Is there any reference to the subconscious mind in the Vedic literature?

Anwser Podcast

Transcript

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Is there any reference to the subconscious mind in the Vedic literature? Answer? There are terms and there are concepts. So, terms are basically verbal.
Concepts are mental or intellectual. And terms are handles. Just like if I have a suitcase, to carry a suitcase without a handle is difficult.
So, in one sense you could say terms are handles for concepts. Sometimes the same suitcase may have two different handles. One for lifting, another for dragging.
Another handle while you are lifting, while maybe you are pulling it along wheels or whatever. Like that. So, sometimes the same concept may be referred by different terms in different contexts.
So, in other words, the subconscious mind is actually a term that has come from the western thought systems. If we consider the broad western thought systems, even the term mind is not very clear in them. We all know that we have a mind because we all feel its presence.
I also talked in the first part of my seminar about how the word mind has different meanings. Attention, intelligence, then the non-material side. So, first I will talk about what in the western thought system subconscious mind means.
And then we will see what could be the correlation. So, initially what I am saying is this is a term which has come from a western thought system. So, it is unlikely because the Vedic thought system is different.
Vedic worldview is different. So, it is unlikely that we may find an exact correlate for that term in the Vedic literature. So, the idea of a subconscious mind basically means that if we consider our mind to be like a memory bank, then in our computer we may see something on our screen.
What we see on the screen is actually very small as compared to what is stored in the memory of the computer, in the hard disk. So, what is there in our conscious mind is like what is there on the screen. And what is there in the subconscious mind is like what is inside.
Now, if we consider the concept of the subconscious mind basically refers to the impressions, desires, memories that we are not conscious of. And the idea is that they act like they affect whatever is the subconscious it affects us at a level that we are not aware of. So, now, we all have certain habits, certain inclinations, certain tendencies, which we just do by default.
So, we could say to some extent that much of what we do by default, by sheer habit without being aware of it, that is what has been stored in the subconscious mind. So, the subconscious mind does not have any exact neural coordinate in terms of the brain. It is not necessary that this part of the brain is related to conscious activity, so the correlation between mind and the brain itself is very unclear in western thoughts.
Now, moving on, in the Vedic conception, if we consider the mana, buddhi, ahankara, all three are subtle and ultimately it is a nomenclature. So, no system of taxonomy, taxonomy is a system of massification nomenclature, no system of taxonomy is actually waterproof. For example, on a map we may say here there is America, here is Canada.
But if we go actually to the borderline, it is not that there is a clear line, this is where America ends, this is where Canada begins. Some places it might be there, some places it might not be there. There is a mountain, which is separating, now is it exactly at the top of the mountain, which is exactly at the top of the mountain.
So, the point which I am making is, when you talk about taxonomy, when you do nomenclature, things are separate. But when we actually go into real life, the categorization may not be that distinct. So, essentially if we consider the Vedic concept of the mind, it includes the same things, desires, the memories, the inclinations, the overall impressions, based on what we have done.
So, to say that this mind has a subconscious component to it, that is like saying the obvious. Because we understand the mind has many impressions from previous lives also. And we are not aware of them.
Sometimes we get the feeling of Dijabu. What is that? Dijabu. Dijabu means we go to a particular place and suddenly we feel, I have been here before.
It is a feeling that many people have in common, but it has no rational basis because we have not been there in any time. So, maybe Dijabu has many explanations. Maybe we were there in that place in a previous lifetime.
And we are not able to consciously put our finger on the exact time when we were there. But we are able to remember, oh, I was here. So, at the subconscious level, our memory is triggered by something that we see or sense in the circumstance.
Or sometimes when some things happen to us, then suddenly some memories get triggered. We were not even aware that we could do something. We see someone from 25-30 years later or 25-30 years ago and then suddenly we start speaking with them, recognizing them.
And we didn’t even know that person, but suddenly we have the experience that we have the experience that we are able to recollect things or do things which we ourselves were not aware of consciously. That we could do this or we might be able to do it. We had not even thought about it.
We just started doing it involuntarily. So, all this means that there is stuff which is stored somewhere in our inner world at a place where we are not consciously aware of. Now, that’s one way to understand from our experience also that there is a subconscious component to our mind.
Now, in Sanskrit, the word is chetan, achetan and avachetan. So, chetan means conscious, achetan means unconscious, avachetan means subconscious. So, the avachetan word, Prabhupada gives the example that sometimes suddenly in a still surface like a pond, bubbles start coming up.
