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Modeling the Human Mind

 

This is a working model of the human being with a particular emphasis on demonstrating why as humans we don’t generally see our true nature. Our ordinary consciousness identifies us with our body or mind. However we are not the body and not the mind. We are something beyond that. What we really are is called by various names – Shiva, spirit, allah, Buddha nature, tao, god…The point is that, if we are all that, how come we cannot see our self, why don’t we know our self? The purpose of the Model of the Human being is to demonstrate why…

The bronze masks are the body. Outside the bronze masks is the world with its 10,000 myriad objects. Through the holes in the eye sockets one can look inside the human being. The first layer in a human, after the body is that of energy. It is linked to breath and we experience it as emotions and sensations. In the model the water and the fish correspond to the energy sheath. Our emotions move about in us as fish in water and the nature of energy moving through the nadis (subtle energy channels) of the human astral body are like fish and snakes and are depicted as such, traditionally in Indian art.

 
 

After the energy body begins the mind. As we journey inwards from the outside world, to the body, to the energy and then to the mind, it is good to realize that we are going from gross to subtle. The world is made up of hard objects. The body is more subtle and softer. Energy depicted by water and fish is more subtle than the body replicated in bronze. The mind is more subtle than energy and definitely much more subtle than matter. Energy is the bridge between matter and mind. On the one side it interfaces with the body and on the other side with the mind. Therefore our energy or the way we feel is influenced both by physical and mental factors. If we eat something (physical) we feel good. If we think about something good or a perceived pleasant circumstance occurs in our life (mental) we feel good. And vice versa with the bad.

The mind comes after the energy fish tank and is depicted by the mind chamber. The mind has 8 levels. The first 5 levels simply process the input from the 5 senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch). These 5 levels are not depicted in the installation because they are straightforward and we experience our senses clearly. We can all hear, see, smell, taste and touch. The 6th and 7th level of the human mind is the “manas” and the intellect, these are the realm of thought. This manas is the subconscious mind which is a lot of random thought. The intellect is more logical. The intellect or the 7th layer of the mind is also dominated by the ego sense. It is here that a sense of “I”, “Me” and “Mine” predominates. The ego sense attaches an I to the inputs from the 5 senses. So we say “My work, my house”, “my body”, “I feel good”, “I see a pigeon”, “I smell” and also thought, as in “I think this is a good idea”…
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The 6th layer of the mind is comprised of random streams of thought that are created based on inputs from the 5 senses. So we generally end up thinking about what happens in 1) our world 2) our body 3) our energy 4) our mind. Each of the above 4 realms are demonstrated in the model as described above. These thoughts churn randomly in our mind and generally we are not aware of how prevalent they are. A meditator who sits down consistently and makes a practice of looking inwards, encounters these thoughts first hand. Random thoughts have the character of flickering images and light flitting objects flying around. Thoughts are real things, just as a film projection on a screen is real. Both are real but both are very subtle.

In the mind model the manas is demonstrated in a two fold way. The first is the fan chamber and the second is the video projection. In the fan chamber bean bag beans fly around like the random thoughts in our mind. In addition a projector that is built into the installation projects random images onto the glass that represents the borders between the various layers in the human being. Thus far, the viewer ( who is you, and the real self) experiences the body(the mask), the energy (the fish and water) and the mind ( the fan chamber with projection) all laid out in the installation, one after the other, as one would experience them when sitting in meditation and looking inwards starting with the body, experiencing the energy and then experiencing the turbulent mind. Another insight that follows from the human model is that the body, energy, mind equipment is all inert, all dead – the only living consciousness in the installation is the viewer that is you. The same is true with our own body, energy and mind installation. They are not conscious, just like the human model.

