What is the difference between the mind and the modes?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
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mind and the modes of material nature? Answer, the mind is a part of our subtle body. The mind is what accompanies each soul. So, every soul has his or her own mind and that is a part of their subtle body.
And it is specifically shaped according to the way the person has acted in the past. So, your mind will be different from my mind. The modes of material nature are not something which are associated with any particular individual person.
The modes are, we could say, universal forces that shape the interaction between matter and consciousness. The metaphor that the Bhagavad Gita uses is of ropes. The first time when Krishna introduces the modes in the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, which is about the three modes of material nature, prakriti, traye, guna, vibhaga, yoga, there in 14.5 Krishna states that sattva, majas, tamayiti, gunaha, prakriti, sambhava, nibad nanti, maha, baho, dehe, dehi, namo, gaya.
Nibad nanti. So, the modes are what cause bondage. So, say in some of our, in Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita as it is, we will see a picture of Krishna playing his flute above and then there are three female deities.
They all have ropes in their hands or we may say one female deity with three rope sets of ropes, whatever, different places, it may be depicted differently. But basically the three sets of ropes which descend from above and they are tied or the person below is tied by them. So, the modes are like ropes which bind the soul to matter, now to the material world primarily.
So, now this bondage is also of course affected primarily through the mind, the subtle body. So, in that sense the modes and the mind are connected, intimately connected. So, the mind can, when the mode of goodness becomes more forceful, then that influences the mind in a particular way and the person becomes more reflective, more thoughtful.
And conversely when the mode of passion or the mode of ignorance becomes more forceful, then the person’s consciousness gets pulled in that direction and that person moves towards, moves towards getting, starts thinking in that way. Now, of course, the modes pull us as we desire to be pulled. That means we are forced to act the way we choose to desire.
It’s our desire, it’s like there are different options and once we choose a particular option, we are immediately impelled to act. So, sometimes we personify the mind, the mind is making me say like, mind is making, mind is saying do this, the mind is saying don’t do that. But what is it that is making the mind do it ultimately? It is the modes of material nature.
So, the modes affect the mind and the mind, so the modes are like a universal force. They are ropes which bind all living beings. But the specific way in which the ropes bind each particular person, that is shaped by the particular mind of that person.
So, the mind is an individual faculty which all of us have been given while we are in the material world. And of course, in the spiritual world, the soul has a pure mind which is not affected by the modes of material nature. But in the material world, the mind is a subtle link between the body and the soul, like the software is for the user of the computer’s hardware.
Now, we could say that the three modes of material nature are like three different kinds of external forces that control the software. So, for example, this is a crude example, but it just illustrates, say that nowadays there have been ransomwares, which suddenly lock up the computer and they just take control of the computer. So, the ransomware itself is generated somewhere else and from there it is sent, it comes on to our computer and then it takes control of the computer.
And there is some connecting link between our computer and the, say, the owner of the ransomware who has put it there. So, like that, the modes themselves, they are universal forces, but they shape the software that is our mind. And the two function, we can say in coordination.
That means, when we start desiring sensuality, so it can work both ways. Sometimes a particular mode becomes dominant. Sometimes we see that for no reason, for no specific tangible reason, suddenly we start feeling irritated, suddenly we start feeling lazy, suddenly we start feeling sensually desirous.
So, that is, the modes are pulling us. Or sometimes, you know, we ourselves, it is not that something from outside the desire is coming. Sometimes we ourselves get the desire.
And then when we get the desire, we expose ourselves to stimuli which trigger the desire further, which fuel the desire further. You know, we may read something, watch something, which increases sensuality in us. That means, in the first case, it is the mode of passion that is pulling us.
In the second case, it is we who are actually going towards the mode of passion. But so, in that sense, in that case, what we need to do is, we do not have to rigidly differentiate whether something is coming from the modes or the mind. The modes are external channel, external forces, and they come to us through the mind.
So, the mind, so basically the mind first say goes in, I am in Satvakona, I want to study. But the mind goes into Rajoguna and says, come on, let us see the news. Let us see what is the latest cricket match score or whatever.
Now, from a functional perspective, we do not really have to go into a paralysis by analysis trying to differentiate exactly what is coming from there. So, we understand that essentially, we are caught in illusion. We are tempted by illusion and we will get caught by illusion if you are not careful.
And that illusion, it comes to us through the mind. So, it is not that mind and the modes act independently. Rather, the modes act through the mind.
So, for us, rather than worrying too much about what is coming from where, we need to focus on where we are going or what is going to take us where. So, some proposition comes, we feel very proud and we feel tempted. I want to show the whole world how good I am.
I did this. We feel like bragging. Now, is it coming from the mind or coming from the ego? Well, it does not really matter.
What matters is, is it taking us towards Krishna or is it taking us away from Krishna? So, in terms of concept, we understand the mind as a particular function, the ego as a particular function. And the modes are the overall forces that cause bondage. But in terms of concept, but in terms of functionality, it is very difficult for us to categorize specifically that.
So, even if the mode of ignorance is coming, how is it going to come in? It is going to come in through the mind itself. Just like sometimes when we are on a computer, we are surfing some site. Sometimes we may get advertisement of an obscene movie or sometimes we may get advertisement of a good book, good spiritual book also.
So, now both are coming from the same computer itself. They both are popping up in the same browser. So, we could say the browser is like the mind and say an obscene book is coming up.
That is like the mode of passion or ignorance coming or obscene image or obscene movie or something like that is coming up. That is the mode of passion or ignorance. And a good book ad is coming up that is coming from the mode of goodness.
So, the modes are universal forces that act upon specific individuals through their minds. And conceptually the two are very different things. The mind is, if it is inside our body, the modes are forces that exist in nature and they act on all living beings in different ways.
But practically in terms of functioning, the modes act through the mind.