Vṛtti | Mental Mode / Condition

Vritti

Vṛtti (IAST)
Translation: "mental mode / condition"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: वृत्ति
Transliteration: Vṛtti

Translation: "mental mode; a modification of the mind whose function is to manifest objects; being, condition; fluctuation; activity (from the verb root vṛt = "to turn, revolve, roll, move")"

Definition:

1. It is what makes knowledge possible, according to Advaita Vedānta. It serves as the connecting link between the knowing subject and the known object. It is a transformation of either the internal organ or of nescience (Avidyā). It goes out through the senses and pervades the object.

Reference:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press

Tattva | Principle / That-ness

Tattva

Tattva (IAST)
Translation: "principle / that-ness"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: तत्त्व
Transliteration: Tattva

Translation: "category; truth; the essence of things; reality; principle; “that-ness” (from tat – the nominizing suffix + tvam – “ness”)"

Definition:

1. It is the essence of anything. It is a thing’s essential being, Its “that-ness.”
2. Each school in Indian philosophy names a certain number of elements (Tattva) as fundamentals in its system of thought. Advaita Vedānta lists two (from the empirical, relative point of view): Tat and Tvam. Sāṅkhya lists twenty-five Tanmātra, the five Mahābhūta, the five Karmendriya, the five Jñānendriya, Manas, and Puruṣa. Kashmir Shaivism lists thirty-six: Śiva, Śakti, Sadāśiva (Sādākhya), Īśvara, Śuddha-Vidyā, Māyā, Kāla, Nyati, Rāga, Vidyā, Kalā, Puruṣa, Prakṛti, Buddhi, Ahaṅkāra, Manas, five Karmendriya, five Jñānendriya, five Tanmātra, and five Mahābhūta.
3. That which is the essence of each stage of manifestation. The process of creation, according to Kashmir Shaivism, contains thirty-six Tattva: Śiva, Śakti, Sadāśiva, Īśvara, Śuddhāvidyā, Māyā Tattva, Pañca Kañcukas (the five cloaks), Puruṣa (individual soul), Prakṛti (primordial nature, the basic stuff of the material universe), Buddhi (intellect), Ahaṅkāra (ego), Manas (mind), the five powers of sense perception, the five powers of action, the five Tanmātra or rudimentary elements, and the five gross elements. These comprise creation from Śiva to the earth.

The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)

"The word Tattva as used in the Hindu philosophical systems is one of great and subtle significance. Literally, it means ‘that-ness’. The essential quality of a thing which distinguishes it from all other things constitutes its ‘that-ness’ and so the word Tattva stands for the essential qualities which are embodied in different measures in different things. Instead of a quality, a Tattva may also mean a principle which is embodied in a number of things in different degrees which acquire on this account a sameness of nature in certain matters though differing in degree and mode of expression. Tattva may also refer to a function and ‘that-ness’ in this case may consist in a group of things having a common function. But this must be a particular function common to a number of things though differing in degree and manner of expression.

It will be seen therefore that Tattva is a word of very comprehensive meaning and cannot be translated by any single word in English. Its significance is based really upon the fundamental doctrine of Hindu philosophy according to which the manifested Universe is an emanation of an Ultimate Reality, which pervades and energizes it all the time, everywhere. When the manifested Universe comes into being there must be underlying it a vast number of principles, functions, laws etc. which serve as the foundation for the ever-changing phenomena which constitute the World Process. Without such laws, principles and functions the manifested Universe could not be a Cosmos but would be a chaos which we know it is not. These different fundamental modes of expressions which define the relations of different parts to one another, determine their mutual actions and reactions and ensure a harmonious, ordered and continuous World Process are the Tattva of Hindu philosophy. Though these Tattva are innumerable they are not unrelated to one another, because they are all derived by progressive differentiation from the One Principle which constitutes the very essence of Divine nature. Though they differ from each other and sometimes counteract each other they form an integrated whole in which each Tattva is harmonized and balanced by its opposite. When Pralaya takes place and the manifested Universe disappears these Tattva are resolved into their Ultimate source to remain there in their balanced and latent state until another Universe is born and the World Process begins again."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 311-312

