The Analogy of the Mind to a movie theater

If one watches the mind closely, it feels like a movie theater with images and sounds played constantly. The images and sound (and sometimes tastes, smell and physical sensations) can be what is perceived using the senses. At other times, it can be what is "re-wound" from memory or imagined.

The mind, by definition, in both Yoga and in Vedanta, belongs to the Subtle Body or the Sukshma Shariram. Because of its "subtle" nature, it cannot be described easily with shapes and colors. Therefore these philosophies extensively use analogies to describe the mind and the consciousness. We have seen several analogies used by Krishna in the Bhagavad to describe the consciousness principle, called by various names including the Atma, Purusha, Sakshi tattvam etc. Here is an example of the analogy of the mind to a movie theater. This analogy is based on the description of the mind in the Yoga sutras.