The Brain -

Eric Kandel, Columbia University

Director of the Division of Neurobiology and Behavior.
A giant of neuropsychiatry, he discovered how the brain modifies itself when it learns something new. He specializes in the biological basis of learning and memory.

"When someone learns to remember something, new connections between nerve cells of his brain are created. So, for instance, when we talk to each other, it is my brain communicating with your brain and producing anatomical changes in your brain, and vice versa. My hope is that, some day, brain imaging techniques will reach a point where we will be able to detect those changes. It should then be possible to show that psychotherapy, insofar as it produces stable changes in the brain, does so by producing anatomical changes. Then one should be able to see, with imaging, direct evidence of these anatomical changes occurring as a result of psychotherapy."
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I wonder what happen to one’s brain when chanting the Maha-Mantra. Which kind of anatomical transformation would take place in a brain that has been exposed to a flux of spiritual sounds and images. And if that is true, is the brain actually continually changing its shape; any Vedic version about it?



Source: http://www.hyper-mind.com/hypermind/mind/cast.htm

I heard the explanation from a doctor (an eye specialist working on a digital implant to help the blind) just yesterday that when we see a form (he used the example of the star of a Mercedes) the brain actually configurates in such a way that that Mercedes star is depicted on it like on a screen. That would suggest that strong visualizaton with, among others, the help of arcana may cause a strong imprint on the physical-subtle sheaths...

"I am in the heart of all living beings. From me comes memory"

Bhagavad gita 15.15


Those statements by that scientist are misleading as scientists are
wont to do,they take their own research as revealing "finally"
the absolute truth.
In the field of memory/brain relationships
there is no accepted doctrine of fact,it is wide open with
the consensus that the more we learn the less we know.


http://www.time.com/time/classroom/psych/u..._article1a.html

how do we access memory ?

Without any actual device or method of gaining memory
like one would on a computer,we simply remember.
is memory stored in our brain,
if it is how do we access it ?
How do you remember who you are on a moment to moment
basis ?
We have zero knowledge concerning the access of memory,
yet people remember all sorts of things.

Information is accessible to our mind without our
knowlege of how that happens,imagine turning on your computer then trying to access information without actually doing anything.
You would be unsuccessfull.
The same thing for our minds,we do not know how to access memory,yet it is instantly accessible or not accessible
as the case may be.
If we are storing information in our brain we would need some kind of mechanism for retreiving the info,
otherwise how do we access it ?
How do we seperate and search for the proper memory,
how do we have the memory to search for the memory ?


DNA doesn't store memory,it stores the information pertaining to the physical body.

There is no gene for memory,only for bodily parts.

Memory isn't passed down from your parents,memory
isn't encoded into your genes ,DNA cannot store memory,when you experience something,
that memory has no way to be stored into DNA.

DNA is not affected by your thoughts.


We have no specific knowlege of how our minds move a finger,we simply move them without performing any kind of preliminary
action,or accessing of data,
we can map the neural path sure, but the method
of our ability to give those orders
unconsciously, is not known.

for instance while i type these words,
i dont consciously think of how to move my fingers,
they simply respond to my desire, how that happens
is unknown, while the neural paths that control movement
are known, how they recieve instruction from our thoughts
are not known.
Imagine a robot performing similar functions,it would be impossible for it to do anything without guidance from
a source ,it would need to access data first .

We are the same we function without any kind of mechanistic planning,our heart beats,our white blood cells roam around seemingly with a mind of their own doing their thing,
our cells function in an incredibly seemingly intelligent
way,our bodies function in a dance of almost infinite
complexity all without our knowledge or help.

memory tests by scientists have been
baffling them for a while.
A scientist some time ago did an experiment
with mice. (i read this in 'holographic universe" a research team
in Italy is mentioned with this experiment)
He taught them to run a complex maze to get food,this took a while for the mice to learn.
Then he would do things to their brains.
He would take them out then put them in backward,upside down,take chunks out,
dice it up,etc,they could always run the maze by
memory,this experiment was pioneered by Lashley Karl in the
1920's.


some scientists like David bohm and Karl Pibram
have pursued the holographic brain theory,
where memory is accessed much like a hologram
it doesn't exist in a specific place but in a wholistic
sense.

this is an interviewwith Dr.Pibram

http://twm.co.nz/pribram.htm

an alternate theory is put forth by Dr.Richard Thompson,
with his study of the yogic theory in contrast to that
of the implicate order or holographic model of the
mind.

http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/sara...aphysics_2.html

Thanks Nabadip and Dirt Hari,

Radhe Radhe!







By experience, we can see how one changes its appearance after sessions of Mantra-Yoga, like in a Kirtana or individual Bhajan. The physical appearance of someone that follows a bhakti sadhana system is easily detected; it develops brilliance on the face and the body movements are subtle and relaxed. So, if the physical appearances of someone undergo changes, it would be properly to admit that the brain had been anatomically changed. Furthermore, we can find that a similar conception, derived by the geometrical mystical power of Yantras, is also present in the Vedas:
Jyotish

Sri Yantra



"Sri Yantra"

That is hardly a fair statement Mr. Dirty. Scientists have not claimed to have 'absolute truth', at least I have never witnessed any of them making such claims. They adhere to the empirical method, which you may take issue with, and perhaps for good reasons. That simply means that what is not verifiable by experiments that are repeatable is not supported by evidence in the arena of scientific research. That has nothing to do with absolute truth or theology or mysticism.

Thanks Mina-ji,
Radhe Radhe!

Stephen Kosslyn, Harvard University

Head of the Department of Psychology.
One of the founding fathers of cognitive neuroscience, he is the world's most authoritative voice on the "mind's eye". His research has produced a detailed and comprehensive theory of the mechanisms that enable the brain to produce internal pictorial representations of objects.

"Imagine a horse, and mentally focus -- close your eyes -- and mentally focus on the place where the horse's tail meets its body. Now tell me, true or false: The horse's ears stick above the top of its head... OK? The time it took you to make that decision would have been shorter if we had started you off focusing on the middle of the horse's body instead of its tail, and even shorter if we had started you off focusing on its head. The further you have to shift your internal gaze, the longer it takes. This suggests that, in fact, the experience of imagining an object is similar to the experience of actually seeing one. In fact, we can prove that the brain machinery that is used in perception is used in mental imagery as well. So a mental image shares a lot of the properties of a real external image: spatial extent, size, color, texture, it can even be blurred! It really seems like looking at a real object."

In my humble understanding about anything, I would say: “Just see, how close Stephen Kosslyn is getting to the sphere of visualization in the realm of sadhana-bhakti, amazing!”

Hyper-mind

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996573

This may also be of interest: Pilot Study of Mind-to-Movement Device Shows Early Promise.