What is more powerful – the soul or the mind?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. What is more important, what is more powerful, the mind or the soul? The soul is the source of energy.
The soul is the source of consciousness. Without the soul, the mind cannot function. So in that sense, the soul is more powerful.
To understand this relationship between the soul and the mind, you can compare it with a computer system. In a computer, there is hardware, software and user. So the soul is like the user.
The body is like the hardware. And the mind is like the software. Now, the computer will not operate unless somebody is there to turn it on, to activate the power.
So the computer’s functionality happens because of the user. So like that, the soul is the source of energy and activity. At the same time, the computer also has certain default programs, certain default settings.
And those default settings happen often without our awareness. And sometimes against our intention. So for example, if I have been, if I am regularly visiting a website, say timesofindia.com. And now what happens is the computer, whether it’s Google or your browser, it gets that, it auto-stores that, and then auto-completes.
And as soon as I start typing T, sometimes you will use Times of India. Now actually, I may want to go to some other site. I may want to know, okay, I want to know some other part of the world, what is the time there.
So I may want to go to some other site, timeanddate.com or whatever. But as soon as I type T, it automatically auto-completes that. Then what I have to do is, I have to correct that auto-complete and put the correct thing.
So if I am not alert, even without my awareness, I will just go there. Sometimes in a computer, some pop-up windows come up. And normally, you have to say yes to go on that window.
But some programs are very sophisticated. What they do is that actually, we have to say no to not go. Otherwise, if we don’t do anything, the default setting, maybe after 10 seconds, 15 seconds, automatically will go there.
So the mind has many default settings like that. So now if the computer user is not alert, then the computer will go and do things which the computer doesn’t, which the user doesn’t want to do. And those are based on the settings in the computer, in the software of the computer.
So like that, although the soul is more powerful in the sense that the soul is a source of energy, but the soul is not alert, then the mind can propose and make the soul do things which the soul doesn’t really want to do. So it is the awareness, the alertness, which enables the soul to control the mind. But if the soul is not aware, not alert, then the mind will control the soul.
And that is why the mind is considered to be extremely powerful. So at present, we can say that it is, the mind is very powerful, but the mind’s power depends on how much we let it take power. The more we let it take power, the more it will be difficult to control it.
So I will conclude with one example. Let us say most of us know the chariot body analogy. The body is like a chariot, the horses are the senses, the reins is the mind.
Now, when a horse is going along a road, but the horse sees something, maybe a fruit on the side of a road, the horse starts running in that direction. Now, initially, when the horse starts just moving its head in that direction and sees that, if the charioteer is alert, charioteer can just pull the reins and the horse immediately comes back in the right direction. But if the charioteer is not alert, the horse starts running.
And the more the horse gets momentum, the more difficult it will be for the charioteer to keep the horse in the control. So like that, the more we let the mind get distracted, the more it gains momentum. And the more it gains momentum, then controlling it becomes more and more difficult.
So in principle, the soul is more powerful than the mind. But in practice, the mind can at any moment take power from the soul and then it will control the soul. And that’s why we need to be always alert in keeping ourselves purposefully engaged.
Then the mind can’t take control and mislead us. Does it answer your question? Thank you.