddhi, via the operating system. And the impressions

are expressed through the computer's senses of output and input, the

equivalent of the manas.

 

What about the electricity without which nothing is possible? It is

the divine energy or the life-force which is localized in the body

of the computer to give expression to its life. The electronic

components of a computer can withstand only a small voltage of

electricity, so the 'life-force' is stepped down using a transformer

called SMPS (switch mode power supply) inside the computer system.

 

In a similar way, the divine life-force is stepped down inside us,

to the level our bodies can use it. The spiritually healthier our

bodes are, the higher will be the level we can use the divine

life-force. The Tamil Saint Tirumular has a beautiful verse on this

truth in his book Tirumantiram:

 

"If the body decays, the soul will decay too;

Such people can't receive the Truth in full strength.

Knowing the ways to foster my body,

I keep fostering my soul!"

 

In its life on the waking consciousness or the jagrat state, the

computer runs software programs and expresses the results through

its senses. In the stand by mode, it goes to the dream or svapna

state. And when the power is switched off, it goes to the deep sleep

or sushupti state.

 

This analogy can hardly be stretched to include the human who

operates the computer, as representing God, because, unlike God, a

human is a person of whims and fancies.

 

Now, in this analogy, to say that the software is a product or a set

of processes that evolve out of the hardware is to put the cart

before the horse. This is like saying that the computer thought up

the software!

 

If computers are able to think up their own software and learn to

function on their own, as we see in sci-fi stories and movies, they

will certainly dispute the superiority of humans as their masters,

and humans cannot function independently in the physical world. At

that time, perhaps, humans might forget the differences between them

and unite to establish peace by bringing the adharmic electronic

forces under control.

 

Thoughts raise up in the mind from the impressions or samskaras

stored in the chitta, and play like the waves of the ocean. Abstract

or shapeless thoughts are known by intutions arising out of the

buddhi. Concreate or formed thoughts may be intellectual or

emotional. Every action of ours has its origin in a thought, which

is why the saying mano vaakku kaayam or mind-thought-deed. Here

vaakku is not the verbal expression of a thought, but the rupa or

formed level of thoughts.

 

Mind or Manas is usually classified into two parts: the Lower Manas

and the Higher Manas. Pure intellect is the higher manas, while the

part that originates thoughts coupled with desire is called the

lower manas.

 

Just as a turbulent ocean can only reflect the moon in bits and

pieces, so also a turbulent mind can only reflect the Self in bits

and pieces. When the mind is stilled, the Self shines in its full

splendour and the only state that remains is shanti or peace and

anand or bliss.

 

The Mental World

----------------

The mental world is the home of the real man, who is Manas, or the

Thinker. He works on the higher or causal levels of the mental

world, setting up vibrations in the matter of the mental world. Only

a small section of these vibrations, and even that imperfectly, can

be reproduced in the comparatively coarse physical materials.

Just as the human eye can sense only a set of electromagnetic

vibrations known as the visible spectrum of light (falling within

the seven colors VIBGYOR), so also the physical thought-apparatus,

the brain and nervous system, can sense only a small fragment of the

vast series of mental vibrations set up by the Thinker in his own

world.

 

Annie Besant analyses the receptive capacity of the human brain in

her book The Ancient Wisdom, thus:

 

"The most receptive brains respond up to the point of what we call

the great intellectual power; the exceptionally receptive brains

respond up to the point of what we call genius; the exceptionally

unreceptive brains respond only up to the point we call idiocy; but

every one sends beating against his brain millions of thought-waves

to which it cannot respond, owing to the density of its materials,

and just in proportion to its sensitiveness are the so-called mental

powers of each."

 

The mental world reflects the Universal Mind in Nature, and relates

to the Great Mind in the Cosmos (Mahat, the Third LOGOS, or Divine

Creative Intelligence, the Brahma of the Hindus, the Mandjusri of

the Northern Buddhists, the Holy Spirit of the Christians.)

 

The Universal Mind, which is the mind of Brahma, contains the sum

total of the minds of all beings--right up to the Manu, who is the

first in the hierarchy. In this Universal Mind, everything exists

archetypically. It is the source of beings, the fount of fashioning

energies, the treasure-house in which are stored up all the

archetypal forms which are brought forth and elaborated in lower

kinds of matter during the evolution of the universe. These are the

fruits of past universes brought over as seeds for unfoldment in the

present universe.

 

Brahma is the first of the manus, and is known by the name

Svayambhuva manu. When his life term of a manvantara starts, he

appoints 14 manus (in seven pairs) to implement the task of

creation, which is a task of giving shapes to archetypes in the mind

of Brahma, brought over from the past universes. Our humanity is

said to be in the fifth of the seven root-races of the fourth round

of evolution in a globe, and is headed by Vaivasvata manu. The point

to note here is that the root-race manu examines the mighty

thought-form of the Logos that refers to his work, and 'downloads'

it to his level for easy reference. More on races and rounds later.

 

The Sub-planes of the Mental World

-

The Mental World of the earth is located next to the Astral World,

but permeates it. It is far larger than the astral world and extents

farther into space. An ultimate atom of the mental world has 49^4 or

5,764,801 (roughly five and three quarter million) "bubbles in

koilon".

 

Life on the mental world is more active than on the astral, and form

more plastic. The spirit-matter of that plane is more vitalized than

any grade of matter in the astral world. Since mental matter is far

finer than the astral matter, it follows that the life-forces on the

mental world are enormously increased in activity.

