{"id":1380,"date":"2025-09-16T19:42:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/?p=1380"},"modified":"2025-09-16T19:42:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:42:21","slug":"the-many-phases-of-the-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/4-paths-of-yoga\/raja-yoga\/the-many-phases-of-the-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Many Phases of the Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Inwardly witness every little movement, becoming aware of every change that takes place in the Mind. The Mind must be quiet and observant to do this. After a few months of practice, this witness awareness will grow.<\/em> &#8211; Swami Sivananda<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. THE FOURFOLD ANTAHKARANA<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen the Mind does Sankalpa-Vikalpa, it is called Mind.<br \/>\nWhen the Mind discriminates and decides it is called Buddhi or Intellect.<br \/>\nWhen the Mind self arrogates it is Ahamkara &#8211; Egoism.<br \/>\nWhen the Mind remembers and recollects &#8211; this is Chitta.<\/p>\n<p>The Antahkarana charged with Raga, Dvesha, Anger and Jealousy is a blazing furnace. The goal is to have a cool, calm Antahkarana.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. STRATA OF MIND<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Conscious Mind is the Objective mind. It thinks of objects.<br \/>\nThe Subconscious Mind is Chitta. It is the storehouse of impressions.<br \/>\nThe Superconscious Mind is the Cosmic mind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. THE THREE AVASTHAS<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the waking state (Jagrat) &#8211; the Mind experiences the external objects.<br \/>\nIn dream, the Mind itself creates the dream creatures out of the material supplied by waking experiences.<br \/>\nIn deep sleep the Mind rests in causal body or Avidya.<br \/>\nIn Turiya-Avastha, the Mind is absorbed in Brahman or the Absolute. There is Nirvikalpa Samadhi or superconscious state.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. THE THREE FORMS OF MIND<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Sattvic Mind is calm and harmonious. The Sattvic Mind intuits, meditates, renounces, inquires and moves towards the Atman.<br \/>\nThe Rajasic Mind is passionate. The Rajasic Mind wants power, possessions and dominion. The Rajasic Mind wants to rule over others.<br \/>\nThe Tamasic Mind is heedless. The Tamasic Mind sleeps.\u00a0 The Tamasic Mind is full of inertia and darkness.<br \/>\nWhen Yogis attain Samadhi they rise from the stream of the Gunas and the limitations of the body and Mind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. THE SATTVIC GUNA<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen Sattva is increased a peculiar feeling of coolness, calmness, contentment and luminosity are experienced by the aspirant. When the Sattva Guna works in the mental sheath, there is a wonderful calmness. The tossing of the Mind stops and concentration develops.<br \/>\nWhen the Sattva Guna powerfully vibrates in the Vijnanamaya sheath of intellect, there is understanding of complex problems.<br \/>\nThe three Gunas constitute your individuality. They cover your mental, moral, intellectual and spiritual life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inwardly witness every little movement, becoming aware of every change that takes place in the Mind. The Mind must be quiet and observant to do this. After a few months of practice, this witness awareness will grow. &#8211; Swami Sivananda 1. THE FOURFOLD ANTAHKARANA When the Mind does Sankalpa-Vikalpa, it is called Mind. When the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,14],"tags":[20],"class_list":{"0":"post-1380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-4-paths-of-yoga","8":"category-raja-yoga","9":"tag-swami-sivananda"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1380"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1385,"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380\/revisions\/1385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandesha.sivanandayoga.org\/teachings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}