Comment by rramadass
15 hours ago
Philosophy has had an answer all along;
One should become aware of one’s deluded notion in which one thinks that ‘I belong to these objects of the world and my life depends upon them. I cannot live without them and they cannot exist without me, either.’ Then by profound enquiry, one contemplates ‘I do not belong to these objects, nor do these objects belong to me’. Thus abandoning the ego-sense through intense contemplation, one should playfully engage oneself in the actions that happen naturally, but with the heart and mind ever cool and tranquil. Such an abandonment of the ego-sense and the conditioning is known as the contemplative egolessness.
-- from "Vasistha's Yoga" translated by Swami Venkatesananda.
Such ego and delusions are results of mind wandering outside of the context provided by the instincts and senses.
No.
The ego-sense is the Mind in its capacity/function as self-identification. Its is called Ahamkara (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahamkara) and is an aspect of Antahkarana - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antahkarana. It is fully capable of creating delusions from external (i.e. objects through the senses) or internal (i.e. objects through its own imagination) means.
Looking at biological evolution, purpose and functioning of instincts and senses is more useful and more grounded than abstract philosophies, in my opinion. We don't need to analyze mind and thoughts in a manner that is fully disconnected from biology.
Mind is just an orchestrator of responses by processing of sensory information, memories and instincts. Actually, such processing and response can happen throughout the body as well to a limited extent.