[Advaita-l] On the forms of Guru

[Ramesh Krishnamurthy]

Namaste Anbu-ji,

On 9 March 2010 18:03, Anbu sivam2 <anbesivam2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "Sir, when I say 'my mind' it is certainly an object for me, however it is
> no object for everyone.  You would know of my mind if I speak about it,
> otherwise you would not know.  You cannot even question the truth of what I
> speak of my mind.  Would you agree?"
>

The meaning of the terms "object" and "objectifiable" are quite
different from what you seem to have understood above. Whether I can
know what is in your mind is quite different from whether I can
objectify your mind. The reason I cannot know what is in your mind is
not because I cannot objectify it (in fact I very well can) but
because I don't have the requisite instruments to know.

For example, I cannot presently know for sure whether life exists in
the Andromeda galaxy because I do not have the instruments/technology
to do so. However, if the said technology develops in future, then we
will be able to know. Similarly, a 100 years ago it was not possible
to conclusively establish the parentage of an individual. But today it
is possible through DNA testing. Hence knowability is different from
objectifiability.

As far as the mind goes, in all the Indian darshana-s it is treated as
"material" and is definitely objectifiable. Theoretically therefore,
there is nothing to prevent one person from knowing another's mind, as
long as s/he has the requisite instruments. Modern neuroscience has
made considerable progress in mapping specific emotional/mental states
to specific kinds of neural activity and therefore it is possible to
at least approximately ascertain what is in another person's mind.
Traditionally also, we accept the possibility of yogin-s being able to
read others' minds. It must also be understood that all these
instruments are only extensions of the j~nAnendriya-s.

But all this is besides the point. The very fact that we are able to
think in terms of "reading others' minds" is a third-party
objectification of the mind.

The only "entity" that cannot be objectified at all is the Atman.