A devotee once told Sri Ramana Maharshi that he was afraid of the loss of individuality on the destruction of the mind.
Sri Ramana Maharishi solved this perplexing question in the following manner:
Every day you go to sleep and say you enjoyed it well, wherein you lose your mind and still you are not afraid of sleep. But you say you will not survive after destruction of mind.
Mind is only a bundle of thoughts and is not a physical organ. Absence of mind is absence of thoughts. By vichara the mind gets crystal pure and on development merges in the Self.
The Supreme Consciousness, which manifests distinctly after the extinction of the mind is beyond ordinary human understanding.
The individuality is supported by the Self which is continuous process unrelated to the mind. Still a more real, perfect and enduring individuality bereft of the ‘I-am-the-body’ thought emerges after the destruction of the mind.
Camphor is burnt without leaving a residue and so is the mind to be destroyed without the trace of ego.
The mind appears only in the reflected light of the Self. When the original, Self, is realized why care for the shadow? The moon shines by the reflected light of the Sun.
When the Sun shines, no one will feel the need for the moon.
The self rather takes charge of the mind and speech and directions for action spring forth as a flash direct from the Self, which shines by itself without any intermediary. Now, there is no fabrication, confusion or distortion which is caused only by the mind. The Self alone remains and this is the natural state.