Although nobody has thrown any stone or anything like that, suddenly bubbles come up. So, he says that happens because there is fermentation happening somewhere at the bottom of the bottom of the pond and that is causing the bubbles to come up. Similarly, sometimes we just feel some desire, some emotions popping up in our consciousness although there is no external stimulation for them popping up.
So, then we understand they are popping up because of our past. Past means it’s something in the subconscious mind. So, basically sadatat bhav bhavita in 8.6 in the Gita yamyam vapismaran bhavam yajatyante kalevaram tam tam evaiti kaunteya sadatat bhav bhavita at whatever state of being we remember at the time of death that we will attain in our next life.
That’s how Srila Prabhupada translates it. So, the precise Sanskrit word is Sada, always, Tad Bhava Bhavitaha, so Tad Bhava, that emotion, that nature, that disposition, Bhavitaha, that disposition leads to the corresponding manifestation. So, that means from the subtle, the gross will manifest, subtle is the template of the gross.
Now, if we see right now, we have certain desires which we are consciously aware of, and there are many which we are not consciously aware of, but they all contribute to our spiritual growth, to our post-mortem destination, where we are going to go after death. So, right now, we know we have some attachments, but there are some things which shape us which we may not be aware of also. So, overall, I would say, the subconscious mind, as it is talked about in modern psychology, that will not necessarily be limited only to the mind, whatever is below our conscious awareness, there can be something in the mind, there can be something in the intelligence also.
So, we may have some capacity to discriminate, like, say in our childhood we were told, we should not drink. Now, we may have forgotten that also, that specifically we were told that. But when the temptation comes, no, I will not do this, we look back and think, why am I thinking of not doing it? We may not have any conscious reason, we just know it should not be done.
So, we could say something, even at the level of the ego, there is some misidentification that is there, say, we may belong to a particular caste or like a particular area in a country, state or whatever, and we may not even notice that I have some, we may not even feel that I am attached to that, but suddenly somebody insults that caste, that region, and we feel angry, hey, I am still attached to this. So, the point is that, that kind of identification with that castionality, that could have been there, that we could say is a part of the ego, its identification. So, just as the concept of the mind, as it is understood in modern science, does not necessarily correlate with, or modern philosophy, does not correlate precisely with the concept of mind as it is understood in the Yoga text.
Similarly, the concept of the subconscious mind will not correlate with anything, any one thing in the Gita model of the self, but the concept that there is something below our consciousness, below our conscious awareness, which shapes our behavior, that is very much integral to the Yoga text’s understanding of things. And, most importantly, the process of Bhakti operates not just at the conscious level, it also operates at the subconscious level. In fact, when we say intelligence and intellectual conviction, that actually operates at a conscious level, with my intelligence I understand I should do this, with my intelligence I understand I should not do this, but when we become purified, we do not need the intelligence at that time.
When we are purified, naturally we will be inclined towards Krishna, naturally we will be disinclined towards Maya. So, that is why it is said that the topmost yogis, in the Uddhava Gita it is said, the Jnana yogis, when they come to the summit of Jnana, they actually renounce Jnana for Bhakti. That means when their heart is attracted to Krishna, that means, when we say heart is attracted to Krishna, what does it mean? It means simply that, at a subconscious level, their attraction to Krishna is there.
So, they do not have to consciously think, okay, Krishna Bhakti is good for me, this is bad for me, so therefore I should do this, I should not do this. Naturally, they will do it. While talking about how yogis who have practiced some Bhakti in this life, some spirituality in this life, and then they start off from that point in the next life, Krishna says, Purva Abhyasa, from 6.38 to 6.45 He talks about this, so 6.40 to 6.43 He says that Purva Abhyasa, by one’s previous practice, those people are helplessly attracted towards spiritual principles.
So, that is at a subconscious level, not necessarily at a conscious level. They themselves do not understand, why am I being attracted? So, there is a section, say if we read the lives of some Akshara Prabhupada’s disciples, they were just drawn towards exploring something higher. Nobody in their family was similar, very few in their family were of similar attraction, but they just felt as if, I am being pulled.
Riyate, have a showcase of her. So, that helpless attraction, that comes by the practice of Bhakti. So, the process of Bhakti, it purifies us, and purification means at a subconscious level, things are changing for us.
So, as we keep consciously doing things again and again and again, sometimes we, when say materialistic people, when they fall down or they get hurt themselves, they may just utter a foul word, or they may just say mother, whatever, something like that. As devotees, if we keep practicing Bhakti, even if we don’t think about it, if we fall down, we may just say Krishna. So, that is something which has happened at subconscious level, not thinking of calling out Krishna at that time, it just happens.
So, that way, the process of Bhakti purifies us and changes our subconsciousness also. Thank you.