 

The matter is in constant motion, taking form under every thrill of

life. Compared to this "mind-stuff", the luminous astral matter

looks heavy, clumsy and dull. In the physical world, light moves

faster than sound because its vibrations are more rapid than those

of sound. The vibrations of mental matter are far more rapid than

physical matter, so in the mental world matter moves with thought;

in the astral world, matter moves after thought. Just as a particle

of physical matter floats in a sea of astral matter, so also each

particle of astral matter floats in an ocean of mental matter.

 

The mental world is the region of our birthplace and our home. Since

we are imprisoned in a physical body, the descriptions of the mental

world look alien to us.

 

As with the physical and the astral world, the mental world has

seven subdivisions. These subdivisions are grouped into two: the

arupa (without form) and the rupa (with form). The lower four

subdivisions form the rupa level; the higher three form the arupa

level.

 

In the rupa level, the vibrations set up by the consciousness take a

form, an image or a picture and every thought appears as a living

shape.

 

In the arupa level, the consciousness still sets up vibrations, but

it seems to send them out as a mighty stream of living energy, which

is formless when remaining in this level, but when it descends into

the rupa level, it sets up a variety of forms which rush into the

lower worlds.

 

Abstract thoughts are formed at the arupa level, concrete thoughts

at the rupa level. An abstract idea has conditions, but no form. For

example, an abstract idea of a triangle has no form but is

understood to be any figure contained in three lines, with their

angles summing up to two right angles.

 

Such an idea, thrown into the lower world of rupa levels, takes a

variety of shapes: right-angled, isosceles, scalene, of any colour

and size, but all filling the conditions – concrete triangles, each

one with a definite shape of its own.

 

Another broad distinction between the rupa and the arupa levels of

the mental world is that on the rupa levels a man lives in his own

thoughts, and fully identifies himself with his personality in the

life which he has recently quitted. Personal pride and prejudices

create illusions in the rupa levels, but to a man who can function

there in full consciousness during physical life, the illusions

appear less than to an undeveloped person who goes to mental world

only after death.

 

On the arupa levels a man is simply the reincarnating ego who,

provided he is sufficiently developed on that level to know anything

at all, understands, at least to some extent, the evolution upon

which he is engaged, and the work that he has to do. Though there

will be much that the ego does not know on these levels, what he

does know he knows correctly.

 

In the arupa levels of the mental world exist all the archetypal

ideas which are now in course of concrete evolution. The rupa levels

are working out these ideas into forms that will be reproduced in

the astral and physical worlds. Every new invention or discovery in

the physical world has its precursors in the subtler worlds.

 

Just as iron can be shaped as a spade for digging or a sword for

slaying, so also a thought can be shaped to be benevolent or

harmful. The spirit-matter of the mental world responds readily with

thought-forms that vibrate in indescribable and exquisite colours of

varying shades like the rainbow hues of mother-of-pearl.

 

"Every seer who has witnessed it, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, speaks

in rapturous terms of its glorious beauty, and ever confesses his

utter inability to describe it; words seem but to coarsen and

deprave it, however deftly woven in its praise." -- Annie Besant in

The Ancient Wisdom.

 

People who have seen the mental world in full consciousness in

physical life run out of words trying to describe the matter and

life on the lowest of its sub-planes. As to the higher sub-planes,

all that can be said is, that as we ascend, the material becomes

finer, the harmonies fuller, the light more living and transparent.

There are more overtones in the sound, more delicate shades in the

colours, more and new colours appear, as we rise through the

sub-planes. It has been said poetically, and truly, that the light

of a lower plane is darkness on the one above it.

 

On the highest sub-plane the matter is ensouled and vivified by an

energy which flows like light from above, from the buddhic plane. As

we descend through each sub-plane, the matter of each sub-plane

becomes the energy of the sub-plane immediately below; more

accurately, the original energy, plus the matter of the higher

sub-planes, becomes the ensouling energy of the next lower

sub-plane. Thus the seventh or lowest sub-plane consists of the

original energy six times enclosed or veiled, and therefore by so

much, weaker and less active.

 

A man who enters the mental world in full consciousness will

experience intense bliss, indescribable vitality, enormously

increased power, and the perfect confidence which flows from these.

He finds himself in the midst of what seems to him a whole universe

of ever-changing light, colour and sound. He will be apparently

floating in a sea of living light, surrounded by every conceivable

variety of loveliness in colour and form, and everything changing

with every wave of thought that he sends out from his mind. He will

also discover that the changes are created by him, by his thoughts

that are readily expressed in the matter of the plane and its

elemental essence.

 

Concrete thoughts, as we saw previously, take the shapes of their

objects, while abstract ideas usually represent themselves by all

kinds of perfect and most beautiful geometrical forms. In this

connection it should be remembered that many thoughts, which to us

on the physical plane are little more than mere abstractions, are on

the mental plane concrete facts.

 

The sacred geometry of yantras used by Hindus in their pujas are

abstractions of the power of the mantras relating to the deities

represented.

 

The scenery and inhabitants of the mental world are described in the

second part of this article.

 

Sources:

1. The Mental Body by Arthur E. Powell

2. The Ancient Wisdom by Annie Besant

3. Theosophy Explained in Questions and Answers by P.Pavri

 

Regards,

saidevo

 

====================================================================