Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on December 1, 2013.

Swami Bhaskarananda continues his exploration of the mind by urging listeners to “know your own mind,” describing it as the closest companion one can never escape—bringing disturbance even into solitude if it is not understood and trained. He surveys several Western views of mind (from Greek notions of psyche to later philosophical and scientific theories) and contrasts them with Indian philosophical approaches, especially the Sankhya and Vedantic understanding that mind is a subtle form of matter arising from prakriti, enlivened when consciousness is reflected within it.

He then explains Vedanta’s analysis of the inner instrument (antahkarana) through its four functions—manas (indeterminate cognition), buddhi (determination and reasoning), chitta (memory), and ahankara (the sense of “I”). He notes that mind is not confined to the brain but can function throughout the body and, through the senses, outward toward objects—illustrating this with traditional accounts and a discussion of thought transference. He concludes by describing the three gunas—sattva (clarity and joy), rajas (restlessness and drive), and tamas (inertia and confusion)—and emphasizes spiritual practice as the effort to make sattva predominant, since a clarified mind is the best instrument for awakening awareness of inherent divinity.