Saṃskāra | Impression

Samskara

Saṃskāra (IAST)
Translation: "impression"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: संस्कार
Transliteration: Saṃskāra

Translation: "latent impression; predisposition; consecration; imprint, innate tendency; innate potency; mold; inborn nature; residual impression; purificatory rite; rite of passage (from sam + kṛ – “to fashion or to do together”)"

Definition:

1. It is a predisposition from past impressions. It is one of the five aggregates (Skandha) according to Buddhism. They are impressions (Vāsanā) left in the mind after any experience.
2. It is one of the twelve links in the causal chain of existence (Pratītyasamutpāda) according to Buddhism.
3. It is a rite performed with the help of sacred syllables (Mantra) to restore a thing to its original pure state.
4. It is a purificatory rite in connection with an individual’s life in Brāhmaṇical Indian society. It includes the sacred thread ceremony, marriage rites, funeral rites, etc.
5. It is of three kinds: velocity (Vega), by virtue of which an object possesses motion; feeling (Bhāvanā), by virtue of which there is memory or recognition; and oscillation (Sthitisthāpa-Katva), by means of which a substance returns from a distance to its original position.

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

"Mental Artha is a Saṃskāra, an impression left on the subtle body by previous experience, which is recalled when the Jīva re-awakes to the world experience and recollects the experience temporarily lost in the cosmic dreamless state (Suṣupti) which is dissolution (Mahāpralaya). What is it which arouses this Saṃskāra? As an effect (Kārya) it must have a cause (Karaṇa). This Karaṇa is the Śabda or name (Nāma), subtle or gross, corresponding to that particular Artha. When the word “Ghata” is uttered, this evokes in the mind the image of an object – a jar – just as the presentation of that object does. In the Hiraṇyagarbha state, Śabda as Saṃskāra worked to evoke mental images. The whole world is thus Śabda and Artha – that is, name and form (Nāma Rūpa). Those two are inseparably associated. There is no Śabda without Artha or Artha without Śabda. The Greek word Logos also means thought and word combined. There is thus a double line of creation, Śabda and Artha, ideas and language together with their objects. Speech, as that which is heard, or the outer manifestation of Śabda, stands for the Śabda creation. The Artha creation are the inner and outer objects seen by the mental or physical vision. From the cosmic creative standpoint, the mind comes first, and from it is evolved the physical world according to the ripened Saṃskāra, which led to the existence of the particular existing universe. Therefore, the mental Artha precedes the physical Artha, which is an evolution in gross matter of the former. This mental state corresponds to that of dreams (Svapna) when man lives in the mental world only. After creation, which is the waking (Jāgrat) state, there is for the individual an already existing parallelism of names and objects."

The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)

This word means impression but in the present context it can best be translated by the word ‘habituation’ as we shall see presently. There is a law of Nature according to which any experience through which we pass produces an impression on all our vehicles. The impression thus produced makes a channel for the flow of a corresponding force and the channel thus becomes deeper and deeper as the experience is repeated. This results in our acquiring habits of various kinds and getting used to particular kinds of environment, modes of living and pleasures. But there is at work simultaneously, the law of change, referred to already, which is constantly changing our outer environment and places us among new surroundings, circumstances and people. The result of this simultaneous action of two natural forces is that we are constantly acquiring new habits, getting used to new circumstances and also being forced out of them. No sooner do we settle down in a new habit or a new environment than we are forced out of it, sometimes easily and gradually, at other times roughly and suddenly. This continuous necessity for adjustment in life is a source of constant discomfort and pain to every individual." (p. 151.)

