MODERN SCIENCE RELATES  THE THOUGHT PROCESS WITH PHYSICAL PHENOMENA SUCH AS NERVES, BRAIN TISSUE, SKULL etc.  MODERN SCIENCE ATTEMPTS TO MANIPULATE THE BRAIN THROUGH MEDICINE, ELECTRICAL IMPULSES ETC.  

IN OTHER WORDS, THE COMPNENTS OF THOUGHT ARE ASSUMED TO RESULT FROM THE MANNER IN WHICH THE MATERIAL MAKING UP THE BRIAN IS ORGANIZED INSIDE THE SKULL. SO THE IDEA IS TO TAKE ALL THE MATTER THAT MAKE UP THE BRAIN AND REARRANGE OR RECONFIGURE (BY ADDING OR NEUTRALIZING CERTAIN CHEMICALS) THEM SO THAT DIFFERENT THOUGHTS WILL BE PRODUCED THAT WILL ELIMINATE ALL THE 'IMPERFECTIONS' (SUCH AS CRMINAL TENDANCCIES OR HOSTILITY TOWARDS FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS).

THE PROBLEM WITH THIS APPROACH IS THAT WE DO NOT KNOW WHICH 'IMPERFECTION' LEADS TO WHAT CONSEQUENCES.  WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT AN IMPERFECTION IN THE MIND OR GENETIC STRUCTURE IS BECAUSE THESE ARE ALWAYS CHANGING AND INTERDEPENDANT. SO THE REMOVAL OF ONE 'DEFECT' MAY CAUSE THE DOMINANCE OF ANOTHER, AND THIS MAY BE WORSE THAN THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM. 

OUR PURANAS ADVOCATE THAT THE BOTH THE IDENTIFICATION OF A DEFECT AND ITS CORRECTION HAVE TO BE PERFORMED BY THE MIND AND ONLY BY THE MIND.  SO OUR INTELLIGENCE IS THE TOOL WITH WHICH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIND IS TO BE STRUCTURED.

THE ENTIRE TEACHING OF THE PARAMATHMA IS TO TURN THE MIND INTO A SELF EVOLVING ORGANISM BY LEARNING ABOUT ITSELF.

THE LEARNING ABOUT ITSELF HAPPENS THROUGH THE OBSERVATION OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD THROUGH THE SENSES. 

THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO UNDERTAND THAT THERE IS NO ALTERNATE TO EVOLUTION THROUGH SELF REALIZATION.  ANY PHYSICAL REORIENTATION OF THE INTERNAL ORGANS OR MODIFICATION OF NEUROLOGICAL COMMUNICATION PATHS WILL ONLY SET THE EVOLUTIONARY CLOCK BACKWARDS. THIS IS BECAUSE LEARNING ABOUT THE SELF IS AN EXERCISE IN BALANCING THE IMBALANCES THAT WE ARE BORN WITH.  ANY REORENTATION OF THE ORGANS WILL ONLY SHIFT THE MENTAL IMBALANCE AND THE PROCESS OF LEARNING ACCORDINGLY WILL NEED TO BE REORIENTED ALSO. 

THE PATH TAKEN BY OUR PURANAS IS TO PURIFY, ENHANCE AND ADVANCE OUR THOUGHTS BY LEARNING ABOUT THE ROOTS (ORIGINS) OF THE THOUGHT PROCESS.  OUR PURANAS DEAL WITH THOUGHTS ON AN UNIVERSAL BASIS. THERE IS NO DIFFERENTIATION BASED ON PHYSICAL PHENOMENON.

Western conceptualization of the thought process, with which we are all very familiar, takes the approach of seperating the brain into Hardware and Software.  The hardware is the way the brain is structured, the identification of the centers responsible for each of the senses, for emotions, for memory, logical thinking etc. 

The hardware also includes the material connecting the different portions and enabling communication with the different parts of the Brain and the Body.  The software is the way that the brain process the information.  An artisitic person will have a different perspective of the same information as compared to a scientist.

Essentially, the western way of looking at the thought process is to trace the connectivity and find out which part of the brain is responsible for what.  Science also considers the different ways in which different people react to information.  This is measured as the IQ of the individual.  So we are all supposed to be born with unique abilities, which distinguishes and determines our progress. 

Our brains are supposed to be, physically, 99% similar.  Yet we follow vastly different paths in life.  Science has attempted to grapple with identifying the differences that is responsible for taking each one of us on different paths, in this walk through life.

