The conscious mind

Having acquired some understanding of the twofold nature of the mind let us now further explore the workings of each component of the mind so that we can acquire a better understanding of the mind and its workings. Let us start with the corporeal mind or the temporal mind, or the mind that in most cases and instances is known as the conscious mind simply because it is the mind that operates while we are awake and continues to operate until the body is asleep, induced or otherwise.

Before we go any further, it’s worth briefly at least, explaining the practices of the ancient Hindus to show the order of preference and to explain where the emphasis lies with regards to faith. As far as Hindu ascetics and monks are concerned, the latter mind or the subconscious mind, is far more important than the former mind or the conscious mind.

The early Hindus were first and foremost ascetics i.e. they existed first in the meditative or the transcendental state and many of their ancient cities for example the Mohenjo Daro and Harappa cities were built to facilitate worship and this is made all the more evident in the way the cities were built and structured. 

The Mohenjo Daro and Harappa cities or the Indus Valley Civilization was the first civilization in the world or the earliest civilization in history to have a sanitation system and cleanliness not only of the mind but also of the body is important in the Hindu faith, and the legacy that has been left behind by the Indus Valley cities is still alive in contemporary Hinduism.

Initially the conscious mind was the subservient mind and the Hindus in their ancient civilizations spent most of their time in the meditative or contemplative state and the conscious mind only came into play when they needed to fulfill bodily requirements and activities related to that for example, eating and fulfilling other duties that perpetuated existence like tilling the fields, or ensuring that there was sufficient water for the crops - both the Mohenjo Daro and Harappa cities had a complex and sophisticated irrigation system.

However with the passage of time, other factors, many of them external, began to influence the ancient people who inhabited these cities and that led to a collapse of their ascetic way of life and the emphasis changed to a more temporal or a more corporeal existence and this change triggered or perpetuated the eventual collapse of numerous ancient Hindu civilizations.

With the passage of time, the conscious mind began to play a more prominent role and it eventually usurped the role of the subconscious mind relegating it to the furthest corners, and material needs began to take precedence and come to the forefront. With each generation the reliance on the conscious mind increased and the use of the subconscious mind decreased until it came to the point that most Hindus were no longer aware of the twofold nature of the mind and confined it solely to the realms of the purists and the ascetics.

In addition to the labels given above, the conscious mind is also sometimes either tagged or labeled the infant mind or the reactive mind and these tags aptly describe the conscious mind. They are a reflection of the characteristics of the conscious mind.

The conscious mind is an infant not only in terms of age i.e. it only exists for the duration of a lifetime but it is also an infant in terms of its cravings. It is a very materialistic mind and when the needs of the senses are not satisfied or fulfilled in tends to display a range of emotions that vary from sadness to anger but rarely understands that there is a higher order that sometimes dictates or influences the outcome of things.

The conscious mind is easily disheartened and because of its unwillingness to accept and make the best of any given situation it easily succumbs to illnesses and a person who is overly reliant on the conscious mind will more often than not fall victim to some sickness or the other and it tends to shorten one’s lifespan. Therefore, the conscious mind has to be curtailed and just like a child has to be told “no” to prevent any sort of harm from befalling the child; the impulses of the conscious mind have to be likewise restricted.

The conscious mind is also called the reactive mind because it reacts to situations often without giving the matter much thought and sometimes because of its impetuous nature it finds itself in a fix. Therefore, in any given situation it is best to rein in the impulses of the conscious mind and to think the matter through before acting.

The conscious mind is more concerned with temporal existence and while it does accept that there is life after death, it fails to explore it further because it is afraid of what it might uncover and it is afraid that if the body it belongs to spends more time exploring the other facets of existence, it might eventually be relegated to a secondary role and the subconscious mind may return to the forefront.

Copyright © 2019 by Kathiresan Ramachanderam