Mind is just a projection of the soul. The soul is your whole consciousness, the life force in you. The part of it that is listening to me right now is asking the question, which is perceiving – we call it the mind. So if your mind is elsewhere, though I’m speaking and the words are falling into your eardrums, still you don’t get it because the mind is elsewhere. So it’s through the mind that we see, smell, taste, hear, and experience the sense of touch. That is what the mind is.
The mind has another function, which we call intellect. As I speak, something in you says, “Yes, I agree,” or “No, I don’t agree with this.” There is something in you that is accepting and rejecting, judging and accommodating—that is the intellect.
There are seven layers to our existence: body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego, and the soul or self. The self is that total consciousness. There is something in you that doesn’t change, which is the reference point for all changes. Your thoughts are changing, your emotions are changing, and your body has undergone so much change. If you look at a 25-year-old picture of you, you can’t say it’s the same body. It’s much different than what you are now, but still, you are the same person. So there’s something in you that is not changing despite all the changes. That non-changing aspect in you, or the reference by which you recognize the changes, so to say ‘this is changing,’ there should be something that doesn’t change, and that is what is the soul.
When we go deep into this, it’s amazing, amazing, and amazing! An arena opens in front of you. And the way to go deeper into this is meditation.