The purpose behind western science is to gain knowledge about the working of the brain and use to either repair defects and to continually develop the desirable characteristics such as creativity and enthusiasm for life  and subdue the undesirable characteristics such as mental depression and anti social behaviour.

The  science approach is primarily to identify what chemicals are required for the normal functioning,  try to identify shortages and then supplement these artificially. 

Socially accepted ("normal") behaviour is one of the primary outputs that is measured in assessing the normalcy of the mental functions.

Socially accepted behaviour is to be enthusiastic about the material world, be inquisitive, be explorative, be energetic, creative and try to gain mastery of a particular field of study, be productive and gain/accumulate wealth.

The display of DESIRE is considered a positive aspect of behaviour in the western world.  So the orientation is to reach out and explore the external world, with an intent to take ownership, control and command.

So the physical aspects are supposed to be primarily responsible for determining what we are and what we will be, and that by altering these physical aspects, we will evolve to become higher beings.  The scientific attempt is to analyze the composition of the brain of an Einstein, find out what Einstein had that we, the common people do not have, and try to alter the composition, rewire the mind, to recreate the Einstein intellect within us.  One of these attempts is via Genetic Engineering.  So the rewiring and refurbishing of the chemicals of the mind are seen as the means to EVOLUTION!!!

Evolution is also supposed to happen when knowledge of the material world is gained.

The Puranas do not consider the Hardware or the software aspects of the brain to be of any importance. 

The reason for this is the proposition that the events to which the individual is subject are all predetermined, and the mind is an instrument that executes this predetermined plan (Karma). 

The Puranas do not consider the Brain as the producer of thoughts.  The Brain is considered an instrument of sense perception.  It is considered as the experiencer of the preordained Karmic sequence of events. 

The mind, which has no physical existence is considered the storehouse of these predetermined events.  The external world events therefore unravel from the mind.

The process of unravelling the events is based on inducing desires, fears, emotions and insecurities into our thought process, which then sets of a chain of physical events through its bodily functions and its associations with fellow human beings.

The only hardware that is considered significant is sense perception, and the only "software" that is referenced, is the fixed sequence of Karmic events.

If we do not succumb to the temptations thrown in our way, it is a strong sign that our thought process has overcome DESIRES, FEARS, and other SELF PROJECTING TENDENCIES.   This is considered to signify the onset of the Evolutionary process of the intellect.  The only differentiator between two human beings, is considered to be the development of the ability to overcome Karmic forces.

When this process is complete, the Karmic forces are defeated, and the ATMA is no longer tied to this world.

At the point that the intelligence realizes that its Karma is "not good", that it starts to look for alternatives to subvert and by pass its Karma. 

Human Intelligence begins to develop progressively only from the point at which it starts to turn inwards to look at itself.  

Although intelligence does grow from the point that we start out a child and progress to adulthood, there is considered to be no intellectual growth since the mind is only performing its Karma.  Peformance of Karma is already predetermined and is not considered to require any intellectual effort.  

The conflict between the Atma and the Mind constitues the phenomenon perceived as life.  Paramathma is  not so concerned as to the process by which thoughts are generated as much as the purpose to which it is put to use.

The Puranas have a unque way of looking at the drivers of the human thought process. 

Rather than take a physical approach as modern science tends to take (based on electrical/chemical switches and physical centers for originating the perceptive and thought processes,  the Puranas ascribe the thought process as being the instrument of perception as well as the instrument translating the external world into experiences of pain and pleasure for the Atman to observe and perceive.  

The control of the wayward mind is probably the single most important requirement for spiritual advancement that the Puranas require. 

Sri Krishna Paramatma clearly enunciates in Srimad Bhagavatham that the mind tends to assert its independence from  the Atma/Brahman by developing an artificial (and false) center of perception within itself, which is known as the “I" or the EGO. 

In all of out Puranas it is this Ego Centric based thought process that is sought to be destroyed by the Paramathma’s Sanka Chakra. 

The whole process of breaking away from the cycle of births and deaths as well as attaining a higher state of existence is said to depend on destroying (or letting go) of the “I” and surrendering the control of the same to the Paramathma.  In such a state, the mind would be instantly synchronized with the supreme knowledge and attributes of the Pramathaman and therefore instantly loses worldly desires and petty pursuits.

The Puranas distinguish the Atma from the mind. The mind is conceived as an organ that naturally tends to go after temptations offered by the world in pursuit of fulfilling its Karma.

The mind is viewed as an instrument of Karma.