Does the mind really exist? Is it not just an illusion? An advaitin will emphatically answer "yes", but that's not the point of view from which this question is being asked. According to Advaita Vedanta, everything except Brahman is an illusion. However, as long as one is aware of the existence of the body, it is hard to say that the material world is an illusion. After all, are we not perceiving the beautiful colors of the rainbow, the soft murmur of the winds and the music of the water as it flows down the valley? The body exists and so does everything else in the material world. It is also not hard to accept that there is something called consciousness that exists and differentiates the living and the non-living. And this consciousness is also most certainly not the same as matter. It is something beyond this material world. But what about the mind? Where does it reside? Does it have any definitive existence or is it just a figment of our imagination?
