Where is the mind located?


According to Paramhamsa Yogananda, the intellect is in the forehead, the seat of the ego at the medulla oblongata, and the mind at the top of the head. However, the Sahasrara chakra is also said to be located at the top of the head. What is the difference between the location of the mind aspect and the Sahasrara chakra?

Thank you

—G, Canada


Dear G,

This is certainly an intriguing question you are asking!

Yes, you are right about Yogananda’s teaching about the locations in the body of mind, intellect, ego, and feeling as being the top of the head, the spiritual eye, the medulla oblongata, and the heart, respectively.

And these are the location of specific chakras also. This means that each chakra has a general location in the energy or astral body, which corresponds to a general physical location also. The chakras also have energetic powers/functions, used to keep the physical body, brain, emotions, and so on, functioning.

For example, it’s easy to see how the 4th or heart chakra in the center of the chest (not the physical heart organ) is the general location where our emotional/feeling life has its central “headquarters.”

Your main question, as I understand it, is: “What is the difference between the location of the mind aspect and the Sahasrara (Crown) chakra?”

The “mind” in yogic terminology is the simple ability/function of the brain to be able to think.

Why Yogananda would say that the mind is more at the top of the head than all over the brain/skull area probably has to do with the ways that different parts of the physical brain function. For example, the pre-frontal lobes of the brain (positive aspect of the 6th chakra/forehead), where the spiritual eye is located is very sophisticated and also is the most spiritual part of the brain (again, according to yogic teachings). It is here that we concentrate and meditate deeply.

The intellect, as Yogananda describes it, can do more than just think. It can carefully perceive subtle and not-so-subtle differences in what the mind is simply thinking about.

Yogananda’s example: The mind thinks, “I am seeing a thing.” The intellect discerns more carefully and says, “O, that thing is a horse!” The ego further identifies it by saying, “Oh, that’s my horse.” Finally, the feeling nature of the heart chakra steps in and says: “Oh, how I love my horse! How sad I would be if I lost my horse!”

So, what is the difference between location of the mind and the 7th Chakra? One is the general location of the mind in the astral, not physical, body (7th chakra/top of the head/Sahasrara) and the other is the function of the mind/brain (simple thinking processes).

Again, one is a general location in the astral body, the other is the primary way that chakra’s energy functions in the physical world.