Mind - Heart Relationship

There is considerable confusion among people on whether to use the mind or the heart - while thinking, deciding etc. This confusion is bound to happen because people don't correctly understand what each term represents and their relationship with each other. They naively conclude that since it's an inbuilt capability among human beings and everyone uses it all the time - we all know about it very well. Well, not really.

I will try to explain it in simple words using some modern terminologies.

If you understand working of computers or smart phones, mind is like a random access memory (RAM) i.e., volatile memory of a computer or a smart phone. And heart is like a permanent memory similar to that of hard disk or a SD card.

Come on, I can understand about mind's comparison with RAM but I won't agree with heart's comparison with a hard disk or SD card. How can it be?

You agree that whatever is in the mind is volatile in nature. Right?

Yes. But, how does it make heart like a permanent memory?

It works like this. Whenever we repeatedly think about a certain thing - say about a good movie that we have seen or a good restaurant we have visited or a bad memory about an unfortunate fight with a close friend - all this events leave an impression on the mind first; and after a few mental repetitions of that event in the mind, this impression settles on the heart. If attention is not given to the event, it fades away from the mind; and it does not settle on the heart. But once an impression is formed on the heart, it remains there till it is removed.

It is similar to what is in the memory (mind) is written to the hard disk (heart) when an impression remains in the memory (RAM) for a reasonably long period of time.

How can one remove it from the heart?

Good question. Normally such impression remains settled on the heart like a seed. When suitable circumstances present themselves it comes to life i.e., such impression makes its appearance in the mind in the form of thoughts.

You mean to say, I remember the event. Isn't it?

Yes. Not only you remember, you feel the same emotion that you had felt when you had formed the impression; may be, not that intensely now, but it does appear on the scene.

So, it gets removed/erased from the heart. Isn't it?

Not really. In fact, it depends on your mental attitude. If you treat it with equanimity and don't give attention to it, such thoughts drop off and the impression is removed from the heart. But, what happens in such an occurrence is quite the opposite i.e., we re-live the old experience and our thoughts and action makes it stronger, making its removal difficult, in not impossible. In fact, we make the impression stronger than it was before by thinking about it.

Come on. You mean to say whatever we indulge in anything intensely or remember the old events and give attention to it, it becomes stronger. And, only way out is to behave like a saint by remaining calm and composed without any reaction. That is not possible for an average person. Isn't it?

Quite true. But whether we want it or not, that's what happens. That is the reason why even though we wish to follow our heart we are unable to do it; because heart is giving us wrong signals. This happens because our heart is full of such past impressions; some mild and some very strong. So, sometimes although we know that our mind is fooling us by giving logical (and many times immoral answers) we are unable to follow the heart because even heart is giving answers based on what is already stored in the heart in the form of impressions.

There must be a way out? Situation can't be so hopeless.

Surely, there is a way out. But, you tell me, how this problem can be overcome?

Hmm... You said heart is like a hard disk. Isn't it? Then it should be possible for us to delete the impression somehow. Is it true?

Yes, you are right. It is possible to delete or remove the impressions. It is possible to remove impressions by self-effort, if such effort is made soon after its formation.

How does one do it? Is it difficult?

Not really, if one knows how to do it and learn it well by doing it every day.

Tell me please?

Sure. One has to use his will power to remove such impressions. Sit with eyes closed and think that all impressions gathered during the day's thoughts and actions are getting removed from the body from the backside in the form of smoke or vapour. Don't think about situation which lead to the formation of the impression.

This process is similar to cleaning a room using a broom. Here we use our will power to clean the mind, and heart of the impression.

For how long one does this thing? And how do I know it has worked?

One may do it for half an hour. If it done properly you will feel lightness of mind i.e., weight of the impression goes away making mind lighter.

Isn't this same thing, which you described as cleaning process, in our earlier discussion?

Yes. It is same.

And you said, cleaning of the older (and stronger) impressions is the work of the guide. Isn't it?

True.

I have a question. You say impressions settle on the heart. So, when one dies even the heart i.e., hard disk also dies. Isn't it? So, this should not pose any problem really because upon death all this impressions are lost.

That's what people generally believe; but that's not the case.

Let me explain.

Think of why some people commit suicide? They do this when they are unable to bear the weight of their own thoughts - and they commit suicide thinking that dying will solve their problem.

But in reality, after the death of a person impressions accumulated on the heart do not get erased but they are carried over by the soul in the afterlife. When I said mind is like a volatile memory and heart is a permanent memory, it is very much true i.e., upon death what was there in mind is lost but what was stored on the heart is carried further by the soul in the next life.

If what you saying is correct, then we should do something when we are alive. Isn't it?

Yes. If we don't wish to become slave of impressions settled on the heart one should adopt such means that would make us free of its effect. By whatever means, when we manage to free ourselves of all impressions, we truly become free of our past. That's what a liberation is. Our mind becomes clean and heart become pure; and it starts guiding the mind without any prejudices. And we are able to gain ability to think and behave right.

Thanks. Now, I understand working of mind, heart and its relationship.

