Is the mind a special material element to which material laws dont apply?
The mind is a material object. Yet it is transferred with the soul as explained in the 15th chapter. But the motion of all material objects is subject to material laws (gravity, thermal forces, quantum forces etc.). Material objects can be burned, destroyed etc. How does the mind go wherever the soul goes (this applies to intelligence and false ego as well). Are these special material objects that are beyond laws of material nature?
Transcript
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question the mind is a material object yet it is transferred with the soul as explained in the 15th chapter but the motion of all material objects is subject to material laws gravity, thermal forces, quantum forces etc material objects can be burned, destroyed etc how does the mind go wherever the soul goes this applies to intelligence and false ego as well are these special material objects that are beyond the laws of material nature answer, the mind, intelligence and ego are subtle objects and so they are beyond the laws of material nature as they are understood by current science actually most of current science focuses on gross matter alone ishwarya prabhupada explains in the parakhota of 7.4 bhumi raapona lovayu khammano buddhi levacha ahamkariti yamme bhinna prakriti rashtraha so in this verse krishna lists the 8 elements of material nature that comprises energy and he describes that the whole of material science primarily studies the 4 gross elements of earth, water, fire, air and their interactions ether is also not studied much but it doesn’t extend much to the other elements so the laws of physics and the laws of material science in general as they are presently known cannot explain many phenomena that fall in the category of paranormal phenomena there is substantial evidence for them but they can’t be explained with normal laws of physics so this indicates that there are phenomena which are not understood today by science and if there are phenomena there will be laws governing that phenomena also so those phenomena are subtle the elements are subtle so the laws governing them are also subtle so the laws governing the mind are primarily 3 modes of material nature they regulate the subtle body, the mind and that’s how they shape our consciousness the modes don’t affect the soul directly so yes it is true that the mind is a material element but being subtle it is not affected by the gross laws of physics like gravity and others that we know about. Is it eternal? No, but because it is subtle it is not destroyed by the action of gross material elements so for example fire or knife or bullet or poison may destroy the arrangement of the gross material body and therefore the soul has to leave that body but these don’t destroy the mind the subtle body is not indestructible but it does not decay the way the normal body decays and it continues to exist as long as the soul exists in the material world.
Only when the soul leaves the material existence of the soul shed its subtle body and that time the elements that comprise the subtle body, mind, intelligence, ego they merge into the elements, into the universal coverings that are made of the same elements, mind, intelligence and ego as the soul departs from the universe back to the spiritual world. So this is subtle matter and this applies even to intelligence and ego in addition to mind being subtle matter the gross physical laws don’t apply