Mind: The Great Mystery — Swami Bhaskarananda (Mind: The Great Mystery, Part 1)

From Vedanta Society of Western Washington · 42:29

Show by Vedanta Society of Western Washington

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on March 10, 2019.In this first lecture of Mind: The Great Mystery, Swami Bhaskarananda examines the elusive nature of the human mind and the different ways it has been understood in Eastern and Western philosophical traditions. He begins by questioning what the mind actually is, where it resides, and how it relates to the physical body. Through personal experiences involving thought transference and the difficulties of controlling one's thoughts, he illustrates the mind's mysterious qualities and its constant influence on human experience. He then traces the development of Western ideas about the mind, from ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to Descartes and later thinkers who associated mental activity with the brain and nervous system.Turning to Indian philosophy, Swami Bhaskarananda introduces the Sankhya understanding of reality, which distinguishes between Purusha, pure consciousness, and Prakriti, the primordial source of matter and the manifest universe. He explains how, according to this philosophical system, the mind is composed of extremely subtle matter and derives its apparent consciousness through its association with Purusha. The lecture establishes the foundation for a more detailed examination of Vedantic psychology in the subsequent talk, inviting a deeper understanding of the distinction between mind, matter, and consciousness.

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