"The forces set in motion by our thoughts, desires, and actions are of a complex nature and produce all kinds of effects which it is difficult to classify completely. But all these leave some kind of Saṃskāra or impression which binds us in one way or another for the future. Thus our desires produce potential energy which draws us irresistibly to the environment or conditions in which they can be satisfied. Actions produce tendencies which make it easier for us to repeat similar actions in the future and, if they are repeated a sufficient number of times, may form fixed habits. In addition, if our actions affect other people in some way, they bind us to those people by Karmic ties and bring pleasant or unpleasant experiences to ourselves. Our thoughts also produce Saṃskāra and result in desires and actions in accordance with their nature." (p. 346-347.)

"The question naturally arises: ‘When and how does this process of accumulating Saṃskāra begin and how can it be ended?’ We are bound to the wheel of births and deaths on account of Vāsanā which result in experiences of various kinds and these in their turn generate more Vāsanā. We seem to be facing one of those philosophical riddles which seem to defy solution. The answer given by Patañjali to the first part of the question posed above is that this process of accumulating Saṃskāra cannot be traced to its source because the ‘will to live’ or the ‘desire to be’ does not come into play with the birth of the human soul but is characteristic of all forms of life through which consciousness has evolved in reaching the human stage. In fact, the moment consciousness comes into contact with matter with the birth of Avidyā and the Kleśa begin to work, Saṃskāra begin to form. Attractions and repulsions of various degrees and kinds are present even in the earliest stages of evolution—mineral, vegetable and animal—and an individual who attains the human stage after passing through all the previous stages brings with him all the Saṃskāra of the stages through which he has passed, though most of these Saṃskāra lie dormant in a latent condition. Animal traits are recognized even by Western psychology as present in our subconscious mind, and the occasional emergence of these traits belonging to the lower stages is due to the presence within us of all the Saṃskāra which we have gathered in our evolutionary development. That is why, as soon as the control of the Higher Self temporarily disappears or slackens owing to heightened emotional disturbances or other causes, human beings begin to behave like beasts or even worse than beasts. That, incidentally, shows the necessity of keeping a rigid control over our mind and emotions because once this is completely lost there is no knowing what undesirable Saṃskāra which have been lying dormant through the ages may become active and make us do things for which we may have to repent afterwards. History provides many instances of the recrudescence of such traits in human beings and the temporary reversion to the animal stage. It is true that the human, animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms are clearly defined and are separate stages of evolution and there can be no retrogression, from one kingdom to another, but as far as Saṃskāra are concerned, they may be considered to be continuous and the human stage may be considered as the summation and culmination of the previous stages.

As evolution progresses, Vāsanās become more and more complicated and in the human stage assume a bewildering variety and complexity owing to the introduction of the mental element. The intellect, though it is the servant and instrument of desire to a certain extent, plays in its turn an important part in the growth of the desire nature and the highly complicated and various desires of the modern civilized man bear an interesting contrast to the comparatively simple and natural desires of the primitive man. As evolution progresses still further and with the practice of Yoga subtler levels of consciousness are contacted, desires become more and more refined and subtle and thus more difficult to detect and transcend. But even the subtlest and most refined desire which binds consciousness to the bliss and knowledge of the highest spiritual planes differs only in degree and is really a refined form of the primary desire—‘will to live’ which is called Asisah. It will be seen that it is not possible to destroy Vāsanā and thus put an end to the life process by tackling them on their own plane. Even Niṣkāma Karma when practiced perfectly can only stop generating new personal Karma for the future. It cannot destroy the root of Vāsanā which is inherent in manifested life. As Viveka and Vairāgya develop, the active Vāsanā become more and more quiescent but their Saṃskāra remain and like seeds can burst forth into active form whenever favorable conditions present themselves and appropriate stimuli are applied to the mind." (p. 352-353.)

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 90-91.
3. Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 151, 346-347, 352-353.

