Srila Prabhupada - Vedic Teachings

  One therefore has to utilize his intelligence over the mind and the senses „In answering King Parīkṣit’s question, Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has created the mind, senses and living force of the living entity for the purpose of sense gratification and transmigration from one kind of body to another, as well as for the purpose of allowing liberation from the material conditions. In other words, one can utilize the senses, mind and living force for sense gratification and transmigration from one body to another or for the matter of liberation. The Vedic injunctions are there just to give the conditioned souls the chance for sense gratification under regulative principles, and thereby also to give them the chance for promotion to higher conditions of life; ultimately, if the consciousness is purified, one comes to his original position and goes back home, back to Godhead. The living entity is intelligent. One therefore has to utilize his intel...

  Consciousness is above mind „Consciousness is above mind. Mind is there. Mind is above the senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ [Bg. 3.42]. Th e senses, our body means the senses. The senses are prominent. Therefore body is active. But the senses cannot work if the mind is absent. Therefore we call, "attentively, concentrating your mind." So mind is above the senses. And the how the mind is acting—thinking, feeling and willing—that is called intelligence. Everything finer. You can see your senses, my senses, but everyone knows that you have got mind, I have got mind, but we cannot see the mind. Can you say anyone that "Here is mind"? No, because it is finer. Then everyone has got some intelligence, but can you see intelligence? Go on. It is still finer.” (Lecture on BG 16.6 -- Hawaii, February 2, 1975)

  But he has his normal way of thinking, feeling and willing „The living being is by constitution transcendental to material encagement, but he is now imprisoned by the external energy, and therefore he thinks himself one of the material products. And due to this unholy contact, the pure spiritual entity suffers material miseries under the modes of material nature. The living entity misunderstands himself to be a material product. This means that the present perverted way of thinking, feeling and willing, under material conditions, is not natural for him. But he has his normal way of thinking, feeling and willing. The living being in his original state is not without thinking, willing and feeling power. It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that the actual knowledge of the conditioned soul is now covered by nescience.” (SB 1.7.5, Purport)

  Mind is not spiritual „The mental speculation, so long we are on the platform of mental speculation, we should understand that we are on the material plane, because mind is material. Mind is not spiritual. So mano-gatān. The special word is used here, mano-gatān. Whatever we create in our mind, that is material, all creations. Mind is the leader of the senses. So the activities of the mind—thinking, feeling and willing—are expressed through our senses. And these sensual activities are known as our living condition. Therefore the Lord says, "When one shall be free from mental speculation, then he's to be understood that he is in the perfect stage of spiritual consciousness." Mental speculation. So by mental speculation we cannot understand what is our position. Generally, people, they indulge in mental speculation. Different philosophy of the world, they are established on the principle of mental speculation, especially in Europe, Aristotle, Schopenhauer, Kant. They'...

  "There is an English proverb that says, "The face is the index of the mind." If one is angry, his anger is immediately expressed in his face. Similarly, other mental states are reflected by the actions of the gross body. In other words, the activities of the gross body are reactions of the mental condition. The mind's activities are thinking, feeling and willing. The willing portion of the mind is manifest by the activities of the body. The conclusion is that by the activities of the body and senses, we can understand the condition of the mind. The condition of the mind is affected by past activities in the past body. When the mind is joined with a particular sense, it immediately becomes manifest in a certain way. For instance, when there is anger in the mind, the tongue vibrates so many maledictions. Similarly, when the mind's anger is expressed through the hand, there is fighting. When it is expressed through the leg, there is kicking. There are so many ways...