ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN MIND

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN MIND
Man is defined as a rational animal. That part of him, endowed with the power of reasoning,
formed his human nature, and this was the centre of his personality. On one side, the urge for a
higher state of consciousness was his essential, ever-pure, ever-perfect, divine nature, which was
unborn, undecaying, imperishable, and of the nature of immortal existence which was his real
being, and which continues even after the dissolution of the physical body, even after the cessation
of the functioning of the mind. When one life-span comes to an end at the dissolution of the physical
body, all mental processes of the individual come to an end and all sensory processes based upon
the thought-process also come to an end. We find that even after one’s mind ceases to operate, the

consciousness, the real part of the human being, continues to be, and spiritual researches by sages of
intuition have found out that this unit of consciousness continues to travel along a chain, link by
link, and human incarnation being a link in the chain, much doubt that there was regarding the
continuity of consciousness after the dissolution of the body and cessation of the mental processes
was set aside conclusively in two ways. The memory of previous birth in an individual was active
and the data or facts given in connection with one’s previous existence were put to test and later on
were proved to be correct in every minute detail. In the West, the continuity of consciousness has
been proved by certain research-workers upon a somewhat lower scale, who were able to contact
personalities after the dissolution of their physical bodies. Among some of the foremost figures of
such researches who established the continuity of consciousness we might mention Sir Oliver
Lodge. They were very well-known figures in Western literature and amongst Western thinkers.
Now, this essential part of man is defined as a thing ever calling him higher up towards noble
aspirations, towards struggle for the attainment of a higher consciousness where he is established in
an experience where sorrows cannot touch him, where pains of the physical and mental sheaths
cease to be and a state of continuous bliss characterises that experience; and at the same time we
found that on the other side of the central human, rational nature there was the grosser aspect of his
being, the brutal, animalistic aspect, made up of the lower appetites, the lower sensual passions, the
impure urges that form a part of every human being. The world process is the evolution from the
lower stages of being to the higher levels and Indian thought holds that as the individual unit of
consciousness passes through lower stages of existence, the impress of each stage that it passes
through is left in the depth of consciousness and this forms the constitution of his animalistic nature
or his impure grosser being. Thus each level of existence leaves within him some trace of the
characteristics of that stage of gross existence. In the animal stage, the predominant characteristic is
the instinct, which is present in the form of urges over which the being has no control. They are not
guided by rational thought and therefore these elements go to form the lower part of the being. The
animal subdued and suppressed in the consciousness, the Divine yet to be awakened, it is yet latent,
not patent, and in between them is the human nature, ever active, dynamic, expressing itself in
various modes in the life of the individual, but swayed between the animal and divine natures.
Every being is attracted towards the suppressed, yet active animal nature. Animal nature is active in
various degrees in each human being, whereas the divine has not started to be active because it is
still sleeping, it is not yet awakened. So the individual is more drawn towards the animal nature, and
therefore it was found that human life is a struggle between the undivine nature of the individual
and the power of reasoning which said, “I think this is not worthy of me. As a human being I should
not do it.” These considerations are kept active by the human reason. How?
By the force of early training. In the child stage he is trained by the elders to avoid doing
certain things and to be ashamed of doing certain things. Therefore, early training, and family
heritage play an important part. Suppose, he is born in an educated, cultured family; naturally his
instincts are more refined, The reason offers lesser restraints to those who are born in an uncivilised
family, very backward, unlettered class; even though they are endowed with reason, it does not
operate in the same degree as it does in the case of a man born in a civilised, cultured family. Early
training, heritage, and later on his previous Samskaras begin to operate. Samskara means
impressions left over by the experiences in a previous incarnation. Life is progression, and in each
birth man goes on learning things and he goes on drawing lessons from experience, and all these
lessons are there in the form of subtle impressions in the human being. It may be a liability or it may
be an asset in the form of impressions carried over from experiences and activities in a previous