Cid-Ābhāsa | The Reflection of Intelligence

Cid-Abhasa

Cid-Ābhāsa (IAST)
Translation: "the reflection of intelligence"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: चिदाभास
Transliteration: Cid-Ābhāsa
Translation: "the reflection of intelligence which resides in the internal organ"
Definition:

1. According to Advaita Vedānta, this reflection of intelligence is needed in order to enable the modification or fluctuation (Vṛtti) of the intellect to illumine an object. The intellect, by itself, is inert and non-intelligent and, thus, unable to manifest any object by itself without the aid of consciousness (Cit).

Reference:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press

Avidyā | Ignorance

Avidya

Avidyā (IAST)
Translation: "Ignorance"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: अविद्या
Transliteration: Avidyā
Translation: "ignorance; nescience (from the verb root vid – “to know” + a – “not”)"
Definition:

1. It is the key concept in the Advaita Vedānta system. It serves as the cornerstone for Advaita Vedānta metaphysics, epistemology, and ethical disciplines; thus, its role cannot be belittled. It is characterized by six marks: it is beginningless (Anādi); it is removed by right knowledge (Jñāna-Nivartya); it is a positive entity of the nature of an existent (Bhāvarūpa); it is indescribable (Anirvacanīya); it has the two powers of concealment and projection which respectively represent the truth and suggest the false (Āvaraṇa and Vikṣepa); and its locus is either in the individual self (Jīva) or in the Absolute (Brahman).
2. One of the twelve links in the causal chain of existence (Pratītyasamutpāda). It is the root of all and the primary cause of existence according to Buddhism.

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy

Avidyā, Sanskrit word meaning ‘ignorance’, ‘lack of wisdom’. Avidyā is a key concept in India’s philosophical systems, which attempted to explain the reasons for karmic bondage leading to suffering and release from such bondage through spiritual liberation. The general idea was that karmic fetters arise because of Avidyā, which is ignorance of the true nature of reality. When wisdom dispels Avidyā, the individual is freed from bondage. There was intense speculation in Indian philosophy regarding the nature and the metaphysical status of Avidyā. If Avidyā causes bondage that traps the individual in the transmigratory cycle of life and death (Saṃsāra), then where does Avidyā reside and how does it come into being?

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)

Avidyā — ignorance; the power by which “the Spirit dwells... in the consciousness of multiplicity and relativity”; “the knowledge of the Many” (Bahu), which “becomes no longer knowledge at all but ignorance, Avidyā” because it “takes the Many for the real fact of existence and views the One [Eka] only as a cosmic sum of the Many.”

The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)

Commentary: "Part 2, Sūtra 5 defines Avidyā the root of the Kleśa. It is quite obvious that the word Avidyā is not used in its ordinary sense of ignorance or lack of knowledge, but in its highest philosophical sense. In order to grasp this meaning of the word, we have to recall the initial process whereby, according to the Yogic philosophy, consciousness, the Reality underlying manifestation becomes involved in matter. Consciousness and matter are separate and utterly different in their essential nature, but for reasons which will be discussed in the subsequent Sūtra they have to be brought together. How can Ātma, which is eternally free and self-sufficient, be made to assume the limitations which are involved in the association with matter? It is by depriving it of the knowledge or rather the awareness of its eternal and self-sufficient nature. This deprivation of knowledge of its true nature which involves it in the evolutionary cycle is brought about by a transcendent power inherent in the Ultimate Reality which is called Māyā or the Great Illusion.

Of course, this simple statement of a transcendent truth can give rise to innumerable philosophical questions such as ‘Why should it be necessary for the Ātma which is self-sufficient to be involved in matter?’ ‘How is it possible for the Ātma which is eternal to become involved in the limitations of Time and Space?’ There is no real answer to such ultimate questions although many answers, obviously absurd, have been suggested by different philosophers from time to time. According to those who have come face to face with Reality and know this secret, the only method by which this mystery can be unraveled is to know the Truth which underlies manifestation and which by its very nature is incommunicable.