   
 
   
  The 8th layer of the mind is the Alaya, which literally means the storehouse, this is also the causal body. This is where the karmic imprints of all our actions are stored. It is literally a store house of karma. It is our accumulated bag and baggage from all our past lives. It is who we are as an individual. After death, the body dies, but the causal body continues and takes on another physical body. All our thoughts in the 6th and 7th level of the mind have effects, because karma is in the mind. The old analogy of the murderer plunging a knife into someone’s stomach with the intent to kill and the surgeon doing the same with the intent to save, shows clearly that karma has nothing to do with physical action. The same applied to verbal action. We may admonish a puppy strongly but with the intent to save it from biting into a sharp object. Karma is in the mind. Since it is in the mind, it must be stored somewhere in the mind. And it is stored in the 8th layer, the Alaya. In the install this is depicted by the rotating fan lights. Karmic seeds that are stored in the alaya sprout into the mind giving us impulses and thoughts and propelling our life in various directions. This is how our past karma affects our current lives. Also any mental actions (intent) we undertake have karmic imprints which go back into the alaya. The 6th and 7th layer of the mind can be compared to the computer RAM, and the 8th is the hard drive. The 8th stores data and data is retrieved into the 6th and 7th from the 8th on an ongoing basis.

Having come to the inner most frontier of the human mind. The model of the human being goes beyond the individual human. After the 8th level of the mind, there is no individuality left. There is no “you” and “me”. There is the “One”. It is who you are and who I am. But it is not specific to you or me in any way. Your one and my one, is the same, it is The One. And it is in this sense that the sages say “We are all one!” This is not some poetic metaphor, but the way things are in the real world, or rather as things “really are, in reality. The One is called Shiva, Allah, God, Budda Nature, Tao, you name it…at the end of the day it is the same thing…It is also called Spirit and it is the seeking of the spirit that is called spirituality, and a person who has a connection with the spirit (through their body, energy and mind as is being demonstrated in this model), is said to be a spiritual person.
 
 
   
 
The globe of light at the epicenter of the installation is the spirit. In reality spirit is not just light. Light is a pale metaphor for spirit. Spirit has other qualities that light does not possess. These include the universal intelligence, love, compassion, creativity, in short all the qualities of the universe. However its nature is similar to that of our physical light in that it is very subtle when compared to our matter, bodies, energy and even our mind. Spirit or Shiva is much subtler than our mind. And remember it occurs in the human being, after the 8th layer of the mind.

Having described the various components of the human being and how they are constructed in the mind model installation, the next step is to answer the question that we set out to answer in the first place. Namely, if we are Shiva and if TAT TVAM ASI ( “thou art that”, the ancient vedic verse) is true, then why don’t we experience ourself as Shiva?

The model has two sides and hence a viewer can approach it from either side. One side is called Samsara. The other is called Nirvana. Since it is a model of the human being it has been designed to demonstrate how a human being works as closely as possible. The two sides of the model correspond to possible modes that us humans can function in. The Samsara mode is the ordinary mode. The nirvana is the super mode and also the mode of liberation. The largest corollary of the model is its ability to physically, visually and interactively demonstrate the states of Samsara and Nirvana.
 
 
   
 

The viewer goes to the side of the model labeled “Samsara”, throws the lever to crank on the machine, the lights, fans, projectors and all the other interiorphanelia will turn on. When the users looks through the eyes of the bronze mask, they will see the water and the fish (akin to their experience of how they feel in their body), but then they will encounter the mind chamber. There will be bean bag beans flying about and visual video projections. This activity will obscure the light that lies behind it. The light from globe of Shiva will stream through the transparent panes of the inner layers of the mind, but the conundrum occurring in the 6th and 7th layers of the mind will block a lot of the light. Therefore the viewer looking from outside the mask (their ordinary consciouness starting with the body) will mostly experience their body ( the mask), their energy (the fish and water) and their mind(The flying beans and projections). Some light will filter through. This corresponds to the moments of beauty, love, joy, inspiration and spirit that ordinary people sometimes experience through the gaps in the turbulence in their mind. Someone may say that their mind is calm. But that is the tip of the iceberg. They are not aware of the turbulence in their mind that goes on at a great speed moment to moment. This becomes clear when one sits down to meditate.

The viewer having seen how the light of Shiva is obscured by activity in the mind, may wonder about how to experience Shiva. They should then walk around to the other side of the model, labeled Nirvana. This is an important walk. In real life, this walk is done when some one decides to change tracks from only pursuing the world to walking on a path that will lead them to Shiva or to their own true self nature.