What do you think? Do leave your comments.

Defective product replacement experience within warranty period

Generally speaking, in India, customer is at a receiving end while asking for replacement for a defective product within warranty period. I shall narrate my experience, one bad and other slightly good.

It's a experience most people in India would agree and say it's not new - it's common. Any way, draw your own conclusions.

We had purchased Creative's EP-630 Ear-phone from a dealer in Lamington Road at about Rs.850/-. After few months, it became defective. When we contacted dealer, he said warranty is only for 2 months. I pointed out to him that on Creative's web site, it's written as 1 year. He said we don't get replacement from the distributor. I contacted distributor - Cyberroam. They said warranty is for 6 months from the date of manufacture. When I saw the date on the box, 6 month had just got over. I pointed out to them that Creative's warranty is for 1 year from date of purchase but they refused to acknowledge same saying it's only for 6 months from the date of manufacturing.

So, I wrote to Creative, Singapore. First they confirmed that warranty is 12 month from the date of purchase. They asked me to contact dealer/distributor. Then I convinced them that they are unwilling to do anything. So, they shipped replacement piece, EP-830 (which was one level higher and slightly costlier) by ordinary post. After waiting for 6 weeks, I informed them that it has not reached. So, they shipped second piece, again by ordinary post, in spite of my telling them to send by other means because their replacement policy did not allow shipment by courier. Again after waiting for about 5 weeks, I wrote to them to give details of shipment. They sent it to me and I registered complaint with Indian Post and sent them details of the same. Also, I advised them to give complaint at Singapore.

After that they sent me third piece, but this time by FedEx courier (priority) and sent me the shipment number. I got it on the 3rd or 4th day without any problem. Of course, it was not in the usual box packing. Earphone was kept inside a simple plastic bag inside an envelope.

Other replacement is about Transcend DDR RAM - 256 MB. We had purchased it at about Rs.2,500/- a piece. At the time of purchase dealer said it carried 3 year warranty. After about 3.5 year, PC started giving problem i.e., it would arbitrarily shut down or hang. After lot of trial and error, we found that it was one of the two 256 MB RAM that was problematic. Upon close inspection, we noticed that small portion of it's leg (that goes inside the PCI slot) had a defect. When we contacted the dealer, he said DDR rams are not available and warranty is also over.

So, I checked the Transcend's website and entered all details. Upon checking warranty details, I found that is carried life time warranty. So, I contacted Transcend for warranty replacement. They confirmed by return mail that my RAM had life time warranty and I should contact distributors. They sent me details of their distributors and I contacted all of them one by one, not knowing from whom the dealer who supplied to me had bought from. Two distributors, who were in Mumbai, when I sent the RAM to them, said they had not sold it. When I asked them details of the Transcend Warranty Replacement Centre, one said there is no one, we only give replacement for units we have sold. Other said there is one in Tardeo A/c Market but did not have any more details.

So, I wrote about this to Transcend, Taiwan. After about 2 weeks delay they sent name and address of Accel Frontline's warranty replacement centre. I sent them the defective RAM, they gave receipt and said contact in 1 week. After 1 week they said replacement is ready, send some one. When we collected it back, we found it was just returned as it is! When we contacted them, they said it was out of warranty, so it was returned. When I wrote about this to Transcend, some one called up from Chennai, saying please send it again because there was a mistake in number entered.

After initially insisting on their collecting the defective item from me, which did not do in spite of my writing to all concerned people and talking to them, I sent it back. They have online system of checking the status. For about 2 weeks, it kept on saying 'checking warranty'. After that it showed 'out of warranty'!!! When we told them the whole history and also told them that we had given proof to them from Transcend that it was under life-time warranty. Then they said, they are waiting for replacement to come. After few days, we noticed that Accel Frontline's website did not have any references to 'Transcend'!!! When we called them on phone they said the reference number had changed and we should contact them after some time. That's last we heard from them. It's been almost 2 months. We have written few mails to Transcend, some of which they forward to Accel but no response from Accel Frontline.

After few months of follow-up on phone, finally we got a brand new DDR-333 256 MB RAM in original packing.

Update Oct 2014
One more Transcend DDR RAM - 512 MB started giving problem by rebooting the PC. I checked the warranty status on Transcend's website by keying in the Serial number. System said it is having Life Time Warranty.

http://in.transcend-info.com/support/verification

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Transcend Part No.TS64MLD64V3F5
Product Description 512MB DDR 333 U-DIMM 2Rx8
Serial Number xxxxxxxxxxx586
Warranty Until Life Time Warranty
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Once again contacted Accel Frontline and got response that as per Transcend's policy they don't accept any RAM module with capacity less than 1 GB! So, I made a complaint on Transcend's website. I got mail reply that I should contact Accel Frontline in Mumbai. After number of mails back and forth - I got a mail from Taiwan that they have spoken to Accel Frontline and we should give the faulty RAM to them. After showing them printout of mail they accepted the faulty RAM and gave receipt. They said replacement would take 2 to 3 months. Let's see what happens.

This is the deal customer gets in India for warranty replacement.