As a result of the illusion in which consciousness gets involved, it begins to identify itself with the matter with which it becomes associated. This identification becomes increasingly fuller as consciousness descends further into matter until the turning point is reached and the upward climb in the opposite direction begins. The reverse process of evolution, in which consciousness gradually extricates itself, as it were, from matter results in an increasing realization of its Real nature and ends in complete Self-realization in Kaivalya. It is this fundamental privation of knowledge of its Real nature, which begins with the evolutionary cycle, is brought about by the power of Māyā, and ends with the attainment of Liberation in Kaivalya, which is called Avidyā.

The central idea to be grasped is that the Ātma, in its purity, is fully conscious of its Real nature. Progressive involution in matter deprives it of this Self-knowledge in increasing degree, and it is the privation of this knowledge which is called Avidyā. As the matter is one pertaining to the realities beyond the scope of the intellect, it is not possible to understand it through the medium of the intellect alone."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Audi, Robert (1999). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press
3. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
4. Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 129-131.

Ākāśa | Ether / Space

Akasha

Ākāśa (IAST)
Translation: "Ether / Space"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: आकाश
Transliteration: Ākāśa

Translation: "“not visible”; ether; space; inner sky; sky; room; any type of space: physical, mental, intellectual, spiritual."

1. Space, the subtlest of the five physical elements, which gives rise to the other four elements and which has the attribute of all-pervasiveness. It denotes any type of space: physical, mental, intellectual, and/or spiritual. It is also known as the inner mind or consciousness of an individual. (See Mahābhūta.)
2. In Buddhism, one of the three Asaṃskṛta-Dharma. It is held to be a permanent, omnipresent, immaterial substance. Its essence is free from obstruction. 
3. In Jainism, it is an all-pervasive, subtle, existent substance which provides the ground for all other substances to exist. It is divided into space occupied by things (Lokākāśa) and/or the space beyond, the void (Alokākāśa).
4. According to Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, it is what is inferred as the eternal and all-pervasive substratum in which sound inheres.
5. According to Sāṅkhya and Advaita Vedānta, it is one of the five elements which are produced and destroyed.
6. According to Sautrāntika, it is the same as the ultimate atom, since both are no more than notions.

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy

Ākāśa, Sanskrit word translated as ‘ether’ or ‘space’. Indian philosophical systems recognized various ontological categories, including that of substance. Ākāśa was thought of as a substance because it was believed to be the substratum of sound. Because Ākāśa was understood to transmit sound waves, the term is better translated as ‘ether’ than ‘space’, but scholars are not unanimous on this. Ākāśa, though extended in space, was viewed as a non-material substance. It was thought of as all-pervading, infinite, indivisible and imperceivable, being inferred from the sensed quality of sound.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)

Ākāśa – ether; the most rarefied condition of material being, “a condition of pure material extension in Space”, the subtlest of the Pañcabhūta; the state of physical substance that borders on the supraphysical and is the medium through which the powers of higher worlds act on the material plane (same as Sthūla Ākāśa); any of various kinds of Sūkṣma Ākāśa or immaterial ether, “depths of more and more subtle ether which are heavily curtained from the physical sense by the grosser ether of the material universe”; (same as Ākāśarūpa or Ākāśalipi) images or writing seen in the Ākāśa.

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Audi, Robert (1999). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press
3. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga

Karmendriya | Organs of Action

Karmendriya

Karmendriya (IAST)
Translation: "Organs of Action"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: कर्मेन्द्रिय
Transliteration: Karmendriya
Translation: "organs of action"

Definition: The five conative sense organs. They are the organs of speech (Vāk), prehension (Pāṇi), movement (Pāda), excretion (Pāyu), and generation (Upastha).

Reference:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press

Jñānendriya | Organs of Knowledge

Jnanendriya

Jñānendriya (IAST)
Translation: "Organs of Knowledge"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: ज्ञानेन्द्रिय
Transliteration: Jñānendriya
Translation: "organs of knowledge; senses of knowledge"
Definition:

1. The five cognitive sense organs are the organs of knowledge. They are the organs of hearing (Śrotra), touch (Tvak), sight (Cakṣuḥ), taste (Rasana), and smell (Ghrāṇa).
2. The Sāṅkhya school also includes the mind (Manas) as one of the sense organs. The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika also includes mind as one of the Indriyas.
3. They are also referred to as the "internal senses" as they impact knowledge from inside.

