Mind & Body (Physiology)

The Human Mind & Body

your mind runs automatically, when there are no options, but to act.

what is of value to you determines your mindset.

normally the ones who speak too much and appear optimistic fail to deliver.

“best state of mind is when its has nothing to think and nothing to carry/store”  

its when there is no storage capacity used & no CPU cycles consumed – a childlike situation that leads to ultimate creativity and problem solving

who are you?

well,  humans are an outcome of millions of years of evolution (anthropology) .. but then you follow the DNA chain of your ancestors – grand-parents, parents, as far as you can find (biology), the date and time your are born and your life cycle in correlation to the position of heavenly bodies (astrology, physics) …  & you are “the food that you have eaten” since you were born to grow your body (chemistry); plus all the education you have gotten and experiences that you had & those thoughts that you have generated and stored in your mind (physics, CPU processing,  data storage & access, biases) & finally all the actions you do, good or bad, which have an outcome that defines you (karma).

so, as much as you share the anthropology with rest of the humanity, rest of the stuff makes each one of us unique and different.

human mind is the most complex machine & the only real intelligence in the universe

from electricity to wireless communication to computers – all were manifested in a human mind first .. a mind runs as a continuous process to link things together – to look for patterns; to connect unconnected things .. on the other side, criminal activity, obsessive compulsive disorder & similar behaviors are also a product of human mind.

so, what nourishes a mind ? 

1. food – healthy food that provides nourishment to body, which in turn feeds the mind; especially the spicy Indian food that stimulates the mind
2. nature – the freshness, the newness in mountains, rivers & falls – presenting symmetry and beauty although there may be none as defined by humans
3. sounds & music – can calm or excite the mind
4. peaceful environment like temples & churches; vacation spots – breaking the daily routine, under the shower head comes the phrase – “clear your head”; sleep in a cozy bedroom with another phrase – “sleep over it” 
5. focus – through meditation & yoga; physical activity like walking, running & hiking
6. love and care – the human touch

the above list can easily be managed with a function of time; also keep in mind that a negative of any of the above items will affect in reverse; i.e. bad food, bad music, bad environment etc.

& in addition to nourishment, what impacts your mind and in turn your behavior is things around you, which can be categorized under:

1. little universe 
2. big universe

the little universe is people around you those who impact your day-to-day life, while the big universe consists of heavenly bodies around us … for details on these two topics check Humans menu on the top.

human thinking is limited to the language and the words used

a human mind’s capability of thinking is limited by the words your know; words that describe pre- existing  concepts thoughts & ideas …

& the  words you know are based on the language you use; for example, if you  know two languages as Hindi and English vs one, your mind capability  becomes much bigger … e.g. if you specify pooja, archana, havan, etc.  … these words only have  meaning in Hindi although can be translated into English … moreover, words like Yoga and Karma which come from Sanskrit and used throughout the world; but  only a handful understand their true meaning, as they don’t come from their native language …

in parallel, when you study physics & mathematics, along with economics [in any language], you vocabulary or mind capacity becomes larger because of a new domain.

finally,  the words in each language can only be derived using the combination of  letters; & in that context, Hindi as 52 letters, twice than English,  which has 26 .. imagine how many more words you can have based on  permutations

& Sanskrit has more letters than Hindi .. think about it ..!

Abraham Maslow’s need hierarchy chart

a human mind is constantly looking for a higher level as described in this chart, especially as a person ages.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-actualization contends that individuals are motivated to fulfill their potential in life. Self-actualization is typically discussed in conjunction with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which posits that self-actualization sits at the top of a hierarchy above four “lower” needs.

what causes the mind to go into depression ..?

a mind wants to run free, unobstructed, but what happens when you constrain it – likely due to

– norms of the society, or

– limits & boundaries of an organization you are associated with, or 

– family commitments and constraints that you have to live with … 

& IF it runs constrained for long time, with no love [from family] & no support [from external sources] , also known as loneliness … the outcome:

                    ( anxiety [of something that may or may not be happening] OR

                    restlessness [due to not able to start or accomplish something] )

the medical world calls this depression and has medicines with side effects that go beyond an essay, i call the diagnosis absolute nonsense, especially when a person has no history.

a simple no external chemicals based solution: love, support & human touch ..!

Brain on Fire …

watch this movie on Netflix .. wonderful story as i have experience of my own although not to the extent shown in the movie … 

when you are on the top of the world – your brain in working at top speed and if you lack love & support, your body will give up .. i.e. there is a mismatch between body & brain … the medical world calls it with so many names – bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc. which is total crap – the medicine is not a solution to this problem – especially when such behavior shows up suddenly with no history (for 19 years in her case)

simple solution: all it takes is love & care to solve all mental issues.

some believe that God tests us or take us through tough times before you become successful

it’s only when you are given or end up having limited choices / resources that mind works so actively or creatively that it comes out of new solutions or new ways of doing  things … 

if you saw the movie Apollo 13, you know how a small team of people could bring the rocket back to earth with limited electrical power … or if you saw the movie Cast Away, another Tom Hanks classic, you know how he survives at that island … in ancient India, kings would send their children to go to a guru’s ashram (which has limited resources) for learning … & finally, entrepreneurs build creative things / solutions because they go through tough times, unlike their corporate  counterparts, whose top most priorities are save your job, deal with politics & CYA.

