January 18th, 2026

Mind – the Yoga Vasistha
 
The book “The Supreme Yoga” is the teaching of the sage Vasistha imparted to Sri Rama. It contains true understanding about the creation of the world i.e. the world is nothing but the play of consciousness. the Yoga Vasistha is the greatest help to the spiritual awakening and direct experience of Truth. Vasistha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result. The book is a translation into English by Swami Venkatesananda of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh India. The article is primarily based on it.
 
The mind is nothing but bundle of thoughts. He who does not allow his mind to roam in objects of pleasure is able to master it. The mind alone is the creator of the world; and mind alone is the supreme person. What is done by the mind is action, what is done by the body is not action. In the universe, from Brahma to a hill, every embodied being has a two-fold body. Of these the first is the mental body, which restless and which acts quickly. The second is the body, made of flesh, which does not really do anything. Where there is mind, there flourish hopes and desires, and there arise the experiences of pain and pleasure.
 
The mind constantly swings like pendulum between the reality and the appearance, between consciousness and inertness. When the mind contemplates the inert objects for the considerable time, it assumes the characteristics of such inertness. When the same mind is devoid to enquiry and wisdom, it shakes off all conditioning and returns to its original nature as pure consciousness.
 
What is Mind –
Mind is the seat of all perceptions whether good of bad. A key term for the mind in Hinduism is Antahkarana, which translates to "inner instrument. Functions of mind are classified into four parts - 
 

1. Manas (The Mind): This is the part of the mind that processes sensory impressions. It receives information from the five sense organs and acts as the coordinating faculty. Manas is responsible for deliberation, doubt, and the initial, often indecisive, stage of thought. It's often compared to a "monkey" because of its restless and constantly jumping nature.
2. Buddhi (The Intellect): Buddhi is the higher faculty of the mind that is responsible for judgment, decision-making, and discernment. It takes the impressions from Manas and analyses them to arrive at a conclusion. It is the seat of reason and wisdom, and is what allows an individual to distinguish between right and wrong or reality and illusion.
3. Ahamkara (The Ego): Ahamkara is the "I-maker" or the sense of self-identity. It creates the illusion of a separate and individual self, distinct from others and the rest of the universe. It is the source of egoism and the feeling of "I am the doer" or "I am the one who knows."
4. Chitta (Memory): Chitta is often described as the storehouse of all impressions, memories, and subconscious thoughts. It is the repository of past experiences, desires, and habits (called samskaras or Vasana), which influence the other parts of the mind. In a purified state, Chitta is said to be a reflection of the Atman, or pure consciousness.

 
In this framework, the mind is seen as a subtle, but material, instrument. It is not the eternal, unchanging Self (Atman). The Atman is the pure, conscious witness that observes the activities of the mind, body, and senses.
 
When the effects of past enjoyments continue to remain though the effects themselves are unseen, it is known as latent tendencies (or potentiality). When it is conscious of the truth that the vision of division is the product of ignorance, it is known as knowledge. When it entertains the indweller with sensations, it is known as the senses. When it remains unmanifest in the cosmic being, it is known as Maya (illusion). When it dissolves in the infinite there is liberation.
 
Mind veils the real nature of the self and creates an illusory appearance. Destroy this illusion by wisdom and rest in peace.
 
The psychological tendency or mental disposition or mental conditioning is unreal, yet it does arise in the mind.
 
World-appearance is nothing but the play of the mind. Mind creates an illusory appearance. Destroy this illusion by wisdom, and rest in peace. The impure mind sees where there is just a post and pollutes all relationship, creating suspicion among friends and making enemies of them, even a drunken man sees that the world is revolving around him. A distressed mind turns food into poison and causes disease and death. The impure mind (laten with tendencies) is the cause for delusions (manias and phobias). Mind is the whole world, mind is the atmosphere, mind is the sky, mind is earth, mind is wind; and the mind is great.
 
