man mind and happiness

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Writer

Dr.Sanat TrivediM.B.B.S. D.P.H.

B/15 Pavan apt.

Nr. Judges bunglow

Bodakdev

Ahmedabad

Gujarat India

Email: [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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The human mindINDEX

Physical body

Digestive system:Cardiovascular System:Respiratory System:Urinary System:Reproductive System:Nervous System:

What is mind?MindPhilosophical theoryInner-self or Mana

Functions of the Mind

Ego,I- consciousnessDecision making PerceptionConcept

Knowledge

Emotional component of the mind.

Strong mindcharacters which strengthens the mental capacity.

StabilityRationalityRight Perception and rationalityIndependenceCompassionIntegritySelf ConfidencePositive attitude towards life.

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Weak mind.AttachmentFEARAngerMind and physical Health

Mind and happinessWhat is happiness?Real happinessLogic of unhappinessDifferent types of happinessSensuousMentalEgo basedBased on creativitySpiritual

Evolution of mind:

The human mind

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Physical body

The human body is a precious creation of nature. Body organsand systems are so developed that they perform their functions

rhythmically and regularly for years together. All the organs andsystems of the body are interdependent and inter-related. The self-coordinated functions of the various organs and systems of the bodylead to the ultimate goal of survival and reproduction. The mostsurprising character of the human body system is its regularity,rhythmicity and autonomicity. The various complex and complicated body systems functionnormally and steadily without the conscious awareness of theperson. For example, our heart beats regularly, our kidneys filterbody wastes, our stomach and intestines digest food, the liverdetoxifies the toxins and the lungs purify the blood of carbon

dioxide and provide fresh oxygen to the blood. All these functionsare carried out by each and every organ and system of the bodyregularly and efficiently without the conscious knowledge of theperson.In-depth study and knowledge of the physiology and anatomy of thebody has revealed number of facts which are more thrilling andexciting than any fiction story. There are number of organs andsystems in the body working in close coordination with each other.Some of the major systems of the body are as follows:

(1) Digestive system(2) Cardio vascular system(3) Respiratory system(4) Nervous system(5) Urinary system(6) Reproductive system

Digestive system:

The digestive system is responsible for processing food, breaking itdown into usable proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, fats, and other

substances, and introducing these into the bloodstream so that theycan be used by the body. This system is responsible for providingnutrition to the body which is required for the growth anddevelopment of body.Cardiovascular System:

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In order for the body to stay alive and function efficiently, each of itscells must receive a continuous supply of glucose and oxygen. Atthe same time, carbon dioxide and other materials produced by thecells must be picked up for removal from the body. This process iscontinually maintained by the body's cardiovascular system through

blood.

Respiratory System:

The respiratory system is responsible for supplying oxygen to theblood and expelling waste gases, of which carbon dioxide is theprimary constituent, from the body. The process of respiration helpsin purification of blood

Urinary System:

Urinary system is responsible for excretion of liquid waste productsfrom the body. All soluble toxins and waste products are excretedthrough this system.

Reproductive System:

Reproductive system is responsible for reproduction of progenywhich is essential for the survival of species.

Nervous System:

The nervous system functions as the central command. It regulatesall the systems and organs of the body. It is responsible formaintaining coordination and harmony between various organs andsystems of the body.The nervous system of the human anatomy isresponsible for sending, receiving, and processing nerve impulses.All of the body's muscles and organs rely upon these nerve impulsesto function.

Three systems constitute the nervous system and these systemsfunction together to carry out the mission of the nervous system. These systems are the central nervous system, the peripheral

nervous system, and the autonomic nervous system. There are twomain functions of this nervous system. One section of the systemworks for the maintenance and regulation of internal bodymechanism, which is known as autonomic nervous system. Thesecond section is responsible for maintaining link between body andexternal world. This is done through various sensory organs likeeyes, nose, ears, skin and tongue. The person gets visualinformation of external world with the help of eyes, tactile

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information with the help of skin, auditory information with the helpof ears, olfactory information of various smells through nose andinformation of taste with the help of tongue. All such information iscollected through these five sensory organs, and is analyzed by thecentral part of nervous system. The response of the body depends

upon the analyzed data or information received through the varioussensory organs. Medically the brain is sub- divided into a biggerbrain and a smaller brain. The bigger brain is known as thecerebrum and the smaller brain is known as the cerebellum inmedical terms.

The lower end of the brain is narrowed and elongated as spinal cord. This spinal cord is connected with all the parts of the body bynetwork of nerves, that network of nerves along with spinal cord areknown as peripheral nervous system. There are two types of nerves. The first type of nerves which are responsible for bringing

information from the sensory organs to the brain are known as thesensory nerves and other type of nerves which are responsible forcarrying messages from the brain to the peripheral parts of the bodyare known as the motor nerves.

As per medical opinion, human brain has the capacity to storeinformation, to analyze and evaluate this information and to takedecisions as per the analysis and evaluation of this data. The facultyof the brain which is responsible for storing information is known asmemory, and that faculty of the brain which is responsible foranalyzing it is known as intelligence.

The whole physical body functions as per the decision taken by thebrain. The decision of the brain depends upon the informationreceived from the outside, its analyzed form and past experiencestored in the memory section of the brain.For example, if a person is walking in the garden and by chance ifhis finger comes in contact with the thorn of one plant, thenautomatically his hand will be withdrawn. The entire process ofexperiencing the painful stimulus, analyzing and evaluating thesame, and the decision to withdraw the hand by the mind happensin a fraction of a second. Now if we analyze this whole process we

can see that there are number of steps involved from point offeeling the painful stimulus of the thorn up to the decision towithdraw the hand. For example, when the finger of the handtouches the thorn, the sensory nerve under the skin receives thepainful sensation, which is then conveyed to the central part of brainfor interpretation. In the brain, the sensations are analyzed aspainful and injurious. The brain also compares this experience withthe past experience stored in the memory section. Information

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received from the memory, informs the brain that such painfulsensations can be from the thorn on the plant, and it can be harmfulto the body. The brain then takes the decision to withdraw the hand.It then sends a message to the muscles of the hand to withdraw it.This message is sent through motor nerves. In the end, the hand is

withdrawn. The procedure looks complicated but it is done in thefraction of a second. In short, the nervous system of thehuman body controls the whole body mechanism andmaintains link with the outside world, so that it can getenough food for survival and life can be protected fromoutside danger. All animals are having such a nervous systemthat helps in the survival of their life.

Man is at a higher step of evolution as compared to the animals.Animals are mainly instinctive. There body mechanism is mainly forthe survival of self and the survival of their species. So their nervous

system which controls their inner and outer life is not as developedas that of the human beings. Most of the animals are having verylimited mental activities and hence their brains are having verylimited functions, with the result, they cannot relate to their pastexperiences nor can they think and plan for their future.

Only human beings can think above the level of the basic instinctsfor survival and reproduction. Man can think about the future andcan plan his life as per his desires. Man can store his pastexperiences in his memory box and can utilize it when required. Aman is able to think, interpret situations, analyze and evaluate

problems, can remember and recall the past and can utilize this pastexperience for future planning; can create new gadgets andequipments based on his need; can speak different languages andcan also think about personal and social securities. These andvarious other faculties are highly developed in man. All these higherfaculties are developed in man. It is highly debatable that whetherthese faculties of man are the functions of brain or someindependent entity like human mind.

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What is mind?

As per Websters definition,It is the human consciousness that originates in the brain and is

manifested as in thought, memory, perception, will or imagination.And it is all of the conscious and unconscious processes of the brainand central nervous system that direct the mental and physicalbehavior of sentient organism. So it is the manifestation of brain asper Websters definition.

There are two schools of thoughts as far as the meaning of mind isconcern. These are Dualism and Monism. As per Monism theory themind is not independent entity, it is part of the brain. And as perDualism theory the mind is independent entity. The functions of thebrain and that of mind are not the same. They are not independent

but are inter-dependent.

Most of the medical personals and scientists believe in Monismtheory.

As per medical opinion independent mind does not exists in humanbody. There is no anatomical existence of mind in the physical body.The brain is one of the essential organs of human physical body. Inaddition, it controls and co-ordinates all the activities of human life.As per medical opinion only the brain is responsible for thinking,calculating, and imagining. All the desires, instincts, expectations,

emotions, originates from the brain only.