The Nirvana side is simple. It is the Samsara side that is complicated. In the Nirvana side there is no mind. The light shines through the empty space of the mind, through the water and fish of purified energy, through the mask of the body and the viewer sees it clearly. That’s all there is to nirvana. This light is physical light in the model. But in meditation it is the light of Shiva and as it filters through into the mind, energy, body and world of the practitioner it brings the qualities of love, compassion, wisdom, creativity and joy. It is the ultimate elixir of life. It is the soma, the nectar of the gods, it is the spice. The spice transforms consciousness.
   
   
 
 

The close correspondence between the model and the reality of the concepts it depicts allows the writer to refer equally to the model and the concepts. Thus talking about the model results in a spontaneous construction of a philosophy of Samsara and Nirvana. Since the model is in tune with how things really are, and the mystics who created ancient Indian philosophy, were also in tune with the same reality, the philosophy that results from talking about the model, is identical to the traditional Indian philosophy. Here Shiva is refereed to as Brahman.

Coming back to the Nirvana side of things. The only difference between Nirvana and Samsara is that in Nirvana there is no mind. Through various practices, the practitioner is able to purify their various inner layers. They can purify the body through physical exercise. Their energy can be purified by breathing exercise. Certain practices like Yoga combine the two to purify the body and the energy at the same time. This is why as a practice, yoga or kungfu (with the corresponding breathing practices) is superior to going to the gym. The former purify the body and the energy. The latter only purifies the body. The practitioners purify their mind through meditation.

Meditation is vast, yet a very very simple practice. The essence of meditation is to disregard anything that arises in the mind. This disregard results in the thoughts becoming weaker and weaker until they are very slight or entirely absent. So the meditator sits peacefully on the cushion. Their physical posture is erect with spine straight and shoulders pulled back. This also results in purification of the physical and moreover energetic body and the nadis (subtle energy channels) in the body become flexible and open up, and the soma juices, the pure essences of the universe, flow throughout the subtle energy body. Sitting as such, the meditator, practices disregarding thoughts as they arise, through various simple techniques. Done for 1 hour daily, after a time, thoughts diminish and the 6th layer of the mind becomes relatively clear.

 
 

The model also demonstrates how a human in the state of Samsara can go to the state of Nirvana. The viewer should walk back to the Samsara side of the model and start turning down the regulator of the fan in the fan chamber. This corresponds to turning the mind down in meditation and action. As the volume of the mind is turned down the activity in the mind reduces and it becomes more transparent. As its transparency increases, what lies behind it shows through. It’s really that simple. In fact it is so simple that our complicated minds lost in darting here and there miss it. Like a hyper puppy jumping here and there, will not see a bone in front of it. An wiser old dog sitting quietly will see it clearly.

As the viewer turns the regulator of the fan of the mind chamber down, the light of Shiva shines through. This demonstrates the core principle of all of spirituality or the pursuit of the spirit/Shiva/Allah/Buddha/The force/The Tao….you name it…The only way for a human to reach the spirit and bring it into their life is to turn the mind down. The question then becomes how does one turn the mind down. The answer is, by meditation, and in order for meditation to intensify, one must also purify their energy and body. Therefore aid practices are needed. These are explored in depth in traditional spiritual knowledge disseminated by all the gurus of most spiritual practices.
 

The final issue that remains in this analysis is, where does “the Devi” fit into all this…This human model was designed to demonstrate the state of the human being to a lay person. For the lay person it is important to first find themselves, i.e. Shiva. For a human the experience of Devi begins only after they find Shiva or spirituality. But for the sake of comprehensiveness I will say that in this model if Shiva is the globe of light, then Devi is the mind, the energy and the body, i.e. everything other than the globe of light in the model is Devi. Shiva is the form less. Devi is the formed. Together, Shiva and the Devi form the entire universe. This human model is therefore a mini replica of the entire universe, as is everything else in the universe. The entire universe is permeated by Shiva and the Devi, or in non-cultural language, by emptiness and form.