Most of my life I wasn't aware of layers of my mind, as things happen only when it is time
My mind isn't just one. I stopped being surprised in discovering one mind after another in me. I think that's how it is for all. What is your take?
My birth traces back to the distant past, in the early 1950s. The days, months, and years that followed, I spent in a kind of slumber—my mind, that is. Obstacles came my way, but I seldom gave them much thought. I moved forward, leaving those challenges behind. I never looked back to see how I had crossed them.
This mind of mine—the one that connects with the external world, speaks, laughs, cries, gets angry, listens through the ears, breathes and smells through the nose, eats and tastes through the mouth, and expresses itself in words—is the mind I call “me.” It performs all these tasks out of habit, without much thought, understanding or questioning.
That “me” was asleep; I know this now. It remained dormant for almost sixty years.
But I also now know that there was a second mind, one whose role was to awaken the first. This second mind’s duty was to help the first one fully embrace every sensation and awareness. Yet, it remained silent, detached, refusing to take responsibility for the outer mind, even though it existed. I believe it decided that the time to awaken me had not yet arrived.
This second mind, however, had no direct connection to the external world. No one could see or perceive it. It was akin to the operating system of a personal computer—hidden yet fundamental. I’m certain every human being has this second layer of the mind. It’s just that most people remain unaware of its presence.
Then there is the third layer of my mind, an even more mysterious entity. It existed quietly beneath the second layer, yet was deeply intertwined with everything the first mind saw, heard, read, and experienced.
But what did this third mind do? Its peculiar function was to create tiny dots of awareness—little nodes of understanding, I call knowledge nuggets—within the intricate web of neurons in my brain.
The First Hints of Hidden Layers of My Mind
For most of my life, I was sure that I didn't know much about anything that others know. The reason is, I didn't pay any attention to the lectures in any class in school or college. On top it, I never studied at home in the evening like all the other boys and girls in my class. Then how did I always do well in exams? That too is a mystery. In our olden days, there used to be a few months' leave before the final exams. That was the time when I started my study like an ascetic 12 hours at a stretch every day. With the prescribed text books and well-defined syllabus available, where is the problem? After the exam, all the lessons I learned would simply evaporate, leaving my head squeaky clean and empty again. That's why I used to think about myself—I am almost ignorant.
Later on, when I had to teach my sons the difficult subjects of higher classes when they were in school, I found I could teach the subjects effortlessly. That means I wasn't completely ignorant.
Again, this realization also wasn't what I would call a full understanding of the strange process of cognition going on inside my brain. I still didn't understand what deep perception is and what knowledge nuggets are.
When I crossed fifty and suddenly found I was successfully completing projects that others thought as impossible, again and again, even in completely unknown activity area, I asked myself, how could I do this?
While searching for the answer to this question, the first time I saw bits of knowledge strewn all over my mind about almost everything in the world. Those nuggets, though small, were the core knowledge. Using those small but potent base knowledge, I could easily enter the unknown world. And having entered, I would always find someone who knew the details about that subject. That's how I never needed detailed knowledge for my projects. It's quite a fun to keep your head empty, I know now.
But those times I didn't push my questioning further to become fully aware of the third layer of my mind.
The Turning Point of My Life When Another Mind Revealed Itself
In 2001, when at 49, I was struck down by the massive heart attack, for the first 72 hours in the hospital it was a delicate touch and go state. I survived somehow and returned home 13 days later extremely feeble barely able to walk.
Physically, I was helpless, but my mind wasn't. I was acutely aware throughout the episode and the days after. Back home, as days passed in seeming safety, I sensed an unusual strangeness in my mind. It sure shook me up slightly. I sensed, my mind was racing through scenes, events, landscapes of life at blinding speed.
The very fact that I could sense my mind was racing ahead, proved to me beyond any doubt existence of another mind, an extremely powerful mind that refused to leave this beautiful world. For sure it played an important role in pulling me back from the jaws of death. Its racing through vivid scenes of life at breathtaking speed revealed its intense desire to remain alive. To free myself from the unusual restlessness, I had to conjure special methods based on intense connection with nature's green to calm it down gradually.
And that was it. I flowed through life, secure in the awareness of a second mind living within me, though I gave little thought to it.
Connecting the Dots in My Mind: Introspection and Self realization
Throughout the last year, my awareness grew stronger and among all things of interest, I started to organize my layers of mind.
I did not assign any layer to the mind that surfaced at the most critical moment of my life. It had been like a large fish swimming silently in deep waters all this while.
Understanding the second layer of the mind—living closest to the 'me' known to the world—came easily through deductive reasoning. From there, I began analyzing my past experiences.