Ancient Hindu philosophers and thinkers believe in Dualism theory.As per their opinion mind is not the integral part of the brain, it hasindependent existence, and its functions are different than that ofbrain. The brain controls internal body mechanism. But thinking,imagining, planning, and decision making are the functions of mind.

Medical scientists do not believe in the independent existence ofmind, because it is not anatomically found in human body. It can notbe perceived by either of the senses, and can not be proved by

known scientific methods.

However, medical science has not reached to its level of perfectioneven to-day.

Even to-day the human body and human life is great mystery forthem. Even to-day all the faculties of human life is not properlyunderstood and analyzed by medical scientist. Even to-day there

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exist numerous medical problems which are not satisfactorilyresolved by medical scientists.

For example doctors do not know the real cause of cancer after somany researches. Same way doctors do not know the causative

factor of rheumatoid arthritis. Same way the cause of senility is notyet known to medical science.

Human brain is the great mystery for medical scientists. All thefunctions of the brain are not known to the medical science. It isobserved that there is release of special chemicals while transmittingthe impulse by nerve cells. But it is not known that how suchchemical process can help to store memory, or can induce intelligentthoughts.It is not certain how the brain which is made up of nerve cells andneurons, can think, can calculate, can imagine and can plan for the

future.

So one can say by the way of deduction that there exists some powerwhich is above the brain, and which controls all the activities of thebrain, and that is human mind.

The brain can not function without mind.

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Mind

However anatomically there is no organ in the body known as themind. But functionally one can feel it.

The human brain can be compared to a highly sophisticatedcomputer. Computers are made up of mainly two components. Thefirst section is known as the hardware and second section is knownas the software. The hardware consists of the monitor, the motherboard, the hard disc and other electronic parts of the computer.Those parts can be seen in the computer. The software is the inbuiltprograms, like window, Microsoft office, Photoshop, internetexplorer, etc, which are responsible for running the computer fordifferent requirements.In the same way, the brain is the hard-ware of the human computer.It provides nerve cells and the network of nerves that are useful for

the propagation and storage of messages and information. Whilethe mind is the soft ware which utilizes the brain structure forvarious purposes of life. All the computers are having same types ofhardware but their efficiency depends upon the software that itcontains. Hence some of the computers are utilized as merecalculators, and some are used for playing games. Business menuse the same computer for maintaining their business accounts andartists use it for creating artistic pictures and great authors use it forwriting books.

In the same way, everybody has been gifted with the basic

hardware called as the human brain

but the utilization of this brain depends upon the individualefficiency and capacity of the mind.

Certain people, who have low mental capacity, utilize thebrainpower for mere survival and maintenance of life. Their usageof brain is as good as that of any animal. The person who has moredeveloped mind can utilizes the same brain for gaining materialsuccess, social status and prestige. Other person utilizes this samebrain for creative activity whereas very few people utilize it for

spiritual progress in life. So

it is the mind, and not the brain, which determines thepersons mental capacities and abilities.

Human mind is most complex and complicated component of humanbody. Numerous researches are carried out by many researchers to

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understand the mechanism of human mind, but nobody could entirelyanalyzed its functions.It is the supreme power and decision maker in human life.Strong physical body without strong mind has very little importance.However, person with strong mind can win the race of success in all

the faculties of life.M.K. Gandhi having weak and fragile body, but having strong mind,could provide able leadership to Indian nation, and successfullyachieved his goal of independence.Einstein was physically weak, but having very strong mind. Heopened the gates of nuclear science for mankind.

Philosophical theory

As per Hindu philosophy, mind is not the brain. It is absolutelyindependent entity. It is subtler than brain. It is believed that human

body is having three main components.1] physical self2] inner self3] Atman or spirit.

Physical self is the gross physical body made up of bones, muscles,various systems like cardio-vascular, gastro-intestinal, reproductive,nervous system, genito-urinary, respiratory system and organs likeheart, lungs, kidneys, liver, brain etc.Inner self is the combination of I-consciousness, intelligence,memory, all emotions, desires, creativity etc. This inner self is

nothing but the mind.In Sanskrit it is called Mana,

Atman or spirit is the vital energy, which provides live force to all theorgans and systems of the body. Physical body with all the organsand system cannot survive without this live force.

Inner-self or Mana

As per the opinion ofAdi-shankaracharya, the human body functionsat two conscious levels, one at the physical level and second at themental level. The physical body is made up of bone, skin, muscle,organs and various systems. This whole structure is known asphysical-self, whereas memory, intelligence, ego and other emotionsare part of the inner-self. This inner-self is also known as the manain Sanskritlanguage.

The feeling of I-ness is felt at the level of the inner self, and not atthe level of the physical self. It is believed that at the time of death

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physical self disintegrates, but the inner self remains intact. Theperson carries this inner self or sanskaras of this life to his nextbirth; with the result all the knowledge and experiences and basicinner values and qualities are carried forward from this birth to hisnext birth. This inner-self is subtle and hence cannot be seen. The

human mind in the broader sense is nothing but the inner-self asdescribed byAdi- shankaracharya.

Functions of the Mind

The human mind is a complicated, complex and subtle independententity. Being subtle, it can not be seen or felt, but it still exists andcontrols all the activities of life. The human mind is the master ofthe whole physical body. The physical body has to act and functionas per the desire of the mind. The physical body cannot perform anyaction independently without the knowledge and command of the

mind. In human life, a person has to take numerous decisions thatmay be as small as selecting the type of food for lunch or it may beas big and important as selecting the aim of life. All such decisionsare taken by the mind.

The mind is the decision maker for all the decisions, theenjoyer of all the pleasures in life, the planner for all theplans of life, the observer of all the events in life and theactor of all the actions of life. It is the seer of all the scenesand the witness of all the activities of life.

Human mind is always watchful and awake. Even when personsleeps, his physical body takes rest but his mind remains active.Mind creates its own world of dreams and enjoys it. The mind is theconsciousness which manifests in different forms. When it ismanifested as the sense of I ness, it is known as ego. When it isengaged in solving problems, it is known as intelligence. When itengages itself for remembering the past, it is known as memory.When it manifests as different feelings like love, hate, anger,revenge, happiness, pleasure, grief, sorrow etc; it is known asemotions. The mind can be manifested as the thought process or itcan be manifested as desires and expectations.

Ego,

The I-consciousness is the central axis, around which all the mentalactivities revolve. Prime and central aim of all the mental activities ,is to protect and enhance the value of I. In the physical sense Imean physical body. And psychologically I means ego.

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All the mental activities are directed towards protecting that I. Itmeans protecting physical self i.e physical body and mental self I.eego. Thinking power, memory, intelligence and positive imaginationare the four powerful armaments of the mind. The mind, with thehelp of those armaments, solves all the problems, plans for the

wellbeing, and takes all the decisions to protect the image of I.

Love, hatred, fear, greed, pride, jealousy, etc, are the naturalinvoluntary reactions of the mind.This I consciousness is known as ego.

I- consciousness

Ego is a Latin word; the exact meaning of ego is the sense of I-ness. It is the subjective sense of self. It is the mental image of the self,created by the mind. It is the subjective feeling of I.

This I is very important in ones life. Almost all the activities in lifeare carried out either to protect or to enhance the image of that I.Physical I is the physical body, physical-self. It requires to benourished with good food, to be protected from the danger for itssurvival.

Feeling of I consciousness is not attached with physical body. Wenever say that I- body, we always say my body. It means thesubject of I is not within the body, but it is outside the physicalbody.

That feeling of I remains in the mind.

That feeling of I remains for whole lifetime. It starts at the time ofbirth, and ends at the time of death. It remains in the mind, in all thestates of mind. It does exist during waking hours, and does existduring sleep. It creates its own world in the dream, and gets variousexperiences, in the absence of physical body.

During total memory loss, the patient forgets his identity, like, name,address and relations. But feeling of I is never lost.This feeling is unique, and it isolates the person from rest of the

world. As per Hindu philosophy it is the knowledge. It is the light inthe deepest layer of the mind.Our mind all the time carries that image of I.