birth, and these Samskaras begin to operate with the ego or individuality which begins to function in
a human being after a certain age. In one’s childhood individuality does not function. Normally, it is
only after a certain age that children begin to manifest their individuality, and when they do so, the
impressions of their previous birth begin to work, and they also begin to play a part in the reasoning
of man direct, induce him to take to certain actions and to avoid certain actions. Then we have the
restraint of a civilised society. People say, “Do not do this.” Certain things are disallowed, certain
things are looked upon as something to be abhorred. These influences go to make up the rational
part of man, and it is a struggle between these factors and the lower urges that make up the conflict
in every individual. The factors of self-respect, decency—all these factors begin to operate in aman
and they act to a certain extent as a restraint against the urges of his grosser animalistic nature. And
supposing he comes into contact with higher minds and begins to hear words of wisdom, comes into
contact with elevating literature and hears more and more about divine things, his intellect begins to
be educated. Then the power of restraint over the lower self becomes stronger and establishes him
more and more upon a human nature. And he becomes aman of self-restraint, self-discipline, aman
who has mastery over his lower appetites and urges. And in society, the factor of fear also does act
to some extent as a bar upon the mind’s lower appetites. Suppose a man acts badly. Then he will be
punished. So, fear of punishment is there. In the higher planes of evolution the fear is not from the
world, but the fear is from punishment of God. All these things go to make him steadily fixed to
human level and act as a check upon the too frequent manifestation of the urges of the lower,
grosser, impure, animalistic part of the human being. And then, of course, there are occasionally
clashes. Suddenly certain moments come in the life of every human being when he or she begins to
ponder upon his or her life, “Have I lived to any purpose? What is the meaning of all these? After all
one day I shall have to go out of this scene at one moment’s notice.” Then he or she feels a sense of
dissatisfaction upon the type of life that he or she has been leading and a call comes from some high
source and there is an urge for betterment, for rising higher up, for experiencing something which is
not merely something mundane, which is not of physical life. At those times man becomes a
philosopher and tries to rise above his sensual life. But again in the whirl of his daily activities, he
forgets the real purpose of his life. Again moments come in his life when he questions: “Is there a
higher purpose in life?” It is indicative of the presence of a higher nature in the being which is
capable of being experienced and realised, and it is to enable man to take advantage of this upward
wave and rise up from the normal humdrum activities of this physical world that all Godmen
constantly keep on urging man, saying: “What are you doing here? How long will you slumber?”
They try to rouse again and again the sleeping, essential, divine nature in a human being. Therefore,
analysing the threefold nature of man we found that the process of Yoga, the fundamental work it
had to achieve, was the liquidation or elimination of the lower, animalistic nature of man and the
sublimation of his human consciousness into a higher divine consciousness where he goes beyond
the body and mind and is established in the perennial, glorious experience of his blissful, true Self,
his essential nature, the Truth that shines in the innermost chamber of his consciousness. While
dwelling upon this inner anatomy of the movement of Yoga in man, we also mentioned that if this is
the process, then all Yogas, however much they may differ in their external modes, are necessary to
work out the self-same process, and today we will try to consider how the different Yogas actually
work out the one central process and in what way they set about doing this one process. It is like
this: We find that man expresses himself through his speech and his actions. Whether aman is good
or bad, whether his life is good or bad, can be known only from his speech and actions. If a man is
very animalistic, very impure, he does atrocious acts. All his actions are impure, sinful, harmful. He
brings pain, sorrow and destruction to others. In speech he is harsh. He brings about disgrace upon

people, he insults people, he pains people. Thus through harsh, cruel and wrong words and actions
the Asuric nature of manmanifests itself upon this human plane. All manifestation is through action
and speech. But, the Yogins and seers of the past tried to go beyond the actions and the speech of
man. They said, “These speeches and actions are more in the form of manifestations of something
deep inward and we should first of all know whence they spring forth, and trying to trace the actions
and speech of the beings to their source, they found that actions and speech were rooted in thoughts.
It was only what man thought and felt in the mind that became later on expressed in the form of
speech and action. Speech and action, though they were of tremendous import in the external world
and they worked havoc or did wonderful good upon the external field of human life, they were
nothing but the outward symptoms of an inner power and that power was the power of thought. It is
to do researches in the study of thought that they devoted their attention and all their wisdom, and
they found that they were confronted with a very mysterious and complicated array of factors in
their mind. All those arose in their mind and therefore a study of man’s mind was the most
important work of Yoga. Analysis of man’s mind, minute research into the various aspects of the
being of man, how the mind acts, what are its various moods, what is its essential constituent—all
these formed the subject matter of Yogins. They found that mind thinks due to various factors and
its manifestations also depend upon various factors. Now, actions and speeches were traced to their
root, thought, and that was traced to its genesis. Why is it that a certain type of thoughts come in a
mind and not another type of thoughts? What is the thing that sustains thought? They began to make
deeper and deeper research and they came to some marvellous discoveries. What were they? They
found that thought was not totally haphazard. I will give you some very easy examples which will
reveal to you some laws that operate in the realm of each one’s mind. What are these laws?
For instance, if you see a doctor, immediately the thought of dispensary, thought of hospital,
thought of medicine come. If you see a soldier in military uniform, the thought of warfare, thought
of tanks, guns, the thought of soldiers charging, all these things come to the mind. If you see a
lawyer, thought of courts, brief, clients, criminal procedure, judge, sentence and jail—all these
come. There are two things involved in this process. One is: we find out a law that any object
perceived by the human mind through the avenues of any one of the five senses immediately sets up
a train of thought which is of the same nature as the object perceived. And then one thought sets
about raising in the mind other thoughts associated with it. It is called the law of association. And
therefore this law even dispenses with the necessity of having an object present before your eye for
setting up a thought. Just from memory you think of something. Immediately that also sets into
motion a train of thoughts associated with the object conjured up in the mind through memory, and
they found that the law of association is there operating in the realm of mind and directing our
thoughts. Also another very interesting law was found out. That is they found that mind has got a
peculiar, Imay call it a very dangerous and nasty habit. It is a headache for all seekers. It has got this
pernicious habit of making a lightning record of whatever sense contact that a human being makes.
In passing you may speak some words, see some persons, you may undergo some experience;
immediately a lightning record leaves a Samskara; and why it is very important to the Yogin is due
to the very peculiar nature of this Samskara. Samskara is not merely a dead-line drawn upon a
canvas, but it is a live record, and I shall explain to you what a live record means. There is a
photographic record. If anything comes across a sensitive plate, immediately it takes an image of it
and keeps it for ever, but that is only a dead impression. That image which a photographic plate has
taken upon itself cannot come and talk to you. But then, this Samskara is an impression taken by the

