DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MIND AND BRAIN
It is the most complex question and still a topic of research for scientists. Let's discuss both one by one.
What is brain
It is the most important as well as complex organ comprising of a very complex form of electric circuitry within. It consists of billions of neurons and every individual neuron is interacting with many other neurons to form a complex circuitry. It is made up of cells, blood vessels and nervous system. As per the description of brain, we understand that it is a physical thing. It's having a definite shape and architecture.
How mind differs from brain
Now the question is, what is mind then? We often see brain and mind are used interchangeably. But its not so. We all have studied about duality in our school days.When a particle is stationary it exhibits property of matter and when it moves it exhibits property of wave.
If you apply theory of duality in case of brain and mind, we can see that brain is a physical aspect of duality and mind is the wave aspect. As cells and nerves form brain body, similarly thoughts, conscience, understanding and mental state of person are arbitraries of mind. So the brain and the mind are entirely different entities
Do you know about the Three bodies in Yogic system.
What is mind
We will discuss mind with two different approaches.
(A) Modern approach
As per the modern approach mind is divided into two categories.
(1) Conscious mind
If you are a computer student then you can understand it better. Conscious mind is just like the RAM of your computer where all the the functions are executed and it is the most active part of the mind untill it is under process. As Ram, conscious mind has no storage function. It's a volatile memory. Your hard disk can be in terabyte but your Ram will be very small as compared to the hard disk.
(2) Subconscious mind
The rest part of your mind other than conscious mind is called subconscious mind you might have searched on Google and have seen picture of Iceberg. What we see above the water level is the conscious part of mind and the submerged part of the Iceberg resembles subconscious mind. All the involuntary actions and processes of your body is governed by your subconscious mind and these processes are really very very complex and cannot be managed by your conscious mind.
(B) Yogic science approach
In yogic science human mind is,in spite of two, divided into four major categories. These are:-
(1) Buddhi- intellect
It is the Gateway of your mind without this your rest three forms of mind will not be able to develop at the fullest. Buddhi also gives you the basic instinct of survival. To save yourself from approaching danger you need not to have PHD or any kind of educational degree. This basic feature comes with buddhi.
(2) Ahamkar- Identity
Its root word is aham that means self. It also tells how an individual identify himself with self and surrounding. He may be identified with his body, surrounding, community, society, region, country and so on. He cares for the well being of the thing he is identified with. If he is identified with his body he will show responsibility up-to his body only. it will not be extended beyond self. If he is identified with the society he will care about the society. He will have broad mindset. Buddhi and the ahamkar works in synchronisation. Your Buddhi will expand as how you identify yourself. If you have limitless identity your Buddhi will expand enormously. New born baby or Child has limitless identity that's why all the three aspects of Mind grows remarkably during that period.
(3) Manas - Memory
Buddhi is just like the RAM of a computer. It cannot execute anything until some raw data is fed into it. Buddhi also need some information for its functioning. Manas is the another aspect of mind. It deals with accumulation of Information and Impressions. We call it Sanskar. Based on the the Impressions of the past one buildup Sanskar. Based on which individual gets identified.
(4) Chitta
It is the fourth dimension of the mind and it is the most important subject in yogic science. Yogic science mostly deals with exploration of Chitta. This is the most secret and untouched dimension of the mind. It deals with the creation and synchronisation of human system with the cosmic energies. Great sages of India explored this dimension of mind and recorded it in many ancient scriptures. And also Chitta is not having english synonym.