This I- consciousness is the combined mental image of physical selfand inner self. It is the combination of image of physical body andmental attributes like level of intelligence, level of knowledge,creativities, capabilities, and limitations of the person. For example

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I-consciousness of Mr. Smith will be his total image created on hismental screen.

Mr. Smiths mind will create total image of Mr. Smith on the mentalscreen. That image will not only include the physical image like

height, weight, color of the skin, color of the eyes, color of hairs,shape of the face of Mr. Smith, but it will also include his positivecharacters like integrity, confidence, knowledge, creativity,truthfulness and negative characters like cunningness, greed, anger,fear etc.

Lord Krishna in Gita, had described this I-consciousness as constantand eternal. He said that same I-consciousness persists in all thestages of life. He told to Arjun that the physical body is in continuesprocess of changing. The body which was very small at the time ofbirth, with the passage of time, attains childhood, adolescence,

adulthood, and old age. Every day thousands of cells dies,thousands of new cells are added in the physical body. But there isno change in I-consciousness. It remains same in all the stages oflife. Same I persists during childhood, adulthood and old age.

I-consciousness is the central axis, around which all ourphysical and mental activities revolve.

The basic and primary function of the mind is to protect thatI, to protect that mental image of I.

Decision making:

Decision-making is the process of selecting one, out of two or morethen two alternatives. It may be the selection of subject, object,goal or path.

Decision-making is the main function of the mind. The human mindhas to take decisions, for the protection of self, physical- self as wellas mental- self.The decision may be as small as selecting the menu of lunch, or asvital as selecting life partner. It is the basic function of the mind.Being the driver of the vehicle, the mind has to drive it safely, with

the intention to reach the destiny.

Almost all the decisions of the mind are for the survival ofphysical self and survival of I-consciousness.

Knowledge and intelligence are two helpful tools for achieving rightdecision. Right knowledge is the product of correct interpretation ofthe experience, and right perception of external world.

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Learning, memorizing, and problem solving, are three adjutants forright decision. Decision-making is very important for the mind. It isalso very crucial that mind takes right decision at right time. Decision,not taken at right time, or wrong decision taken, may create problemin the life.

Human mind is all the time busy taking decisions. There may benatural and routine decisions. The natural decisions are dependentupon natural demands of physical body. Basic demands of the bodyare food, rest, protection and procreation. There is inbuilt mechanismof showing signals for the demand by physical body. When there isneed for food, the body sends the signal of hunger. For the demand ofrest, the body sends the signal for desire to sleep. For the purpose ofprocreation, our body sends the signal of sexual desire.Most of the time, the mind accepts the demand of the body, and takefavorable decision. When body is hungry, the mind takes thedecision for going for lunch, when body is tired the mind takes the

decision of going for sleep.However, in special circumstances, the mind may reject the demandof the body. For example, the person may be hungry, but because ofsome urgent and important work, he may have to postpone the timeof his meal. He may be feeling sleepy, but urgency of finishing hisoffice work, he may have to postpone his sleep.

Second group of decisions depend upon external factors. Thesefactors affect the life of the person. These factors are responsible forjoy or sorrow, success or failure, health or disease, and happiness orunhappiness. Right decision can bring success, joy and happiness in

life, while wrong decision can bring failure, sorrow and unhappiness.Therefore, decision-making is very important task, carried out by themind. As

Decision-making depends upon, right perception, rightanalysis of the situation, right concept, and definite objective.

Perception

Perception is the ability to visualize an object or an event in its totalityand interpreting it logically and objectively. Perception means getting

all the information regarding an object or event and thenunderstanding all the facets of the object or event represents. Humanmind is a very complicated and a complex machine. Man is bestowedwith five sensory organs. These are ear, nose, eye, skin and tongue.The information received through sensory organs is in the form ofsound, smell, image, touch and taste. The mind utilizes these sensoryorgans for receiving information regarding the outside world. The

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furnished luxuriously and may belong to some rich person. In fact, itmay happen that the room might have been occupied by some poortailor. There may not be any furniture in the room. The carpet seen byhim through the keyhole, might have been brought by the tailor forrepairing it. In the same way, one makes mistake in perceiving other

persons behavior, attitude or intention. On the other hand, he mayperceive the event incorrectly and make wrong judgment.

Second type of defective perception, is known as snap-shotperception. Most of the people draw conclusion regarding thecharacter and personality of the other person during their first shortperiod visit. The other person may behave nicely and politely duringthat visit with the result, the first person may conclude that the otherperson is nice and polite. However, the other person might havetactfully concealed his other bad characters. In Hindu society, shorttime meetings are arranged between the boy and girl for selecting themate. The boy and the girl meet at some place for a short time. Then

they draw a conclusion regarding the character of other fellow, andmay select him or her as a life partner. As such, it is very difficult forthe person to judge another person in that short meet. Perceiving theobject or event within short exposure is known as snap shotperception.

The second factor affecting the perception is ability of the mind tointerpret the information correctly. In the example of rose, the personwho has never seen the rose in his lifetime cannot recognize it. Theperson, who has never visited the hill station or sea beach, cannotthink regarding the pleasant climate, and beautiful scenery of a hill

station or a beach. The person, who has never seen the ocean, cannotperceive the vastness of it.

These people are ignorant regarding the facts. As they are aware oftheir limitations, most of the time, such persons keep themselves awayfrom coming to any conclusion. However, there are certain types ofpeople who are not only ignorant but they carry pre-conceived ideas intheir mind. They are more adamant. They are not ready to changetheir views. Even though, their conclusions are wrong, they neveradmit it. Their minds carry false and fixed opinions regarding varioussubjects.

Because of certain past experiences and wrong knowledge, certainwrong ideas are deeply embedded in their minds. With the effect, theirminds react in a definite and a fixed manner in certain circumstances.In medical terms, this is known as conditioning of the mind. Humanmind is conditioned by repetition of same type of experiences. Theresponse of the mind will be same once it is conditioned. The attractionfor specific color or smell is because of the conditioning of the mind.Somebody likes sweet taste. While some, other may like hot taste.

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This is because, the person who eats sweet articles from the childhood,will develop liking for a sweet taste. While the person who ishabituated to take hot food, may develop taste for the hot food. Oneperson may like red color; other person may like green, while thirdperson may like blue. This is because their minds are conditioned to

like and prefer a specific color. There are no absolute values, whichcan prove either red or green is better than the other colors.

Conditioning of the mind starts from childhood. For example, the boywho is brought up in a non-vegetarian family will be pleased with sightand smell of nicely cooked chicken, but at the same time the boy whois brought up in a pure vegetarian family, may get nauseatingsensation with the sight of such non- vegetarian food. This is becausethe first boy is conditioned with non-vegetarian food, while the secondboy is not conditioned. Normally the mind is conditioned to variousfactors and events (in the medical terms it is known as stimuli) duringlifetime.

Mental ability for interpretation is highly affected byconditioning of mind. Interpretation is affected also by specificparadigm.

Paradigm is the Greek word. It means model, theory, perception,assumption or frame of work. Paradigm plays great role in life ofperson. It is different with different individual, because of differingparadigm; persons perceive the life in their own way. The rightperception gives right knowledge of the world, which ultimately helpsthe mind for right decision-making.

ConceptConcept is the resultant outcome of total perception. It is the ultimateimage created on the mental screen, regarding subject, object or theevent, after receiving all the basic data by our five sensory organs, andafter analyzing that raw data, in the light of our knowledge andexperience.

All our five senses i.e. eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin sends data ofinformation of outside world, continuously to the mind. Mind adds allthe data in one folder [received from five senses, i.e. visual, auditory,olfactory, test and touch] and creates one image on its screen. Then it

analyzes the image in the light of knowledge and experience.For example, visual data of flower, gives information regarding its size,shape, and color. Then olfactory data adds the information of smell,touch to that flower gives information regarding its smoothness.Adding all the information, mind concludes that it is some small,beautiful, pink colored, tiny and good smelling object on the plant.Now with the help of its knowledge and experience, it identifies it asrose flower.

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Same way mind works in all the situations.

Right perception leads to right concept.

It is evident that right perception and right concept are thefundamental factors for right decision. Right perception depends upon

knowledge and experiences.Knowledge

A person with right knowledge and rich experience is more capable oftaking right decision at right time. Knowledge can be defined asfamiliarity or awareness or comprehension, acquired by rightobservation and learning. Right knowledge depends upon learning.