When did I first sense this third layer, you ask? It was the moment my second mind decided it was time to awaken the first. And when that awakening happened, my conscious self was astounded by the scattered fragments of profound insights it discovered. I wondered where these pieces of wisdom had come from since I had been asleep all this time. With my awakened mind’s newfound capacity for reasoning, I realized something extraordinary: even while my outer mind slumbered, this remarkable third layer had been quietly working, creating precious dots of awareness.
As I became aware of these three minds, something remarkable began to occur. Those scattered dots of awareness started to connect, forming larger, more coherent threads of understanding. Each thread became a complete, self-contained realization. Together, they ignited a profound sense of self-awareness within me—a monumental revelation.
Let me give you an example. One day, while doing yoga, a sudden awareness struck me—the true meaning of natural death. It was as if an entirely new dimension had opened within my mind. My awakened mind, ever curious, began to analyze: was this realization truly sudden, or was it the culmination of previous fragments of awareness coming together?
Looking back, I saw it clearly. Over the past few years, I had witnessed two natural deaths up close. The first was of a ninety-five-year-old former professor of physics. Free of illness and pain, he lived a contemplative life of near-ascetic simplicity after his retirement. At the time, I didn’t think much about his peaceful passing. But my third mind had quietly stored that moment as a dot of awareness.
The second was a centenarian woman close to our family. Frail and delicate, she seemed as though a mere breeze could carry her away. Yet, she lived untouched by the stains and turmoil of worldly concerns, moving through life like a swan gliding over water, never letting the droplets cling to her feathers. Her serene death, too, left a mark—a precious dot preserved by my third mind.
Years later, these dots fused to form a profound understanding of natural death—something I would never have grasped otherwise.
Through these realizations, I came to know and believe:
Most human deaths, except those caused by clear unnatural incidents like natural disasters or accidents, are inherently unnatural. A natural death, like a river flowing unimpeded to meet the sea, is the ultimate peace, an ending devoid of turbulence.
On further search, I came to know of many real-life stories of blessed natural deaths, spanning across the world, with individuals living well into their nineties. It is no longer mere conjecture—it is a firm belief. I believe, it is possible for almost anyone to achieve this coveted state by following the right path.
Let me reign in my ever-straying mind that is "me" back to the realm of mind layers.
The thread left was: I discovered the presence of nuggets of knowledge spread within my mind and mysterious joining of a few such little but powerful perceptions together to create a new complete awareness.
My awakened mind, always questioning, wondered: how did these fragments merge so effortlessly into a whole new perception! The answer was simple yet profound. My third mind didn’t just create dots of awareness; it also wove them into complete realizations when the time was right.
You might think I’m rambling, insisting on multiple minds where there’s only one. But immerse into your own depths, and you’ll find them too, waiting silently within you.
Now, the fourth mind—ah, you already know it, though you may not realize it. Have you ever wrestled with a problem, fallen asleep with the problem unsolved, and woken up the next morning to find the solution waiting for you, fully formed? Who solved it while you slept? That’s your fourth mind, the one that never sleeps, always working to aid you. Scientists know of its existence, though its nature remains elusive. I’ve come to understand that this mind possesses immense power—enough to make the impossible possible if you can learn to harness it.
And then, there’s the fifth mind. I discovered it recently when I began talking to myself—out loud, no less. At home, on the street—it didn’t matter what others thought. These conversations brought immense joy. I wasn’t alone anymore; there were two others with me. One was this another new layer of my mind talking with me, and the other? Perhaps my own God. But let’s leave God out of this for now—that’s a matter of faith, a difficult terrain to navigate. What’s important is that talking to yourself is not madness. Even Einstein did it. It’s a practice with surprising benefits.
This is where I must place the only once revealed mind in 2001, the sixth mind living in me.
Final Realization
At the end, my seventh layer of mind. This one is my favorite. It is where I connect with my God—the one who pulled me back from the brink of death nine times. Yes, along with the sixth layer mind, my God also played their roles in keeping me alive that time in 2001, it was a near impossible task otherwise. The near death stories are long, and perhaps for another time.
The heavenly power responded to my prayers more than six times in resolving seemingly impossible situations, all for the benefits of people other than me. I never prayed for myself. That's how I knew of His (or Her) existence outside my earthly body, distinctly different from my sixth layer mind.
Know this: whenever we accomplish something extraordinary, it is with the help of that divine presence. You just have to want it with all your heart and strive for it with all your strength.
Don't you think psychology and philosophy feel sufficiently taxed by now? After all, mind mapping is anything but relaxing!