Creation of the antaHkaraNam or internal instrumentVedaanta
paribhaashaa Ch.7 and Panchadas’i.1.20.From the sattva part of all the five subtle elements together is produced the
antaHkaraNam which is known by
four different names according to the function. The four names are-manas,
buddhi, chittam and ahamkaara. (Sometimes only two names, manas
and buddhi, are mentioned,
as in Panchadas’i.1.20, the other two being included in them). These
four functions are explained in VivekachuuDaamaNi, verses 95 and 96. The
function of cogitation is known as the manas
or mind. When a determination is made, it is known as buddhi or intellect. The function of storing experiences in memory
is called chittam . Egoism is ahamkaara.
The word ‘mind’ is also used to denote the antaHkaraNam
as a whole when these distinctions are not intended. We shall use
the word ‘mind’ in this sense hereafter. There
is difference of opinion among Advaitins on the question whether the
mind is an indriya, organ, or
not. Vaachaspati Mis’ra, the author of Bhaamatii,
considers the mind as an indriya.
Prakaas’aatma muni, the author of VivaraNa,
takes the view that the mind is not an indriya.
The author of Vedaanta
paribhaashaa also takes the same view. This point assumes importance
when the question as to how realization takes place through the mahaavaakyas is considered. This will be dealt with later at the
appropriate place. In
Panchadas’i.2.18, the number of indriyas
is mentioned as eleven, indicating that the mind is also considered as
an indriya there. The
mind is finite, being of medium magnitude (madhyama
parimaaNa). It can therefore be connected with one or more of the
organs at the same time. It has the capacity to expand and contract and
take the form of any object.
The
mind, being made of extremely subtle and transparent substance, receives
the reflection of the consciousness of the Self. Because of this, it
appears to be sentient, though it is really inert. All knowledge arises
only through an appropriate modification of the mind, corresponding to
the object of knowledge. (See further elaboration under ‘Process of
visual perception’). The
mental states of pain, pleasure, fear, hope, and the like are
illuminated directly by the witness-self without any intermediary. So
they are said to be manifested by the witness-self alone (kevala-
saakshi-bhaasya). The mental states become known as soon as they
arise. Panchadas’i.2.12—Mind,
the ruler of the ten indriyas, is
not independent, but depends on the organs of sense and action for its
function in relation to external objects. At
the same time, no sense organ can function without the co-operation of
the mind. In his Bhaashya on Br.up.1.5.3, S’rii S’ankara
says- There is a
mind apart from the external organs such as the ear. For, it is a
well-known fact, that even when an object is in front, a person does not
see it, if his mind is elsewhere. Similarly, a person does not hear what
is said, if he is absent-minded. Therefore it is clear that in the
absence of the mind, the sense organs do not perceive their respective
objects. Hence it is through the mind that everyone sees, hears, etc. Br.up.1.5.3
describes the mind thus:- Desire, resolve, doubt, faith, absence of
faith, steadiness, unsteadiness, shame, intelligence and fear—all
these are but the mind. Another
fact proving the existence of the mind is also stated here by S’rii
S’ankara
—‘Because if
one is touched by anybody even from behind, one is able to know
distinctly whether it is a touch of a hand or of a knee. If there is no
mind to distinguish them, how can the skin alone do this? That which
helps us to distinguish between different perceptions is the mind’. Panchadas’i.2.13.
It is the mind which examines the merits and defects of the objects
perceived through the senses. The conclusion which the mind comes to
will depend on the proportion of the three guNas
in it at the time. Panchadas’i.2.15.
When sattva guNa is
predominant in the mind, merit (puNya)
is acquired; when rajas is
predominant, demerit (paapa)
is acquired. Panchadas’i.2.16.
When tamas is predominant in
the mind, neither merit nor demerit is produced, but life is merely
wasted. Mind is the cause of
bondage, as well as of liberation Amr.tabindu
upanishad, mantra 2, says that the mind is, verily, the cause of bondage
as well as of liberation; engrossed in objects of sense, it leads to
bondage; free from attachment to objects, the same mind leads to
liberation. In
samaadhi the manas (mind) becomes ‘no-manas’; it attains to the state called amaniibhaava—GauDapaada’s
MaaNDuukya Kaarikaa, AdvaitaprakaraNa, verse 31. In verse 32, the term amaniibhava
is explained—“When by the conviction of Aatman’s reality, manas
ceases to imagine, then it becomes ‘no-manas’, unperceiving for
want of objects of perception”.
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