The Six Powers of Mind

Power of perception, Power of memory, Power of imagination, Power of judgment, Power of Will and Power to hold are the six important powers of the mind.

Power of Perception: The power of cognition or sensation or power of perception and knowing through senses (sense-knowledge).

Power of Memory: It does three things. It grasps. It holds. It brings to memory whenever a thing is needed. Though the power of grasping is done by the Power of Perception, the Power of Memory also participates in the act of grasping. Suppose you hear the sound of a bell in the temple. The memory Power grasps it. Then it retains it through Power to Hold. When you hear again the sound of the temple bell, it at once reminds you, .This is the temple bell. This is not the hostel bell. In Meditation, the mind grasps and takes possession of its perceptions or judgments. It makes the content of the idea its own. It strengthens the karma’s so that a voluntary recall is rendered easy.

Power of Imagination: You have never seen an elephant riding a cycle. When a man, who has actually seen it, gives you a description, your mind forms a mental picture at once. This is done by the Power of Imagination of the mind.

Power of Judgment: Power of comparing and contrasting, drawing inferences, discussion, conclusion, all belong to Power of Judgment of the mind. It has got two subdivisions, viz., Ascertainment and Logical Reasoning. A is mortal. B is mortal. C is mortal. Again, all men are mortal. Mr. Chris is a man. Therefore, Chris is mortal. These sorts of drawing conclusions through inductive and deductive logic. Logical Reasoning has got two other subdivisions, viz., Inference and Discussion. When you see a river in full flood in the morning, you infer that there ought to have been rain during previous night. When you see smoke on the hills, you infer that there ought to be fire also on the hill. This is due to Inference.

Power of Will: Will is Soul-Power. It is the dynamic aspect. Will plays a very conspicuous part. Power of imagination that it is the most tremendous power in the mind and that in a conflict between the will and the imagination, the imagination would invariably win the day. Some people say that the will is greater than imagination. Will is regarded as a greater faculty than imagination. What would the imagination do without the impelling power of the will to execute with dynamic power the desires, wishes and ideals? It cannot be truly said that the one is greater than the other, for their independence and power are derived from one another.

Power to Hold: It is really a part of memory power. In common parlance, we say, Mr. Raj is a man of good power of holding in Science. Here it means that Mr. Raj has got fixed and steady ideas in Science. He is not of a wavering nature. Nobody can shake him.

Apperception is the mind is perception of itself as a conscious agent. The principle of apperception is just like a mail clerk of consciousness receiving, sorting out, correlating, arranging, pigeon-holing, associating and sending out messages.

How to unfold the Latent Powers?

There are many higher mental faculties latent in man. Mind is a magazine of power. The unfolding of these latent, psychic powers is possible through proper practice. The practice should be systematic, constant and intense. The student also must have reached the proper stage of development. There must be genuine dedication also. Then only sanguine success is possible.

Reference

Mind – Its Mysteries and Control by Sri Swami Sivananda