we would never come up such solutions or learn new things, if we have enough resources available / accessible … on the contrary, when we have limited options, we see the problems totally differently – some may say that having ample resources make the mind complacent or lazy, and limited resource situation as a God’s test, and i am fine with that, but it is simply how our mind works.

i go to camping & hiking trips & natural places (same as God in my definition, see My God Page for details), which open my mind .. it is where i solve most of my mathematical / logical hurdles ..  it has happened to me many times that as soon as i arrive at a camping site, i am ready to go back (human nature: greed), as i have already figured out the solution of a problem and would like to try it immediately.

another aspect of human behavior:

“your problems are nothing but the psychological drama in your head” ~ Sadhguru 

fyi: the audio is bad for the first minute in the video

Karma

during last twenty years, two words/concepts – karma & yoga – are being used frequently in western world, but both of these are seriously misunderstood .. both words are from Sanskrit language and originate from India … Sanskrit is  the mother of several languages in India.

let’s start with Karma – a search on the word Karma on google/youtube can lead you to variety of video/sites explaining them from their own perspective .. there is a guy on youtube who believes that there is some kind of database in heaven which keeps track of everything that is going on earth … nothing is far from truth … for sure, no one is keeping a count of actions or non-actions, there is no checkbook that needs balancing & there is no database as such anywhere

moreover there is no such thing as good karma or bad karma – it’s simply karma (action) done by you (actor) & the outcome of your karma is YOU .. e.g. as a thief, can you justify your means of stealing from others to feed your family ..? would you characterize this action as good karma (feeding the family) or bad karma (stealing) .. it’s neither .. rather its your actions which is stealing in this case, which makes YOU a thief.

the concept of Karma comes from the book Shree.mad.bhag.vad.Geeta  — based on the text originally spoken by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the battle of Mahabharata .. & the topic is explained in its chapter 2 shloka 47 (also mentioned on VIP/My Philosophy page).

it simply means that our actions as well as non-actions have consequences … use your consciousness when you act (or decide not to act) .. & you should not act thinking about a specific outcome as a result of your actions, as  life takes its own path … the outcome of an action could vary based on the context so use your consciousness, as you are your own judge of your soul ..!

another example: hurting a tree to collect the food/wood for feeding people may be the right action for your survival, but unnecessary cutting the trees and not replanting them will impact the world climate in the long run .. this is where your consciousness comes in ..!

& Yoga

first, the word Yoga is a mathematical term, which means union as in set theory (mathematics) or simply addition as in algebra (mathematics) for those who are not familiar with set theory … bottom-line: it and has nothing to do with physical exercises or losing weight … although, it has do with healthy living.

so what does this union about ..?

well, it depends upon the context … it starts with YOU and then you add/union with what it is NOT YOU .. to become ONE … an ultimate union will be of You and the rest of the Universe to become One – the ultimate purpose of Yoga. 

let’s take some specific examples:

1)  meditation is a form of yoga where you bring peace to your mind by simply following in-activity; i.e. pausing the thought process so the mind rests @ zero (complete system shut down to stop unnecessary processes for a later restart with fresh memory/full capacity).

2) breathing is a form of yoga where you condition the air inside your body and your external environment to become one. 

3) as humans, we follow certain lifestyle and use our body accordingly, but some of the animals live better / different lives than us so, when we use all those postures to experience their lifestyle.

4)  in Ayurveda (old medical science scripture from India), a disease simply means that something in your body is out of balance with nature … so, by following certain postures / conditioning of your body with the environment, you compensate / enhance / improve the balance, and hence get rid of the disease.

5) if you are a man, what’s not you is a women & vice versa, and a union of the two is a form of Yoga described in Kama Sutra.

types of Yoga …

there are 4 types of yoga …

1) Gnana Yoga – mainly requires your intellect (mind) to enhance your experience; reading & learning from scriptures like Vedas; e.g. life practices based on Ayurveda

2)  Bhakti Yoga – works through your emotions; greatly practiced by ISKCON devotees

3) Karma Yoga – all about your actions; as explained in Bhag.vad.Geeta

4) Kriya yoga – to manage the energy inside and around you; Yoga, meditation & Havans

Inner Engineering

if your body is pleasant, we call it health if your body is very pleasant, we call it pleasure

if your mind is pleasant, we call it peace; if your mind is very pleasant, we call it joy

if your emotions are pleasant, we call it love; if your emotions are very pleasant, we call it compassion

if the energies around you are pleasant, we call it blissfulness; if the energies around you are very pleasant, we call it ecstasy
if our surrounding are pleasant, we call it success … 

pleasantness inside and pleasantness outside is all you need in life ~ Sadhguru

do you still have a problem ..?

at the end of this discussion, i typically ask people … the mind that you have is yours .. yours only .. right ?    & the body that you have is your only … right ..?  

so are the choices that you make …  right ..? 

if happiness is nothing, but the state of your mind .. then whose problem is that ..?  

if you are happy (given its your mind and its your choices), then how can there be any problem ..? 

bottom-line, your mind is the source of all your problems as well as solutions; even to the extent that if there is a problem, its only because you (same as your mind) don’t want to solve it ..!