Sanskrit: इन्द्रिय
Transliteration: Indriya
Meaning: "sense organ; “pertaining to Indra”"

1. According to Buddhists, the senses are but orbs.
2. According to the Mīmāṃsakas, the senses are the capacities of the orbs.
3. According to Advaita Vedānta, the senses are the instruments of perception.
4. According to Dvaita Vedānta, the senses are the five external senses, the mind (Manas), and the witness consciousness (Sākṣin).
5. The five organs of knowledge are the ear (Śrotra), skin (Tvak), eye (Cakṣus), tongue (Jihvā), and nose (Ghrāṇa).
6. The five organs of action (Karmendriya) are the voice (Vāk), hand (Pāṇi), foot (Pāda), organ of excretion (Pāyu), and the organ of generation (Upastha).
7. According to Nyāya, a sense organ is the seat of such contact with the mind which causes a cognition.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)

Indriya – sense-organ, especially any of “the five perceptive senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which make the five properties of things their respective objects;” the sense-faculty in general, “fundamentally not the action of certain physical organs, but the contact of consciousness with its objects” (Saṃjñāna). Each of the physical senses has two elements, “the physical-nervous impressions of the object and the mental-nervous value we give to it;” the mind (Manas) is sometimes regarded as a “sixth sense,” though “in fact it is the only true sense organ and the rest are no more than its outer conveniences and secondary instruments.

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

Sensations aroused by sense-objects are experienced by means of the outer instruments (Bahya-Kāraṇa) of the Lord of the body, or senses (Indriya), which are the gateways through which the Jīva receives worldly experience. These are ten in number, and are of two classes: viz., the five organs of sensation or perception (Jñānendriya), or ear (hearing), skin (feeling by touch), eye (sight), tongue (taste), and nose (smell); and the five organs of action (Karmendriya), which are the reactive response which the self makes to sensation — namely, mouth, hands, legs, anus, and genitals, whereby speaking, grasping, walking, excretion, and procreation are performed, and through which effect is given to the Jīva's desires. These are afferent and efferent impulses respectively.

The Indriya, or sense, is not the physical organ, but the faculty of mind operating through that organ as its instrument. The outward sense-organs are the usual means whereby on the physical plane the functions of hearing and so forth are accomplished. But as they are mere instruments and their power is derived from the mind, a Yogi may accomplish by the mind only all that may be done by means of these physical organs without the use of the latter.

With reference to their physical manifestations, but not as they are in themselves, the classes into which the Indriya are divided may be described as the sensory and motor nervous systems. As the Indriya are not the physical organs, such as ear, eye, and so forth, but faculties of the Jīva desiring to know and act by their aid, the Yogi claims to accomplish without the use of the latter all that is ordinarily done by their means. So a hypnotized subject can perceive things, even when no use of the special physical organs ordinarily necessary for the purpose is made. The fact of there being a variety of actions does not necessarily involve the same number of Indriya. An act of "going" done by means of the hand (as by a cripple) is to be regarded really as an operation of the Indriya of feet (Padendriya), even though the hand is the seat of the Indriya for handling. By the instrumentality of these Indriya, things are perceived and action is taken with reference to them. The Indriya are not, however, sufficient in themselves for this purpose. In the first place, unless attention (Alochana) co-operates, there is no sensation at all. To be "absent-minded" is not to know what is happening. Attention must therefore co-operate with the senses before the latter can "give" the experiencer anything at all. Next, at one and the same moment, the experiencer is subject to receive a countless number of sensations which come to and press upon him from all sides. If any of these is to be brought into the field of consciousness, it must be selected to the exclusion of others. The process of experience is the selection of a special section from out of a general whole, and then being engaged on it, so as to make it one's own, either as a particular object of thought or a particular field of operation. Lastly, as Western psychology holds, the senses give not a completed whole, but a manifold — the manifold of sense. These "points of sensation" must be gathered together and made into a whole. These three functions of attention, selection, and synthesizing the discrete manifold of the senses, are those belonging to that aspect of the mental body, the internal agent (Antaḥ-Karaṇa), called Manas. Just as Manas is necessary to the senses (Indriya), the latter are necessary for Manas. For the latter is the seat of desire, and cannot exist by itself. It is the desire to perceive or act, and therefore exists in association with the Indriyas.