Learning

Learning is the second important function of the mind. As such learningassists the mind, for taking correct decision. When child is born, hismind is immature, without any knowledge and experience, like cleanslate. Therefore, the newly born child is not capable of takingindependent decisions. The mind of newborn child, only functions fornatural calls like hunger, urination, and passing of stool. When thechild is hungry, he cries for the food. Because this is the only language,the childs mind knows for demanding the food.

Gradually, his mind starts learning. It starts recognizing living being,like mother, father, brother, sister etc. The mind also recognizes theusefulness of the person. For the child, the most near and helpfulperson is his mother. Gradually he starts recognizing the objects like,foods, toys, furniture etc. He starts knowing, domestic animals like

cat, dog, cow etc. he starts recognizing the domestic birds likesparrow, pigeon, crow etc. he also learns the method ofcommunication. He learns various gestures and language ofcommunication.

The learning process is the continuous process. It is always through,the experience and knowledge. Until the child attains the school age,his learning is through his parents, friends, and relatives.

The systematic learning starts during the school and college period.After the school and college period, the person enters the profession.Here also his learning continues. He learns through the experience,

inter-personal communications, through various learning programs,and through reading books.

As per the opinion of the expert, the process of learning is for thelifetime.

As such mind continuously grow through the process oflearning.

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All the knowledge and experience are stored in the memory section ofthe mind. The same is utilized at the time of decision-making.

As the learning is the basic tool of the mind, the mind stops growing,the day learning is stopped.

Learning, if analyzed theoretically, consists of two main, components,knowledge and skill.

Knowledge is identification and recognition of various subjects, objects,processes, methods, and ideas. All the knowledge acquired, is storedas valuable data, in the memory section of the brain.

Skill is the ability of the person to utilize his knowledge [stored data]for taking right decision at right time.

For example, primitive man had knowledge of what is eatable andwhat is non-eatable. Vegetables, fruits and flesh of certain animals,were in the category of eatable, while stones, mud, woods etc were not

eatables. He also knew that food is essential for survival. So gradually,he developed the skill of hunting the animals for the flesh, andsystematic farming for getting vegetables and fruits.

Medical doctor, during his study, gets the knowledge of anatomy,[ knowledge various organs], physiology [ functions of all the organs] ,pathology [abnormality of all the organs], and pharmacology[ medicinal effect of various drugs], now same data is used for thedeveloping the skill of diagnosing and treating the sick patients.

Memory

This is the parameter, which determines the efficiency and thestrength of mind. Memory is the mental faculty to remember. Humanmind receives at any point of time a stream of information throughvarious sense organs. Not all the information is registered on themental screen. Some of the information passes unnoticed. In addition,some of the information is registered in a short-term memory register,which is kept over there for a very short period. This short-terminformation is required to be used for some specific purpose only. Forexample, when a person travels in a train, he chitchats and sharesfood with other fellow travelers. However, as soon as the journey isover, within a very short period mind forgets the faces of those co-

travelers. Same way one does remember the timings of the trainsdeparture and arrival during train journey, but as soon as the journeyis over the same is forgotten. Small part of the information receivedand which is important as well as interesting to self is stored in thelong-term memory box.

Memory is not only useful but also essential for most of thebodily and mental functions. Let us take a simple example of walking. The function of walking requires complicated mechanism of

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contractions of various leg muscles at different time intervals. When asmall child learns to walk his mind learns all the techniques for it. Thenthe same is kept in the memory box and whenever the person requireswalking, the mind utilizes the same experience, repeating the sameseries of commands to different muscles of leg. This is all done at the

subconscious level and hence the person who intends to walk does notconsciously have to remember his experience. For talking in themother-tongue, one require to remember number of words, themeaning of words, the grammar of that language, the style ofarticulating specific words etc. Memory is required for solvingproblems, analyzing data, performing arithmetic calculations,maintaining social relations, etc. All the functions of body and minddepend upon memory. If memory is lost, the person will not rememberhis own identity, his relations, and his family members. He will not bein a position to speak any language. He will not be able to rememberhis past and so he cannot plan for his future. This is the reason why

faculty for memory is very important and essential for life. Memoryhelps the students to pass exams, it helps professionals to gainexperience and success in life, it helps the writer to write better and ithelps the artists to perform better. Hence, it is a very important and anessential faculty of mind. Those who do not have good memory cannotbe successful in any field of life.

Memory is very important faculty of mind, which helps themind to take right decision at right time.

Most of the people believe that memory is inborn, that is, it is natural

gift, which is present since birth, and it cannot be developed in laterlife. It is proved medically that everybody is born with a fixed capacityof minds memory but only a few people develop this faculty to theiradvantage, while the rest of the people are not trying to develop it.

There are certain facts regarding memory which if understood shallhelp us in tapping and exploring one of the most important mentalfaculty that is memory. The first thing that we must understand is thathuman mind has a fixed and limited capacity to store information.Therefore, if a person tries to store unimportant and trivial information,then there will not be enough space in the brain to store information

that is more important. For example, one need not waste their mentalenergy for remembering telephone numbers or car numbers. Thisinformation can be easily stored in a separate diary.

Secondly information can only be stored in the memory box, if enoughattention is paid to it while registering the information. This requiresattentive concentration of the mind while receiving the information.Seeing the picture casually, will not make any impression on the mind

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but if the same picture is seen with full concentration and attentionthen it will remain in the memory box for longer time.

Thirdly, only those objects and subjects where a person has personalinterests and priorities, will be stored and registered in the memory

box. For example, it is seen that people easily forget certain things,which does not interest them. For example a person who returns hometired from the office in the evening easily forgets to purchase thegrocery for the house but he would always remember to buy his usualpack of cigarettes.

The fourth factor that enhances memory is repetitions. Hence,students read certain books repeatedly for their exams to rememberthe same.

Another known fact about memory is that certain people have a better

visual memory and can remember better with visual impressions andcertain people have a better auditory memory and can rememberbetter with auditory impressions.

In addition, it is essential to realize that mind does not store anyinformation in the form of written words.It stores the impressions in the form of images created by themind. Pens, books, calculators, animals are not stored as writtenwords but their images are stored in the mind as visual impressions.Hence, visual impressions are better than the written words. Therefore,if one desires to enhance his memory then he should have a better

capacity to form images in the mind. It is observed that it is moredifficult to remember numbers than names because numbers have nospecific shapes to make an impression on the mental screen. Brainstores different types of information in different compartments and soone must do sorting and filing of information to facilitate its working.One who knows the technique of sorting and filing the information canstore more information in the brain.

Information received by the brain is never stored in the brain asindependent information. It is always connected with certain otherinformation and that information in turn is connected to some third

information. In this way, a network of information is created in themind. For example, for remembering passwords, everybody appliesdifferent methods. One may relate the password with the name of theGod. For remembering the name of the God, he may relate it with thereligion of his faith, and so on. Hence, memory is a very importantfaculty and parameter of the mind and it can be developed by properlycoaching and training the mind.

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Problem solving and intelligence

The process of decision taking is a continuous process. It may be verysimple, like purchasing the grocery for the house, or may be verydifficult, like deciding the aim of life. There are number of problems inlife, which require to be solved. For solving complicated problems of

life, the mind utilizes, other faculty in addition to knowledge andexperience, and that is intelligence.

This is the important parameter which qualifies the power of the mind.In simple words, it is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge.It is the mental faculty of reasoning, understanding, analyzing andevaluating objectively especially with regard to abstract or academicmatters. It is the power of mind, which is helpful to find solutions toproblems. Human life does not travel on a smooth and a straight road.There are a number of turns and curves, hurdles and unexpecteddifficulties and problems on that road. Therefore, the mind should be

capable of directing the body to overcome these hurdles anddifficulties to make the travel smoother and pleasurable.

