Working mind and the thinking mind

Jul 10, 2009, 08.00am IST

How to differentiate between ego and mind?
You can't. They are the same. The thinking mind and the ego are the same. In the ordinary body-mind organism mind can be both working mind and thinking mind. In the case of the sage it is only the working mind.
Is the body-mind organism like the programme in a data machine that produces thinking?
The thinking happens according to the way the body-mind organism has been programmed. Why does a thought occur? It occurs because that is supposed to produce an output. So the equation E = mc2 was there all the time, but only that body-mind organism named Einstein was programmed to receive the equation, that got that thought.

The term "body-mind organism" means body and, in the case of an ordinary person, both the working mind and the thinking kind, but only the working mind in the case of the sage.
The wanting to know is the individual sense of doership. Ramana Maharshi repeatedly said, "If the question arises, find out who wants to know." If you really go into "who wants to know", the "who" will disappear because there is truly no "who".


The arising of the question is not in your control, or whether you take delivery of that question and get yourself horizontally involved. It is a vertical happening. Getting involved in that question is a horizontal involvement. So the horizontal involvement is avoided with this question: "Who wants to know?"
Is going into who you are a horizontal activity?

Asking the question, "Who wants to know?" is the working mind. Arising of the question is vertical, the involvement of the thinking mind is horizontal. The working mind is not horizontal. The working mind is the present moment. So in the present moment the working mind asks the question "Who wants to know?" and if the thinking mind doesn't come in try to answer the question, then the "who" disappears.
There are two aspects. One is the monkey mind ^ the thinking mind which asks questions, provides answers, and asks further questions of those answers and goes on and on. Then another aspect, the working mind, is only focused with doing what needs to be done at the moment in the circumstances. It is not concerned, not even with whether the work that is being done is necessary or not. Nor is it concerned with the consequences. It is only focused on doing the job that is being done, and it is not concerned with "who" is doing the job.


It is the thinking mind that says, "I'm doing this work, and 'i' must find out what the consequences are going to be." So the thinking mind always thinks about the consequences in the future. The working mind is not concerned with the future.


The "one" who is concerned with the consequences of the future is the thinking mind, the ego. In the working mind there is no individual, no ego. So in the working mind if there is no individual doing the work, then "who" is to worry about the consequences? In the working mind there is no individual worker ^ the work is just being done.


The individual "doer" is the thinking mind wanting to know: After the work is done, what is going to happen to me? The "me" is the thinking mind, ego. The ego is the identification with the name and form as an individual with the sense of doership whatever happens to this body "i" am doing it, and "i" am the one who is going to suffer the consequences.

Satsang: Ramesh S Balsekar