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
3. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 59-61.

Mahābhūta | The Great Elements

Mahabhuta

Mahābhūta (IAST)
Translation: "The Great Elements"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: महाभूत
Transliteration: Mahābhūta
Translation: "the five great elements"

Definition: "They are ether (Ākāśa), which emerges from sound (Śabda); air (Vāyu), which emerges from touch (Sparśa); fire (Tejas), which emerges from color (Rūpa); water (Ap), which emerges from taste (Rasa); and earth (Pṛthvī), which emerges from smell (Gandha). These five gross elements emerge from the subtle essences of the elements (Tanmātras).

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

"From the Śabda Tanmātra and from the combinations of the latter with the other Tanmātra are produced the gross Bhūta (Mahābhūta), which as things of physical magnitude perceivable by the senses approach the Western definition of discrete sensible "matter". These five Mahābhūta are Ākāśa (Ether), Vāyu (Air), Tejas (Fire), Apas (Water) and Pṛthvī (Earth). Their development takes place from the Tanmātra, from one unit of that which is known in sensible matter as mass (Tamas), charged with energy (Rajas) by the gradual accretion of mass and redistribution of energy. The result of this is that each Bhūta is more gross than that which precedes it until "Earth" is reached. These five Bhūta have no connection with the English "elements" so called, nor, indeed, are they elements at all, being derived from the Tanmātra. Dynamically and objectively considered they are (proceeding from Ākāśa) said to be five forms of motion, into which Prakṛti differentiates itself" viz., non-obstructive, all-directed motion radiating lines of force in all directions, symbolized as the "Hairs of Śiva" affording the space (Ākāśa) in which the other forces operate; transverse motion and locomotion in space (Vāyu); upward motion giving rise to expansion (Tejas); downward motion giving rise to contraction (Apas); and that motion which produces cohesion, its characteristic of obstruction being the opposite of the non-obstructive ether in which it exists and from which it and other Tattva spring. The first is sensed by hearing through its quality (Guṇa) of sound (Śabda); the second by touch through resistance and feeling; the third by sight as color; the fourth by taste through flavor; and the fifth by the sense of smell through its odor, which is produced by matter only in so far as it partakes of the solid state. 

The hard and stable obstructive "earth" is that which is smelt, tasted, seen, and touched, and which exists in space which is known by hearing — that is, the sounds in it. The smooth "water" is that which is tasted, seen, and touched in space. "Fire" is what is seen and touched — that is, felt as temperature — in space. "Air" is what is so felt in space. And sound which is heard is that by which the existence of the "Ether" is known. These Bhūta when compounded make up the material universe. Each thing therein being thus made of all the Bhūta, we find in the Tantras that form, color and sound, are related, a truth which is of deep ritual significance. Thus, each of the sounds of speech or music has a corresponding form, which have now been made visible to the eye by the Phonoscope. Thus, the deaf may perceive sounds by the eye just as, by the Optophone the blind may read by means of the ear.

In the same Śāstra, various colors and figures (Mandalas) are assigned to the Tattva to denote them. Ākāśa is represented by a transparent white circular diagram in which, according to some accounts, there are dots (Chhidra = hole), thus displaying the interstices which Ākāśa produces; for Ākāśa, which is all-pervading, intervenes between each of the Tattva which are evolved from it.