Nature has endowed a special gift to the human mind, that is,intelligence with the help of which one can acquire success in life. Thissuccess may be either material or spiritual. Intelligence is useful forunderstanding the root causes for problems and finding intelligentsolutions for the same with the help of previous experiences andknowledge. Previous experiences and knowledge is the databank ofinformation stored in the mental memory section. Hence, a goodmemory helps intelligence. As such finding solutions to problems is avery complicated procedure. The mind takes the help of other mental

faculties such as memory, receptivity and creativity to find the solutionto problems. The ability of the mind to interconnect various faculties ofmind, to reach to the bottom of the problem, to understand the extentof the problem, to find out a logical solutions to the problem keeping inmind the past knowledge and experiences, and to further forecast itsfuture effects, and finally to prevent its adverse effects is calledintelligence.

It is believed that intelligence is inborn or hereditary. Variousresearchers have carried out number of surveys but no conclusiveevidence has been found out to prove that it is hereditary. With

systemic and constant training of the mind, one can develop andexpand the faculty of intelligence.

Process of decision making

Once the concept is clear in the mind, the next step is decision making.

Now there are three alternatives for the mind.

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1] No action,

2] Immediate action,

3] Delayed action,

No action:

There are some perceptions and concepts, where no actions arerequired. In above example of rose, the mind has identified the rose,enjoyed the smell and beauty of that flower. Now the mind carefullypreserves the smell and beauty of that flower in memory box of thebrain, as the memory of the same experience will be useful in thefuture.

The person who is inhabitant of hilly area, first time goes to Kanya kumari. He has never seen the sea in his lifetime. There he perceivesthe beauty and vastness of sea; he looks at the meeting point of threebig oceans. No action is to be taken. The mind carefully preserves the

experience in the memory box.2] Immediate action;

However, there are some perceptions, which require prompt action, sothe mind has to take immediate decision.

The person is sitting in the house quietly reading the newspaper.Immediately he feels tremor. Tremors are everywhere. They are onthe chairs, on the furniture, on the walls, on the bed and in the kitchen.He also perceives some unknown underground sounds. His knowledgeand experience tells him that it is the earthquake. Mind takesimmediate decision, and orders the body to run, and leave the houseimmediately.

In immediate decision, some time there is only one path of action, as itis in the case of earthquake. However, some time there are more thanone alternative. At such a point of time, mind has to select one out ofmany.

Let us see following example. The person is driving the car on the road.He is in hurry to go to hospital, because there is one patient in his carwho required to be hospitalized immediately. The car reaches to crossroad. Unfortunately, there is traffic jam on the main road. Therefore, itis not possible for him to take the car through that main road. On the

left side, the road is open, which can also take him to hospital.However, unfortunately that is one-way street. So legally, he cannotdrive his car on that side lane.

He has perceived the situation. His conclusion is clear. He is unable todrive on main road. Moreover, the road, which is practically open, isone- way. Now he is left with two alternatives.

1] Wait for the traffic to clear it out.

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2] Drive illegally on the one-way street.

He does not know how much time will be wasted for the traffic to get itcleared. Perhaps during that time, the serious patient in his car maydie.

If he selects the illegal one-way street, then he may reach to thehospital in time, but then he is breaking the law. Not only that butbeing one-way, he may have to encounter police interference, or onthe way his cars road may be blocked by bigger vehicle, coming fromopposite side, which ultimately may take more time.

Now here his mind has to think fast, and select one alternative out oftwo. He has no time for getting more information, or for calculating thepros and cons of two alternatives. As such, both the alternatives arehaving positive and negative points.

3] Delayed action:

Delayed decisions are planned decisions. There is no urgency of takingimmediate decision. From the perception, the mind concludes thatthere is need for taking some action, but there is no urgency, actioncan be taken after some time.

Take following example.

The mind perceives that the color of the walls of the house is fairlyspoiled. The wall looks dirty; the colors have faded very badly. Inaddition, it gives ugly look to the house. The mind concludes that itrequires new painting. However, there is no urgency. There is enoughtime to plan it properly. There are multiple actions required to be

taken. One has to think about estimated expenditure, selection ofexpert technician, selecting suitable colors, etc.

In short, action can be taken after proper planning.

Among delayed decisions, there are time bound decisions, one can callit close ended, and there are decisions, which are not time bound, i.e.open-ended. Painting the walls of the house, is open ended, there isno target to finish that work within stipulated time.

Now take following example.

The mind perceives that the walls of the house are very old. The color

of the walls has faded, the cement plaster has been weather-beaten,there are cracks in the walls, and it is slightly bent. Those walls requirerepairs. It is not very urgent, but one requires repairing it beforestarting of monsoon. Because there is the possibility that if it is notrepaired before monsoon, it may collapse due to heavy rain in themonsoon. This is time targeted, close-ended action.

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In delayed decisions, if there are multiple actions are to be planned,the mind has to fix priorities. The priorities are fixed, again as per theimportance and urgency of the action.

Most of the time, the mind takes the help of its previous experience,knowledge, and its capability to solve the problem, and take right

decision.

There are set rules for taking right decision.

These rules are

1] Right perception of the situation.

2] Detailed analysis of the problem.

3] Enlisting the alternatives.

4] Analyzing the positive and negative points regarding eachalternative.

5] Probable consequences.

6] Finally selecting one alternative.

As such, decision-making is very complicated process. Right decisionmay lead to success in life, while wrong decision may create problemin the life.

Mind takes its own decisions. Moreover, mind brings solutions to theproblems.

What is the meaning of solution?

Solution is the process of change from the existing unfavorable state tofavorable state. Therefore, it is very important to understand andanalyze the state of unfavorable state. Therefore, the first step for thedecision-making is in-depth situation analysis.

Situation analysis.

Correct situation analysis depends upon right perception, and rightperception depends upon right knowledge and experience. Mind withright knowledge and experience, will be in better position to performaccurate situation analysis. Situation analysis is the process tounderstand the problematic situation, to know the root cause of theproblem, and to know available resources. Once the cause of theproblem and available resources are known, it will be easier for themind to take right decision.

Second step is to find out probable available solutions. In certainproblems, there can be only one solution, while in other problems;there can be multiple solutions available.

Third step is to evaluate each alternative solution, for its effectivenessand its probable consequences. As such, each of the probable solutions

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will have its advantages and disadvantages, its positive points and itsnegative points.

Fourth step is to compare positive and negative points of eachprobable solution.

Fifth step is to select the solution, which has minimum negative pointsand maximum positive points.

Sixth step is taking the decision. If the person follows such scientificmethod for taking the decision, then he will have very little regret aftertaking decision, and he will be mentally prepared to face probablenegative consequences.

The procedure of decision-making can be explained more easily byexamples.

1] You have gone out for some work. After one hour, you return to yourhome. As soon as you open your front door, you perceive some

peculiar smell.

Situation analysis.

You want to know the cause of that strange smell. You search in eachof the rooms of your home. At last, you enter in your kitchen. Youperceive that the smell is more in the kitchen. It means there is something in the kitchen, which emits this strange smell. On further inquiry,you realized that your cooking-gas cylinder is leaking.

Probable danger:

The cylinder may blast and can cause damage to the house, and injuryto the life.

Solution:

Disconnect the gas cylinder from the stove.

Switch off the main switch, cutting off the electrical supply to all yourappliances, because electrical spark can cause fire.

Open all the doors and windows of the house, so that accumulated gascan leave through open windows.

Take the leaking cylinder in the open ground, and inform the gasstation authorities.

In above example, there is only one path of action. Therefore, mindhas not to think about alternative solutions.

Now take another example.

The person is working in big business Corporation as a juniorexecutive. His manager is not happy with him. The manager is very

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critical for his work, and all the time finds faults in his work. Managerhas also threatened him to spoil his annual grading and spoil hisservice record.

Situation analysis:

The first step is in-depth analysis of the situation.He is honest, sincere, regular and efficient worker. Compared to otherco-workers, he is more efficient. In spite of that, he gets regularreprimand from his manager. His manager is not happy. The reasonfor his managers partial and vindictive attitude is not known.

Second step is to foresee probable consequences, if problem is notsolved.

Probable danger:

If such attitude continue, then it may spoil his name in the company,may spoil his career, he may loose his chance of future promotion. Itwill be continuous mental stress to work in such environment.

Solution:

The third step is to think regarding probable alternative solutions.

There are several ways to resolve this problem.

1] Have frank talk with the manager, and remove hismisunderstandings.

2] Surrender to his unfair demands.

3] Complain to higher authorities.

4] Leave the job.

