Understanding the Mind and Matter Through the Eyes of Vedas 

First of all, we have to understand the real meaning of matter through the perspective of modern science because we are much familiar with modern scientific language in comparison to language of ancient Vedic Scriptures and this is one of the main reasons that large number of people are straying in the darkness of ignorance.

Let’s understand the Matter: According to reductionist Newtonian science, matter is a substance made up of various types of particles that occupy space and has inertia. German physicist Hans Peter Duarr who is the emeritus president of Max Plank Germany, discovered that matter is not made out of matter but it’s the energy which is converted in to matter and vice-versa.

It was thought before the new awareness in science of atoms, that atoms have been made up of smaller sub-atomic elements. Even more earth-shattering was the discovery that atoms emit various strange energies such as X-rays and radioactivity.

 Newer discoveries in physics showed that matter and energy are the two sides of the same coin — a duality,(Hans Peter Duarr). One should read his article “Matter is not made of matter” for the lay people to get a better idea. The human body has a particular shape and size but the human mind does not have any particular shape and size. As the famous Johns Hopkins physicist, Richard Conn Henry, put it in 2005, “This world is immaterial means world is mental and spiritual.” Atoms are made out of invisible energy; not tangible matter. Quantum physics speaks a strange language of “now you see it, now you don't.” Each atom or molecule has its own unique energy signature. So, Hans Peter Duarr proved that everything is energy".

 What is Mind? Mind is energy. According to Upanishads “The food that is eaten becomes divided into three parts. The grossest part becomes excreta. The medium constituent becomes flesh. The subtlest part become mind (Antahkarna). In his bhashya (Commentary) on mind, Adi Shankaracharya said: “Getting transformed into the mind-stuff, the subtlest part of the food nourishes the mind.”

The Vedantic Principle of mind explains food which is a matter get transformed into mind by human body. That’s why there is saying in hindi “Jaisa khaoge ann vaisa banega mann” means whatever food you eat; mind will become like that.

As we understood that mind is energy and if we follow the ancient Vedic knowledge along with the “Yoga,” we can use the energy of mind in creating the life which we want to live.

The  functions of the mind, the capacity of the mind is superior, naturally because unless the mind functions well, there would be no speech, no nomenclature, and no learning. Speech and name are contained within the mind. The power of the mind is unlimited and still only a few people  who are yogis and siddhas are familiar with untapped potential of human mind. Whatever we do, we do only through the mind. We know it very well. We think first before we express ourselves in speech or utter a name. We think, “Let me do work,” and then we start working. We think, “Let me have this, and let me have that,” and then we put forth effort in that direction. We begin to perform various types of actions in this world, after thinking first. So, thinking is prior to every other deed or effort.

Mind is supreme in life. It is well known to every one of us. The mind is practically our own self. When we refer to ourselves usually, in practical life, we are referring to the mind only. “It is me,” we say. What do we mean by “me”? We are referring to the mind, nothing more than that and mind has assumed the self-hood by superimposition of characters. Self-hood really does not belong to the mind. As the mirror shines in sunlight, so does the mind assume self-hood by the transference of the character of the Self into itself. So, for all practical purposes in life, mind is the self and it is the individuality within us. The mind is responsible for anything that we achieve in this world or in the other world, because what we call world is nothing but the field of experience. The range of our experience is the world in which we are living. And all the experiences of our life are nothing but the expression of the actions that we perform, behind which there is the mind that thinks. So, our world of experience is actually controlled and directed by the mind. Therefore, we may say that, in a sense, mind is the world. “As the mind is yourself in this empirical realm, we must meditate on mind as Brahman, the Absolute.”

 Quantum physics proved that matter and mind are interchangeable as both are expression of one supreme energy which is known as Brahman in Vedas.