If ‘the mind is elsewhere’ the taste of food that is being eaten is not really experienced. If ‘the mind is elsewhere’ one does not see what is right in front of oneself. The senses are born of the mind, but not the other way round.
 
Mind & Body –
This mind is like a tree which is firmly rooted in the vicious field known as the body. Worries and anxieties are its blossoms; it is laden with the fruits of old age and disease and adorned with the flowers of desires and sense-enjoyments; hopes and longings are its branches and perversities are its leaves. Cut down this deadly poisonous tree, which looks as unshakable as the mountain, with the sharp are known as enquiry.
This mind is like a monkey. It wanders from one place to another, seeking fruits (rewards, pleasures etc.); bound to this world cycle it dances and entertains people. Restrain it from all sides if you wish to attain perfection.
 The trunk of this tree is the body. The movement of energy within it that results in its growth, is the effect of psychological conditioning. Its branches are long and the reach out to great distances; they are the finite sense-experiences which are characterised by being and non-being. Its fruits are good and evil (pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness).
This is vicious tree. Endeavour every moment to cut down its branches and to uproot it. Its branches, too, are of the nature of conditioning, of concepts and of precepts. The branches are endowed with the fruits of all these. If you remain unattached to them, unconcerned about them and without identifying yourself with them, through the strength of your intelligence (consciousness) these Vasana are greatly weakened. You will then be able to uproot the tree altogether. The destruction of the branches is secondary; the primary thing is to uproot it.
How the tree to be uprooted? By engaging oneself in the enquiry into the nature of the self – “who am I?” the enquiry is the fire in which the very seed and roots of the tree known as Chitta (mind) are burnt completely.
 
Mind & Suffering -
The embodied being who enjoys or suffers the fruits of past actions and who dons a variety of bodies is known as egotism, mind and also Jiva. Neither the body nor the enlightened being undergoes suffering: it is only the ignorant mind that suffers.
 
It is only in a state of ignorance (like sleep) that the mind dreams of the world-appearance, not when it is awake or enlightened. The body is insentient and hence neither enjoy nor suffer. It is nescience alone that enjoys or suffers. It is indeed the mind alone that is born, weeps, kills, goes, abuses others etc. not the body. In all the experiences of happiness and unhappiness, as also in all the hallucinations and imaginations, it is the mind that does everything and it is the mind that experiences all this: the mind is man. The mind alone is the performer of all actions and hence it is also the experiencer of all the happiness and unhappiness. therefore, guide your mind along the path of salvation. 
 
Within mind exist the faculties of delusion (or hallucination), dreaming and irrational thought, which create a pie in the sky. Even so it creates the appearance of the body within itself; but the ignorant man with a gross physical vision sees the physical body as different from and independent of the mind. The three worlds (of waking, dream and sleep) are nothing but the expression of the faculties of the mind: this expression can be considered neither real nor unreal.
 
Mind & Action -
There is no division between mind and action. Before it is projected as action it arises in the mind, with the mind itself as the body. When mind ceases to be, there is no action. Mind is the only perception; and perception is movement in consciousness. the expression of the movement is action, and fruition follows this. The pure movement in consciousness is karma or action without an independent doer, when it pursues the fruition of such action it is known as karma (action). When it entertains the notion ‘I have seen before’ in relation to something either seen or unseen, it is known as memory.
 
Nobody is doer of any action, why do one assume doer-ship? When one alone exists, who does what and why? Do not become inactive, either; for what is gained by doing nothing? What has to be done has to be done. Therefore, rest in self. Even while doing all the actions natural to, you, if you are unattached ti those actions you are truly the non-doer; if you are doing nothing and are attached to the non-doer-ship (then you are doing nothing) you become the doer! When all this world is like the juggler’s trick, what is to be given up and what is to be sought?
 
How to use Mind -
One should endeavour with the mind to make the mind take to the pure path, with the self-make the self-tread the path of purity.  Whatever the mind contemplates that instantly materialises. By intense contemplation it can bring about radical change within itself, to heal itself.