Therefore, there are four probable alternative pathways, to resolve theproblem. The mind has to select one out of four.

Fourth step is to evaluate critically each of probable pathways.

1] Have frank talk with the manager, and remove hismisunderstandings.

This solution can solve the problem, if the manager is matured and

sportive, but if he is not sportive and totally prejudiced, then thismethod will not be effective.

2] Surrender to his unfair demands.

It means trying to please him, by working over time, giving him somevaluable presents, all the time buttering him, etc. Such attitude maysolve the problem, it can be effective but it can cause deep injury tothe self-respect. It may reduce self- esteem. More over, if the manger

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has made up his mind to remove the executive from the job, then thispath way will not be effective.

3] Complain to higher authority.

One can put his case to higher authorities; discuss each point in detail

with them, and can give them clear idea regarding, partial attitude ofthe manager. This method can be effective, and one get properprotection from the authorities, but it all depends upon persons abilityto represent his case effectively.

It may also happen that the person cannot convince the authoritiesregarding his side of the case. It may also happen that the managerhas already complained against the executive, and created wrong andnegative impression in the minds of authorities. In suchcircumstances, the authorities may not give favorable judgment.

4] Leave the job.

This is the extreme solution. Leaving the job can relieve the personfrom unwanted harassment and insults. Person can have peaceful life,but after leaving the job, there will be problem of finding new job. Onemay get the job or may not get the job. If he does not get suitable job,then there will be financial crisis. Leaving the job, means running awayfrom the battlefield. Leaving the job means surrendering to the wrongperson.

Fifth step is to take final decision.

Therefore, in above example there are four alternative solutions. Themind has to select one out of all the four. Once the path way is

selected, it should be implemented.These two examples of decision-making, show how methodicallyhuman mind works?

Human mind is all the time engaged in decision-making. Life is thejourney, and the road of that journey is not smooth. The road of lifemay be smooth, rough or with full of hurdles. The mind is the driver. Ifthe driver is expert, then he can drive it to the final destination, otherwise it can meet with accident.

Creation is the second function of the mind. Decision-making ismandatory for the mind, while creation is not mandatory. Man can

survive and lead his life without any creation, but he cannot live evenfor short period without taking decision.

Creativity

In addition to decision-making and problem solving, the human mindhas been endowed the power of creativity by nature. Creativity is thehighest faculty of the brain. Creativity means the ability to create new

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things. Most of the artists, poets, writers, photographers, singers andscientists have a very high creative and innovative power.

All the animals and birds are capable of taking decisions. Their decisiontaking capacity is limited to the purpose of survival, i.e. searching thefood, getting the shelter and protecting the self from the danger. Most

of the animals are having limited capacity of remembering the past,and imagining for the future. The man has been endowed the gift ofmemory, and imagination by the nature. The man has the ability toremember the past, and to utilize the same for future creation.

Decision- making is mandatory for the mind, while creativity isoptional.

Creativity is the useful and colorful future projection of availableknowledge and experience. Creative mind, utilizes the availableknowledge, and projects the same for creating new and unique article.Probably the first creation of ancient man was the house. He had

knowledge that he requires the structure, which can protect him fromheat, cold and rain. The caves were providing the shelter, but it wasnot available all the time. Again, most of the caves were not spaciousand comfort giving. Therefore, he built the walls and the roof fromavailable stones. That was the first creation of man.

The scientist utilizes their knowledge and projects the same to createsomething, which is useful for mankind. Michael Faraday had utilizedhis knowledge and created electric motors, Alexander Graham Bellcreated telephone. Picasso had created wonderful pictures utilizing hisknowledge and imagination. Patanjali wrote great book on Yoga,

utilizing his knowledge and logic.Creative minds are capable of forming clear mental images of whatthey want to create in the future. For example, the painter has theability to see the picture on his mental screen, which he is going todraw in future. He can visualize the beautiful colors and theirappearances. He can visualize all the shapes and their contours. He isthus able to visualize the outcome of his picture even before he beginsto work on it. Scientists do research to find innovative solutions tovarious human problems. They are able to visualize the comfort andhassle free life in future on finding innovative solutions to the variousproblems facing humanity as a whole. Their minds are highly creative

and innovative and always busy in doing research to make variousbreakthrough discoveries.

Creativity indirectly strengthens mental efficiency, because to createone requires

1] Virtual imagination.

2] Ability to concentrate on one subject.

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3] Analytical ability to project for the future.

4] Patience

5] Self-confidence.

All these factors directly and indirectly, help enhancing mental

efficiency.

A creative mind, utilizes its knowledge, experience and skill forcreation. Creativity gives one, a sense of deep inner pleasure andfulfillment.

Creativity flowers the garden of life.

Emotional component of the mind

Emotions are the natural, automatic and uncontrolled reactions of thehuman mind, to the stimuli. The stimuli may be external or internal.

Person sees his friend, and there is reaction of love, he sees his enemyand there is the reaction of hate. He listens to good music and there isreaction of joy, and he listens to the sound of bomb blast, and there isthe reaction of fear. These are all external stimuli. External stimuli arereceived by various sense organs, like ear, eye, nose, skin or tongue.These stimuli are in the form of auditory, visual, olfactory, taste, ortouch. The internal stimuli are generated in the mind itself. The personimagines the scene of the beautiful sea beach, and the reaction issense of joy. He remembers his childhood activities, and he is pleased.He thinks about his girl friend, and he is happy. He remembers the

painful incident of past and his mind is filled with sense of sorrow.

Emotions are not under the control of the mind. Emotions cannot beactively created, it happens automatically. If somebody is feelinghappy, it is not the active creation of mind, but it is the reaction of themind to some favorable circumstances, and if somebody is unhappy, itis also the reaction of the mind to some unfavorable circumstances. Ifsomebody loves other person, it is not because he has taken someactive step to love, but it is the automatic reaction of his mind towardsother person.There are various emotions, like love, hate, happiness, unhappiness,

joy, sorrow, fear, greed, anger or attachments. All this emotions arenatural reactions of the mind.

What is the genesis of emotions?For understanding the emotions, one has to understand basicmechanism of functioning of the mind. Human mind is all the time inthe process of learning and knowing. Therefore, it collects and storesall the knowledge and experiences in one compartment. This

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compartment is known as memory section of the mind. Mind is likemodern computer. In the computer all, the data is stored in the harddisk, and it is utilized frequently as per the need. Same way humanmind stores all the data of its knowledge and experiences as a memoryin the memory section of the mind. The process of storing data starts

from the childhood, and lasts until death. In computer when we storethe data, we classify the data and put them in separate folders andfiles, so that it can be revived easily whenever it is required. Sameway our mind classifies the data before it is stored in the memorysection. Initially the mind divides the data in two broad sections. Itcodifies the experiences in two major divisions. One group ofexperiences is codified as liked. These are the experiences, which areliked, because it has given the sense of joy and pleasure. The othergroup of experiences is codified as not-liked. These are theexperiences, which has given the sense of sorrow and unhappiness.All the objects, subjects, and events are expertly classified by

the mind, either as liked or as not liked.

The human mind will desire to possess those subjects and objects, anddesires to repeat those experiences, which are tagged as liked. Thisstrong desire to possess those liked objects/subjects is the feeling oflove. Same way there is negative feeling of rejection for those subjects,objects or events, which are tagged as not liked. This feeling ofrejection is hate.

Take the example of growing child. From the beginning of life, hismost intimate contact is his mother. Mother cares for him, mother

feeds him when the child is hungry, mother protects him from danger,and mother fulfills all his basic needs. Therefore, the image of motheris in the liked section of his memory box. Result, the child loves hismother.

During the growing period, the childs mind, come across variousobjects and subjects. Some of them are classified as liked and someof them are classified as not liked. He likes the toys; he likes hisfather, sister, brother. Therefore, he loves them all. However, he doesnot like medicine; he does not like to study, so those objects are in thecategory of hate. If Mr. B repeatedly insults Mr. A, then the name of Mr.

B is classified as not-liked in the mind of Mr. A. With the result, Mr. Astarts hating him.During the whole life journey, human mind classifies numerous objects,subjects and experiences, as either liked, or as not liked. Moreover,as per his own classification he either loves or hates those objects,subjects or experiences.

