Levels of Mind

Conscious Mind

Conscious mind is that part of our mind which reasons, thinks, discriminates, contemplates and analyzes. Emotions or feelings of all sorts, i.e. likes, dislikes, love, hatred, jealousy, anger, joys, sorrows etc., are all experienced in this mind. Imagination of all sorts of future happenings and worrying about the past are all done through this mind.

Through physical senses (Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch and Taste), conscious mind remains in contact with the outside world. All voluntary movements of the body are done by our conscious mind only, through the respective organs of action.

Besides, the conscious mind also remains in touch with the subconscious mind (another level of mind described later). Impulses and urges from our subconscious mind induce the conscious mind to behave in a certain way and to indulge in certain types of action. However, the conscious mind on the other hand is also subject to pressures from society and outside world which expect it to act or behave in a certain way so that its image is not tarnished. It results in a conflict if the subconscious mind’s urges and the social expectations don’t match and thus our conscious mind remains in a state of conflict and turmoil. If it increases too much, it results in many psychosomatic diseases.

The central idea in mind control is to remove this conflict in the conscious mind by exposing the subconscious mind totally and removing all types of biases, prejudices, fears, suspicions, and negative emotions stored there.

Subconscious Mind

Subconscious mind is another level of mind and is accessed when we go deep inside our inner journey.

The subconscious mind is the storehouse of our memory. All that we have ever seen, heard, thought, talked, done whether in this life or earlier lives get stored here as a sort of permanent record. Emotions linked with our thoughts, words and actions are also deposited in our subconscious mind along with memory. It is this emotional part of our thoughts/words/deeds which after depositing in the subconscious mind plays havoc with us. These emotions make the conscious mind restless by constantly agitating it from below. They are like fire balls kept below the conscious mind. The urges and impulses rising from the subconscious mind constantly demand satisfaction through the conscious mind.

Pure memory without any emotions doesn’t affect the purity of subconscious mind. It is the emotions which make the water of subconscious mind impure and turbulent and which in turn agitate the conscious mind.

Every incident to which we react with emotion also creates an impression on the subconscious mind which is called samskara. Because of these impressions, we all have different types of predispositions, inclinations, habits, biases, phobias, fears etc. In the science of mental control, the subconscious mind is purged of all these impressions and impurities, and rendered pure. To illustrate it with an example, suppose you have had a very bad experience with a tenant in your house. You had frequent quarrels, shouting, and exchange of abuses with him. By such repeated incidents, you might develop a bias or impression in your mind that now you will never give your house on rent to anybody because all tenants would be like that only. Similarly, another person who has had a wonderful relation with his tenant might develop a bias that it is good to keep a tenant in the house. Thus, because of biases, both the persons are not able to see the reality as it is. However, the fact of the life is that there are both good and bad person in the world and just because some persons are bad, everybody doesn’t become bad. Even you may have to say at a place as a tenant where you do not have a house of your own, will you behave in the same way as your tenant behaved with you? Certainly not. The requirement is to clean the subconscious mind of all biases and past conditioning so that it can look upon the things in a completely objective way without adding the colour of emotions.

Normally, the subconscious mind can’t be directly accessed. Way to go to it is only through the conscious mind. But a branch of science has been developed called ‘hynotism’ through which the hypnotist makes a direct access to his subject’s subconscious mind by bringing his conscious mind in a semi-sleep or drowsy state by suitable techniques. The advantages of this direct access is that the subject’s phobias, fears, biases, guilt complexes stored in the subconscious mind can be directly known and then counter suggestions can be given to the patient’s subconscious mind to alter these patterns. So many psychological treatments have been done this way where the roots of the problems were lying in patient’s subconscious mind. Use of hypnotism has now been extended to painless surgeries and childbirth by giving the patient necessary suggestions during hypnosis and there is no need to give external anaesthesia.

All our mental powers or occult powers belong to the domain of the subconscious mind. Telepathy (mind to mind communication), clairvoyance (seeing distant things), clairaudience (hearing distant sound), hypnosis, autosuggestions, visualization, all these phenomena belong to our subconscious mind. When by any means (i.e. meditation, hypnosis), we have access to our subconscious mind, we can have access to these powers also. Power of materialisation of thought also belongs to the domain of the subconscious mind.

Functioning of autonomous nervous system in our body is totally under control of the subconscious mind, e.g. activities of breathing, digestion, blood-circulation, heart, immune system, etc.

Super conscious Mind

Super conscious mind is our real self devoid of any impurity and full of bliss and peace. If we can have a glimpse of it even for a moment we will be filled with indescribable peace. It is like drinking from the fountain of joy and peace. The more we are able to stay at this place, the more the nectar of bliss and peace and happiness comes by our contact with this real self. The illusory happiness or pleasures which we derive from worldly possessions and sensory enjoyments are only short lived and mixed with pain.

Now the most vital question is how to remain in contact with our super conscious mind or real self? The subconscious mind acts as a barrier between the conscious mind and super conscious mind and dose not allow the conscious mind to perceive the super conscious mind directly by turning within. To illustrate it with an analogy, the subconscious mind is like a lake filled with water, the super conscious mind is the bottom of the lake and the conscious mind is the perceiver looking from the top through the water of the lake. So long as the water of the lake is dirty and turbulent (i.e. the subconscious mind is full of impurities), the conscious mind can’t see the bottom of the lake. But when the water of lake is pure and calm (i.e. a pure subconscious mind purged of all impurities), you can clearly see the bottom of the lake.

Hence in other words, techniques of self realization are nothing but a process of cleaning the impurities of the subconscious mind and a process of stilling the conscious mind and turning it inward. When the conscious mind is directed outwards, it is in contact with the world and when it is inwardly directed it is directed towards this real self (or the super conscious mind). This is what is done in meditation to turn the direction of mind inwards, that is, towards the real self.