mind which has got in itself the capacity to once again recreate in the individual the entire

experience which originally caused it. It is a very important aspect of the nature of a Samskara that
gets into a human mind through any chance contact or activity or experience that the individual
happens to go through. Each Samskara has inherent in it the capacity to once again recreate that
very experience which originally caused it. And you will understand it perfectly if I tell you an
analogy in our external life. What is it? Out of a big tree we get a smaller seed as a product of that
tree. The tree is vast, but the seed is very small. But then, what is the tremendous capacity of this
seed. Even though it looks so small it has got inherent in itself the ability or the power to once again
recreate in all fullness and in all details the entire tree which originally brought it about. Given
proper conditions and given the favourable factors for it to spring into dynamism, this little seed can
once again recreate in entirety all details of the tree which was the cause for its coming into being.
Thus it is with Samskara. Supposing someone gave you something to taste. The actual taste is only
over an area of two inches or three inches on the tongue. Before the thing comes in contact with
your tongue, there is no taste. Once it goes down into the throat there is no taste. You experience the
taste only as long as the thing is on your tongue. Yet this little experience is immediately captured
and kept in the mind as a Samskara. Supposing you happen to pass through that particular city or
town where ten years ago you happened to taste that thing. When you pass through that city, or
town, the memory comes, “In 1945 I ate this thing, and I ate it in that particular locality.” Suppose
you are sitting somewhere. Once you think of it, you begin to imagine how beautiful it was, how it
melted in your mouth, and it starts sensory reaction, and this imagination immediately makes the
Samskara take the form of a desire. First the Samskara lies as a Vasana and the Vasana rises as a
Vritti and mentally the whole is recreated, and this process of recreation through the power of
imagination crystallises as a desire. And once the desire arises, the being at once tries to fulfil it. He
becomes a slave of that desire. If desire comes, then an effort to fulfil it becomes the nature of the
normal human being. Immediately the ego-sense says, “I must take it,” and the ego also identifies
itself with the desire, but if the ego has the higher discriminative part, instead of identifying itself
with the desire, it tries to identify itself with the higher discriminative faculty, the Buddhi, which
says, “I don’t want this.” But normally the ego is not endowed with the faculty of discrimination
and it also identifies itself with the desires, and orders are given to the various senses. Immediately
you look into the telephone directory and see the number of the shop where you can purchase the
thing that you want. If you succeed in finding the number, you at once place an order over the
phone. If you cannot find the number of the shop, you take a taxi and go to the shop and then the
experience is once again recreated. You sit there, order for the dish and experience it. This
experience leaves another Samskara, or intensifies your old Samskara. The process of Yoga
demands the frying of Samskaras. Put a seed in a frying pan and roast it over the fire. Supposing you
then sow that seed in the soil, then it will not sprout forth because the life-principle has been
completely roasted out. So is the case in Samadhi. I am talking to you about one Samskara which is
so very powerful, whereas there are countless thousands of Samskaras. Every day from morning till
night we go on accumulating sense experiences whether we are aware of it or not. Everything that
we experience is turned into a Samskara. Every moment of our waking life, we go on acquiring
Samskaras. Therefore, they say that it is impossible to kill all the Samskaras one by one. If you drop
an atom bomb, thousands of people will be killed simultaneously. Similarly the weapon they gave
is Samadhi, the experience of super-consciousness, which they say will fry once and for all, all
Samskaras so that they cannot recreate the experiences which originally created them. The frying of
the Samskaras is the method of Yogin, This is brought about by intense meditation, and with the
Nasa or annihilation of Samskaras, man is freed from bondage. This is the process of Yoga. This

was one of the discoveries that they made when they went into the research of the mind. The whole
of Raja Yoga can be said to be the method of frying the Samskaras of the mind.