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Therefore, love and hate are the basic emotions of the human mind.Subsequently other emotions are generated from these basicemotions. Human mind is all the time desirous to have repetition ofthose experiences, which have given him joy. He desires to havepossession of those subjects or objects, which are loved by him.

However, when the mind is unable to fulfill its desire, when it miserablyfails to fulfill its desire, there is the feeling of anger.Anger is generated from the inability the mind to fulfill itsstrong desire.There are some objects, which are categorized as liked and are lovedby the mind. There is strong mental attachment for those objects. Themind craves to get it more and more. This is the feeling ofgreed.The strong desire to possess more and more generates the emotion ofgreed. For example, experience informs the mind that money is useful.Not only useful but it can bring all the joy of life. Therefore, the minddesires to get it more and more. That strong desire generates the

feeling of greed.

Human mind is very complex and complicated. It is very difficult topredict its movement in different situations. Now as it is said, most ofthe subjects, objects and events are classified by the mind as liked ornot-liked. The mind desires to have those objects, subjects and repeatthose experiences. If it fails to have it, there is disappointment. Now ifthe mind observes that other person processes same object, subject orcharacter, then there is the sense ofjealousy. The mind cannottolerate the situation, where somebody else, possess those desiredobjects.

Take the example of money. Money is the object in the liked section.Everybody desires to have it. If he does not get it, and somebody elsegets it then there is sense of jealousy. The girl has strong desire to bebeautiful, because it gives the sense of pride and pleasure.Nevertheless, if she is not beautiful, And if her friend is beautiful, shewill be jealous of her friends beauty.Same way the sense of fear is generated when there is the possibility

of loosing the subject, or object, which are liked and loved by humanmind. The person loves to possess wealth, power, prestige, health,friends, and relatives. However, if there is possibility of loosing it, thereis the sense of fear. Life is most precious to each person, and nobody

likes to part with it. Death is the end of life.

Therefore, fear of death is the strongest fear in life

Some of the emotions are harmful for the growth of healthy mind,while some of the emotions are beneficial. Love, joy, pleasure andhappiness are helpful for the mind, while hate, sorrow, unhappiness,anger and jealousy are harmful.

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The mind is the decision maker. Decision maker should be strong. Onlystrong and matured mind can take right decision at right time. It is notonly important to take right decision, but it is equally important to takeright decision at right time. Some people are indecisive by nature.

They cannot take decision at right time. For example, the person isoffered the job, but the job is in foreign country. Now for the job, hehas to leave his own country, family and friends. He has to take thedecision within stipulated time, if he fails to take decision withinreasonable period, he may loose the opportunity of building his carrier.For right decision, one requires strong and matured mind. Maturity isachieved with experience and knowledge, and strength is achieved bydeveloping various characters.

Strong mind.

The Mind is the master of the whole body system. A person with astrong mind gets success in life. For any type of success whethermaterial or spiritual, one requires to have a strong mind

The mind is a separate entity and is not the brain. The Mind is ahuman consciousness, which is manifested in thoughts, memory,perception, feelings, desires, expectations or imagination. In humanbeing, the mind is more important than physical body. Physical bodyhas to act as per the will and desire of the mind. I-consciousness lies

not with physical body but with mind. As per the Hindu philosophy,there are three levels in the human body.These are:

(1) Physical body or outer-self(2) Mind or inner-self(3) Pure live force or Atman.

The physical body or outer-self can be felt or perceived easilybecause it is gross. The inner-self or mind is more subtle in form and

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it cannot be seen even after dissecting the whole physical body.However, it still exists and governs all the activities of life. The strongfeeling of I does not lie with the physical body but it is in referencewith the mind or the inner-self. The mind can think, memorize, planfor the future, feel the joys and sorrows of life and can feel happiness

or unhappiness, and can experience love or hate. It is the masterunder whose order the physical body has to function. It iscomparatively easier to make the physical body stronger and healthy,but it is much more difficult to make a strong and a healthymind. A person can achieve great success, not with the help of astrong body but only with the help of a strong mind. Great sages likeJesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Mahavir, and Buddha, were having afragile body but they possessed strong minds.

As per the Hindu philosophy all the mental activities of human bodyare done by the Mana. Mana is a Sanskrit word. There is no

equivalent word of Mana in English or any other language. Manamay be called as the mind, but even the word mind cannot explain itfully. It is the subtler part of human being. It remains active duringawakened and the dream state.The feeling of I- ness is felt at this level.

What is strong mind?

The main functions of the mind is1] To take timely decisions,2] To solve the problems,3] To plan and create for futureThe mind, which fulfills all above yardsticks, is strong mind

characters which strengthens the mental capacity The main characters and qualities of a strong mind are seven

characters, which are known as positive characters. These charactersare;

(1) Stability(2) Rationality(3) Independence

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(4) Compassion(5) Integrity(6) Self Confidence

(7) Positive attitude towards life

Stability

The inherent characters of the strong mind are steadiness, stabilityand equanimity in diagonally opposite situations and seasons of life.In human body, the mind is the decision maker. Therefore, the mindshould be stable and unwavering. It takes decisions every minute andat each step and turn of life. The physical body has to act as per thedecision of the mind. The decision can be as small as selecting thecolor of the shirt or it can be as big as selecting a partner for lifetime.Decisions are always taken initially at the level of the mind. Only astable, steady and a firm mind can take right decisions and can stand

by these decisions. For success in life, either in the material world, orin the spiritual world, a correct decision at the right time is veryimportant. There are people, who are indecisive by nature. Theycannot take decisions in a reasonable time, with the effect they arealways at loss. They are unable to capitalize on the opportunitiescoming in life.

On the other hand a person with a strong, firm and determined mindcan take their decisions and stand by their decisions without anyhassles even in the worst of situations and hence these people areable to achieve their desired goals in life. Life is not a smooth road. There may be problems, failures, losses, hurdles, disasters orcatastrophes in ones life. A person with weak and unstable mind willnot have the inner strength to cope with such unpleasant events of

life. If he meets with hurdles or problems in life, he will lose hissteadiness of mind and shall change his decisions immediately. Suchindividuals cannot reach to their final destination, cannot achievetheir desired goals in life, either material or spiritual.

Human life is unpredictable, uncertain and indefinite. The road is notsmooth all the time. There may be incidences or events in life, whichcan give rise to joy or sorrow, pleasure or pain, success or failure,

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happiness or unhappiness. Such diagonally opposite events candisturb the equanimity of the mind resulting in the loss of peace,quietude and tranquility. A stable and steady mind remains cool,calm, composed, undisturbed and unperturbed during all such eventsof life. In Gita, it has been mentioned that:

He whose mind is untroubled in the midst of sorrows and isfree from eager desire amid pleasures, he from whom passion, fear,and rage have passed away, he is called a sage of settledintelligence.Rationality

Rationality is the second main character of a healthy and a maturedmind. Rationality is the process of rational thinking and rationalbehavior, which is consistent with reality and based on sound and

factual reason or logic. Rational thinking means a thought process,which is based on purely understandable and logical reasoning andbelief. Hence when one believes that sun or moon eclipse is due tospecific geographical positions of the sun, moon, and earth, isrational thinking, but on the other hand when one believes that thesun or moon eclipse, is due to the unholy action of the two demons,Rahu and Ketu, is nothing but an irrational belief.

Similarly when one believes that any sickness can be cured by propermedical treatment, it is scientific and rational thinking, but when onebelieves that sickness can be removed by certain religious actions, itis irrational thinking. Irrational beliefs are based on certain made tobelieve, unscientific and illogical beliefs. Such beliefs are not basedon scientific, logical, sound and factual reasons.

Rational thinking can be developed through right observation, rightperception, and right conception. Correct perception, observation,and conception, will lead to rational thinking, which ultimately willlead to rational behavior. Rational thinking relies purely on factualperception and logical analysis of the situation.

Right Perception and rationality

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Perception is the impression and the knowledge gained by the mindof the external world through its sensory organs. Right perceptionleads to rational thinking, while wrong perception pollutes the mind,which ultimately leads to irrational thinking. Wrong perception can bea keyhole perception, snapshot perception or colored perception.

Human mind is often conditioned by his experiences. Those whohave heard number of ghost stories in the childhood, definitelybelieves in the existence of ghosts, and the same irrational beliefpersists even in their adult life.

