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Here is an essay on the human mind.
All the human beings have structurally the same brain but its functioning varies. The functioning determines success or failure, reward or punishment, rejection or honour of an individual.
Human mind in physiological terms is called brain which weighs approximately three pounds in an average adult human being. Mind controls, governs and guides the activities of the entire body system which in turn controls the heart beats, rate of respiration, the generative parts, the various glands and their secretions.
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A person is what his mind is. Human mind is restless by nature and it creates a restless world around itself. The more it gets, the more it craves for. The vicious circle of endless desires intoxicates it and gradually it gives way to feelings of jealousy, pride and ambition and other demonic traits like enmity and egoism.
Human Mind is a multi-level phenomenon and there are certain areas of mind which cannot be reached by conscious ego of the individual. It may not be an exaggeration to say that each person is a mystery unto himself. Tension in mind affects temperament of a person and ungoverned temper affects the whole system of a human being including all organs, limbs and senses.
The Sankhya School of Indian Philosophy believes that the entire world including human being is a manifestation of male prakriti, which is constitute of:
(a) Sattwa,
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(b) Rajas and
(c) Tamas Gunas.
Human body is a synthesis of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. Sattwa is indicator of happiness, virtue and knowledge. Rajas leads to action which rouses attachment and vision of multiplicity. Tamas casts a veil of ignorance over one’s mind and one falls asleep spiritually.
The combinations of these gunas determine the quality of a person in terms of sukh, dukh and moha. Sukh in terms of sincerity, respect, forbearance, kindness are sattwa qualities. Dukh in terms of spite, anger and other immoral emotions Eire Rajas qualities.
Moha in terms of fear, scepticism, and crookedness represent Tamas qualities. These three gunas are, therefore, regarded primarily as feelings which hold within themselves the germs of differences and diversities.
The identical nature of human mind is explained well by Yogic concept of Sahasra and Muladhara. In yoga, the, human brain is a mass of tissues, whose structure, composition, shape and form resemble the shape and form of a lotus flower.
The lotus has thousands of petals which are symbolized in the brain by a series of folds of ridges called a convolution of gunas. Like the lotus flower the brain is attached to its stem which is called the Spinal cord.
Further as lotus stem is rooted in the ground from which it receives nourishment, energy or life, so also the brain-stem (the spinal cord) is rooted in the Muladhara which is physiologically termed as Sacrum. According to the Yogic concept the source of all energy is Muladhara which acts like the root by serving as the source of energy, power and life to the lotus flower.
The other similarity of the brain and lotus flower is as follows:
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Lotus grows in water and its stem is vertical in shape from the root upto the surface of water where it holds the flower. The spinal cord is also vertical from Muladhara upto the base of the brain. As lotus flower is on the top of its stem so is the Sahasra (the brain) on the top its stem (the spine) and they are surrounded by a fluid known as cerebrospinal fluid.
Muladhara is a Sanskrit word consisting of Mula which means the root and Adhara which means the foundation or the base. Muladhara is that part of porenium, where the anus and the genitals meet. In yogic concepts reproductive glands have been regarded as sources of energy.
The mental level disparity exists from a person to person because of differences of knowledge motivation values, interests, training disciplinary habits, way of life and inherent power. The composition and qualities of the mind at the time of birth are the same in all persons, but they start differentiating and varying due to the environment in which they are brought up.