[Advaita-l] Reconciling current research with Advaitic theory of mind

[Amuthan]

namo nArAyaNAya!

dear shrI Mahesh Ursekar,

On 2/23/07, Mahesh Ursekar <mahesh.ursekar_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Now the above points seem to indicate that the manas or sUkShma sharIra
> appears to be have been split by the operation so that each half behaves
> independently of the other. This condition is slightly different from that
> of a damaged brain (sthUla sharIra) patient wherein one could say that the
> manas cannot carry out certain functions just as a driver cannot drive a car
> that has been damaged in some way. In this particular case, the results of
> the experiments above show that the left half and right halves of the manas
> work as they did before but due to the missing corpus callosum in between,
> they don't work together as one unit. In other words, the removal of
> the sthUla tissue of the corpus callosum has caused the sUkShma manas to
> have split. Of course, one might argue that that is the way manas functions
> and it is not really split. But to me that does not seem to be a very strong
> argument

the condition here is similar to what happens between two births. the
person whom you were in any of your previous births could be quite
different from who you are now and you typically have no clue about
that. even death, which is far more physically destructive than any of
the disorders we are talking about, does not cause any harm to the
sUkShma sharIra (ref. gItA 'vAsAmsi jIrNAni...').

the two cases are not entirely similar either, the difference being
that in the split brain case the shift in personality happens at a
much shorter time scale and occurs alternatively within a single
lifetime. but it is still true that actions done (with any one of
those personalities in the split brain case) imprint the corresponding
vAsanAs in the manas and generate the corresponding saMskArAs. in this
sense, there is no 'damage ' to the sUkShma sharIra which serves as a
receptacle for vAsanAs and a generator of saMskArAs. (btw, by a
'damaged' brain, i was having in mind any condition of the brain which
is not normal.)

thus the cases you have referred to are purely physical disorders and
affect the manas only in the sense that they add to the already
existing store of vAsanAs.

vAsudevaH sarvaM,
aparyAptAmRtaH.