Wrong concepts based on wrong perception generate irrationalthinking, which ultimately leads to irrational behavior; All the beliefsof the existence of ghosts, all the beliefs in palmistry, numerologyand astrology, are baseless and without any logical reasoning. Most ofthe religious stories are full of miracles. The storyteller, for the sake ofenhancing the image of the specific god, creates such miracle-stories.

Such stories gradually condition the mind of the listener. With theeffect, the listener of such miracle stories will loose the art of logicalreasoning.

Some time such irrational beliefs are considered as deep faith in thereligion, god, or in some saint, and such beliefs are respected andworshiped as strong faith.

In the past number of battles were fought on the name of religion.Numbers of persons have died for the sake of wrong beliefs of religionand that of god. Action of sacrificing the life of some animals, for thesatisfaction of certain god or goddess, is nothing but the belief basedon irrational thinking. Belief of hell and heaven is nothing butirrational belief. However, most of the people believe it firmly.

Irrational thinking and belief, leads to irrational behavior. Nowadayspeople have started believing in the horoscope. Even choosing of thelife partner is done through certain methods of comparing thehoroscopes of the girl and the boy. There are examples wheremarriages could not be settled simply because horoscopes of the girland boy were not compatible. It is also known fact that all themarriages, settled in the light of spouses compatible horoscopes, arenot happy and ideal marriages.

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Independence

The third character of a healthy and a strong mind isindependence. This is the capacity and the ability of the mind to

think independently. Human mind is all the time engaged in thinkingwhich may be either for the past or for the future. Most of the time,the human mind thinks within the boundaries created by society,caste, family, friends and religion. From the very childhood, thehuman mind learns to think in specific patterns and within specificorbit. All the thoughts are primarily based on some well-establishedprinciples. The person who is born in a Hindu family will all the timethink regarding re-birth, immortality of soul and reward of goodKarma in the next birth. All his thoughts and theories of life will bebased on these principles and will rotate around same basic theme.On the other hand, the person born in a non-Hindu family will never

think about re-birth. An Ayurvedic Doctor attributes all his causes ofdiseases to vat, pit and kuf. While allopathic doctors, all the time willthink of bacteria and viruses as the prime cause of diseases.

In the same way, most of the people create certain patterns ofthinking based on certain traditional principles. Such people areconservative by nature. They will never think anything beyond theirestablished self-boundaries. Not only that, but they are rigid in theirthinking and adamant to accept any new ideas forwarded by otherpeople.

Independent thinking means to think freely, without any prejudice.Mostly human mind is conditioned to think in one specific way, withinspecific limits. Conditioning is due to life long experiences, andimpressions of environment within which the person lives. Theperson without the ability of independent thinking is unable to crossthe borders of traditionalism. They are the followers. They can only

walk on the established roads. They cannot find out new tracks orroads. They live traditionally and die traditionally.

Independent thinking is closely linked with creativity. It is notpossible to create anything without freethinking. All the artists,scientists, thinkers were independent thinkers. They have tried tofind out some new ways, methods, roads, principles for thebetterment of human life. In ancient times, it was strongly believed

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that earth is stable and the sun being the planet of earth movesaround the earth. First time Galileo proclaimed that this theory iswrong. He announced that the earth is one of the planets of sun andit is the earth, which rotates around the sun along with other planets.All people including the church opposed his new theory. At last, he

had to apologize publicly for his new theory. Then he said that, Now Isay that earth is not moving but because of my statement, the earthwill not stop rotating around the sun. After some time his theory wasaccepted. Even today, there are certain groups of conservativepeople who strongly believe that earth is not round but it is flat. In allthe fields of life, there are people who are capable of independentthinking, and these are the only people who discover innovative ideasand theories.

It was traditionally believed that freedom movement could notpossibly get success without starting war with the ruler, but it was

Gandhi, who gave the new idea of non-violence. Number of personsin the beginning opposed even Gandhi, but at last, he proved histheory and brought independence to India. Dr. Hahneman was aGerman doctor. He gave new theory and ideas regarding the cause ofdisease, which was quite contrary to the prevailing thoughts. He wasopposed by all the doctors of that time. He was asked to leave fromall the places in Germany where he propagated his new theories andconcepts. At last, he was proved right, a new system of medicineemerged, and that is

Homeopathy. Such incidences are many in all the fields of life andthere have always been people who crossed the line of establishedprinciples and established norms of thinking and who created new

theories and new principles.

Creativity is the basic parameter of grading mental capacity. Otherparameters are will power, memory, intelligence and receptivity.Therefore, mind without creativity is an incomplete mind. The personwithout creativity cannot progress in life. Mind without the ability tothink independently is a closed mind and person with a closed mindcannot learn, adopt, or create anything new in the life. Conservative

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society cannot progress. Such society cannot keep up with thegrowth of other progressive societies. With the result, it disappearsfrom the earth with the passage of time. Independent thinking is theseed, which gives birth to creativity. The mind is never completewithout the quality of creativity.

Compassion

It is the fourth and most important character of a healthy mind.Compassion is a special mental faculty, which generates humanefeeling towards other living beings. Human relationships are primarilybased on this special mental faculty. Human society is based on theprincipal of human relationships, which is the result of compassiontowards each other. Compassion is the feeling, which enables anindividual to understand and feel the feelings and emotions of otherhuman beings. This is also termed as empathy. With this faculty of

mind, one human can understand and feel the sorrow and misery ofanother human. With this feeling only, he is motivated to help others,who are miserable or are in distress.

A mind might be stable, fearless, integrated, rational, having thepower for independent thinking and intelligent, but if it is not filledwith compassion, then it will become like a Satans mind. Intelligencewithout compassion leads to total selfishness. Such a person will betotally self-centered. All his actions will be for selfish motive only.Such a person may perform certain generous acts, like donating forpoor, building temples or hospitals, etc; which may appear like

humanitarian work, but inwardly such acts are only for achievingcertain rewards like getting social status or prestige. On the otherhand, a compassionate person helps another only for the joy of

helping, without any desire for any kind of reward or recognition. Aperson with true compassion helps another and experiences utterpleasure only from act of reaching out and helping another being.This kind of pleasure derived from helping another is also known asaltruism. Such a person will be so sensitive to the feelings andemotions of others, that not only he will understand the sufferings ofothers but also he will suffer himself. He helps others not for the sakeof any kind of reward, but because such an act gives him deep inner

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mental satisfaction and pleasure. All the religions of the world arebased on the main principle of humanity. Humanity cannot begenerated without the feeling of compassion towards others. Humanmind without compassion is an incomplete mind.

Integrity

Integrity denotes soundness, wholeness and completeness. The wordintegrity is originated from the Latin word integritas. The meaning ofintegritasis sound, whole or complete. The man with integrity is theman with a sound character. Such a person adheres very firmly to hiscode of conduct, ethics, standards, values and principles of life. Suchperson will not compromise with basic values and standards of life forthe sake of any material gain. For him, standards and principles of lifeare most important. Such a person is complete and integrated. Beingintegrated his thoughts, speech and actions are always identical. His

outward personality is the actual reflection of his inner characters. Hispersonality is naturally glorified by the strength of his innercharacters. Such a person does not require cosmetic appliances,polished language and stylish etiquette to impress people because hispersonality is naturally beautified by the strength of his innercharacters.

Such person is true to himself and at the same time true to others. Heis trustworthy and honest. People trust him because he always sticksto his words, keeps his promises and adheres to his principles of life.Being integrated to his own conscious, he cannot behave contrary to

his own beliefs and convictions. Such a person cannot be a hypocrite

because it is difficult for him to cheat his own conscious. He is truthfulby nature. His truthfulness is not superficial and implanted on him by

outside sources, but it is the reflection of his own conscious. Having atransparent and a pure conscious, he cannot make a false projectionof his personality. He speaks the truth not because it is religious andmoral to speak the truth but he speaks the truth because he cannotspeak lies.Being integrated with his own conscious he all the time feels oneswith the conscious. Such oneness with inner conscious enhances hisinner vital energy and thus increases his mental strength.

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Self Confidence

Self-confidence is the trust on ones own self. It means reliance

man mind and happiness

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