Sai Baba’s first teaching through a song, “Manasa Bhajore,” was about immersing our mind in divinity to travel safely across the troubled waters of the outer world.

He has also said that the mind is the cause of bondage or liberation — and that it takes the shape of the vessel it is in. When the mind is in the outer sensory material world it is limited and subject to change and suffering. When it merges into the heart-love it becomes infinite and full of peace, bliss, and love. How do we understand this teaching and what does science understand about the mind?

Mainstream science, with its focus on matter, assumes that consciousness arises from the physical brain. Spiritual teachings, on the other hand, focus on the more subtle realm of spirit, love, consciousnes and assert that infinite consciousness is the origin of all. Vedantic teachings, for example, clearly asserts that infinite consciousness is God. Recent findings in mind research and quantum mechanics physics are causing some scientists to question the material basis of consciousness and to entertain the possibility that consciousness is primary.

Following is our science series about our mind — where is its origin — what is the extent of its potential — and how we choose to think and act changes our brains, bodies, and even the way our DNA is expressed. Dr. Jon Lieff, psychiatrist will be our scientific consultant.

POST #1 — Below, Dr. Lieff describes his credentials and interests. You can find out more about Dr. Lieff and current scientific findings about mind at his blog, ” Searching For The Mind,” at the following link. http://jonlieffmd.com/

POST #2 — How much does science know about mind and where it comes from? Here is a clip of an interview between Dr. Jon Lieff (see his credentials above) and Dr. Samuel Sandweiss

POST #3 — Dr. Lieff comments about a scientific observation that mind extends beyond our brain.

POST #4 — Is mind part of everything in creation? Can we find a complex mind in a bee — or in a virus? Here Dr. Lieff describes a level of complexity and intelligence in even a virus that leads him to the opinion that mind is found everywhere in creation.

POST #5 Dr. Lieff discusses additional scientific findings that show a very extensive and complicated way that our mental activity profoundly affects our body and brain. It is vitally important to know how to direct and use our minds.

POST #6 — Dr. Jon Lieff discusses the intelligence found in biology and how the laws of quantum mechanics are found in the field of biology. He discusses the intelligence found in photosynthesis as well as found in the life of termites.