What is the subconscious mind as explained in books such as “The power of the subconscious mind”?

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question question what is the subconscious mind as is explained in books like the power of the subconscious mind which say that mind can actually fulfill whatever we desire if we deeply contemplate affirm and percolate our desires desire into our subconscious mind then that will be in due course fulfilled because in the subconscious mind there are lots of powers so what exactly is the subconscious mind answer the word subconscious is used in many different senses by different people so Sigmund Freud for example used the subconscious to refer to the place where impressions from our past are stored and these impressions often condition us to behave in particular ways and have certain fears which we are not even aware of or whose cause we are not aware of in contrast Murphy the author of books like the author of the power of the subconscious mind he holds that a subconscious mind is a storehouse of great power and it can fulfill whatever we desire if we just persevere in doing in internalizing the message so actually speaking if we consider our own normal consciousness at a conscious level we can see we have different levels of powers so for example if our consciousness is distracted then we may read something and we may have to read it 10 times before any understanding dawns in us however if we are concentrating well on something then in one or two readings we may just get the whole thing and thus so the the more focused we are we could say that the more attention the more energy we can bring to the task and the better we can do it more attention and energy both we can bring to it so we can even conceive of our attention to be like an energy if we are lifting 10 objects simultaneously simultaneously then we can’t do all 10 objects we can’t lift 10 heavy objects we can only lift 10 light objects at most and that too we may have the fear that one of them may just tumble off but if we are lifting one object then we can lift one heavy object also similarly if our consciousness is dissipated over 10 different things then we may not be able to bring much energy to bear on any one of those things but if we focus on one thing like focusing our physical energy on lifting one object similarly we focus the energy of our consciousness on one object then we may be able to do a lot more than what we would have been otherwise able to do so similarly now this we can take it at a deeper level sometimes we connect with the subject because we are attracted to it so then sometimes we are in a good mood and we just get absorbed so when we study also we go through different moods at different times and amidst such moods sometimes we may be able to do something very well when the mood is good so we can see that even at a conscious level our capacity to focus our consciousness varies and that variation determines the effectiveness or otherwise of the actions that we do so if we consider that even at a conscious level the way we are distracted can determine how effectively we do things then we can consider how at a subconscious level sometimes our own notions can sabotage us for example if we have for some reason or the other a deeply ingrained negative complex so so we might be thinking we might be studying for an exam but inside us we believe that we are not going to be successful we are not good enough to correct that exam now that belief may have come because maybe in our childhood we were compared with another sibling or other friend and we were compared unfavorably why can’t you be as good as that person so that kind of comparison can be very damaging for our psyche and childhood impressions can stay for a long time and because of that deeply ingrained negative belief although at a conscious level we are working and we are working as well as we can at a subconscious level we will sabotage ourselves so there is a part of us working to get a good result and there is a part of us working against our getting a good result and naturally we will not be effective so in terms of our Bhagavad Gita philosophy we could say that in our consciousness that means at the conscious level we are having the positive intention but at the subconscious level we are having a negative conception and that negative conception will turn out to be much stronger than the positive intention even if it doesn’t turn out to be stronger it will definitely weaken our capacity to be effective for example suppose there is a big weight that is to be pushed and one person is and there are two people one person is pushing that weight forward and the other is pulling it backwards obviously the weight will not move much forward or it will move in the direction of whoever is stronger if the person pushing it forward is stronger then the weight will move but still the weight will move only that much forward as will be the magnitude of the first person’s strength greater than that of the second person’s strength so similarly the conscious intention is for doing something that is like the person pushing the object pushing the weight forward and the subconscious negative conception is like the person pulling the weight backwards and when these two weights are missing when these two forces are pulling in different directions naturally we won’t be able to function properly we function sub-optimally and sometimes we may feel that we are like our worst enemies at times at critical moments we make silly mistakes we cave under pressure and thus we end up doing things which we didn’t have done so for us as spiritual beings we need to recognize the many forces that come in between the intention that may emerge from us as souls and the actions that manifest at the physical level so sometimes the consciousness that comes out of the soul may identify more with the intention, positive intention that we have at the conscious level and sometimes the consciousness may be affected more by the subconscious energy by the subconscious negative conception that we have so the way we balance these two things so if we make positive affirmations and by those positive affirmations or by whatever process we choose if we can get rid of the negative conceptions that are sabotaging us from within then we will be able to do much more because at the very least there will be nothing within us that will be sabotaging us and even better still if the positive affirmations lead to a positive conception within us a positive conception within us then that subconscious energy will also work with us work for us and in this way we will be able to achieve far more than what we would have otherwise been able to achieve now sometimes some of the literatures on this subject does go overboard they claim that we can be god and that we can do whatever service at our mind only if we just are determined enough affirmative enough if that particular intention percolates deep into our subconscious and this we can certainly do more than what we are doing but we can never be god so we can never be omnipotent and thus there is a limit to what we can achieve even by the power of the subconscious mind and when we practice bhakti we practice bhakti with proper understanding then we become purified and purification doesn’t just mean that we get free from lust, anger, greed, envy, pride, illusion purification also means that the negative self-conceptions that means sabotages from within they can also be overcome by our determined efforts by our steady endeavour by the steady contact with Krishna and thus a devotee can have enormous positive energy now we can look at Srila Prabhupada certainly he was divinely empowered for being able to achieve what he was able to achieve at the age of 70 travelling 14 times around the world and building a global movement filled with 108 temples and writing 70 books all that he was able to do is enormous at the same time while we acknowledge divine empowerment we also have to look at his own conviction he even in old age despite having many many difficulties his whole being was permeated with the conviction that Lord Chaitanya’s message will spread all over the world and thus he persevered far beyond what most others would have persevered even beyond what most other devotees would have persevered and we have to give due credit to his extraordinary intention along with the divine empowerment so sometimes when we try the best to do what we can aligning our conscious and subconscious intentions especially when we are working for a noble cause in the service of the Lord we can attract powers far bigger than ours to translate our vision, to translate our determination into reality thus the process of bhakti if done with a positive understanding of how the human being is meant to manifest the best internally and externally in the service of the divine being, in the service of Krishna then bhakti can also unleash from within us powers that we might not even have known existed before Thank you