Question: Does the soul have a mind?

Sri Chinmoy: Right now we feel that the mind is our highest part. Occasionally the mind may ask us to do something and the body may revolt. The mind may ask us to go and watch a movie, but the body may say, “No, no! I am very tired. I want to take rest.” However, most of the time the body and the vital do listen to the mind. But the mind has tremendous limitations. It constantly makes mistakes. This moment the mind judges somebody and says that he is very good. The next moment the mind says that this same person is very bad. The third moment the mind will ask, “Was I right in judging this man at all?” The mind never comes to a final conclusion. It is always restless and vacillating, When it arrives at a truth it feels that perhaps this is not the truth, so it looks for some other truth.

The soul does not have a mind; nor does the soul need a mind. The soul is the direct representative of God and is in direct touch with Him. The soul is all Light. Its messages are carried through Light. Once we get the soul’s inner message, we can rest assured that this message has come from the Source. But when the mind gives us any message, on the way from the realm of Truth to the realm of mind, the message is totally ruined. Even when the message is true, the physical mind may not understand it or may distort it.

When we speak of the mind, it is the physical mind that we are referring to. This mind is compelled to work in the physical and for the physical right now. But there is also the illumined mind, which we develop through aspiration. There is a great difference between the physical mind and the illumined mind, overmind and supermind. Most people do not have these higher types of mind.

The physical mind is an insufficient, inadequate instrument for the divine manifestation. The soul, which is a divine instrument, does not need a mind. But the soul can and will transform and utilise the mind. It will transform the doubtful, suspicious mind into the illumined mind just as it transforms the aggressive vital into the dynamic vital and the lethargic body into the active body. Being the best member of the family, it will transform the other members and make them as perfect as it is.