Vāyu is denoted by a smoky grey, six-cornered diagram; Tejas, red, triangular diagram; Apas, white, crescent-shaped diagram; and Pṛthvī, yellow, quadrangular diagram which; as the superficial presentation of the cube, well denotes the notion of solidity. Similarly, to each Devatā also there is assigned a Yantra, or diagram, which is a suggestion of the form assumed by the evolving Prakṛti or body of that particular Consciousness.

The gross body is, then, a combination of the compounds of those Mahābhūta, derivable from the Ākāśa ("Ether") Tattva.

The Bhūta and the Tanmātra, as parts of these compounds, pervade the body, but particular Bhūta are said to have centers of force in particular regions. Thus the centers (Cakra) of "Earth" and "Water" are the two lower ones in the trunk of the body. Fire predominates in the central abdominal region, and "Air" and "Ether" in the two higher centers in the heart and throat. These five Tanmātra, five Bhūta, and the ten senses (Indriya) which perceive them, are known as the twenty gross Tattva which are absorbed in Yoga in the centers of the bodily trunk. The remaining four subtle mental Tattva (Buddhi, Ahaṅkāra, Manas) and Prakṛti have their special centers of activity in the head. Again, the Bhūta may be specially displayed in other portions of the bodily organism. Thus, Pṛthvī displays itself as bone or muscles; Apas as urine and saliva; Tejas as hunger and thirst; Vāyu in grasping and walking. Fire is manifold, its great mystery being saluted by many names. So Tejas manifests both as light and heat, for, as Helmholtz say, the same object may effect the senses in different ways. The same ray of sunshine, which is called light when it falls on the eyes, is called heat when it falls on the skin. Agni manifests in the household and umbilical fires; as Kamagni in the Mūladhara center; in Vadava or submarine fire and in the "Lightning" of the Suṣumnā in the spinal column. 

Matter thus exists in the five states etheric, aerial, fiery, fluid, and solid. Pṛthvī does not denote merely what is popularly called "Earth". All solid (Parthiva) odorous substance is in the Pṛthvī state. All substance in the fluid (Apya) state is in the Apas state, as everything which has cohesive resistance is in that of Pṛthvī. This latter, therefore, is the cohesive vibration, the cause of solidity, of which the common earth is a gross compounded form. All matter in the aerial (Vayava) condition is in the Vāyu state. These are all primary differentiations of cosmic matter into a universe of subtly fine motion. The Tattva regarded objectively evoke in the Indriya smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing.

The gross body is thus a combination of compounds of these Mahābhūta, derivable ultimately from Ether (Ākāśa), itself evolved in manner described."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 69-73.

Tanmātra | Subtle Essence

Tanmatra

Tanmātra (IAST)
Translation: "Subtle Essence"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: तन्मात्र
Transliteration: Tanmātra
Translation: "the subtle essence of the five elements; the pure elements; elemental essence (from tad = "that" + mā = "to measure")"

Definition: "They are sound (Śabda), touch (Sparśa), sight (Rūpa), taste (Rasa), and smell (Gandha). The five elements (Mahābhūta) are derived from the Tanmātras: from sound comes ether; from touch comes air; from sight comes fire; from taste comes water; and from smell comes earth. The Tanmātras are said to evolve from the Tāmasa aspect of egoity according to Sāṅkhya."

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

"The experiencer is affected by Matter in five different ways, giving rise in him to the sensations of hearing, touch and feel, color and form and sight, taste, and smell. But sensible perception exists only in respect of particular objects and is thus perceived in its variations only. But there exist also general elements of the particulars of sense-perception. That general ideas may be formed of particular sense-objects, indicates, it is said, their existence in some parts of the Jīva's nature as facts of experience; otherwise the generals could not be formed from the particulars given by the senses as the physical facts of experience. This general is called a Tanmātra, which means the "mere that-ness," or abstract quality, of an object. Thus, the Tanmātra of a sound (Śabda Tanmātra) is not any particular sensible form of it, but the "that-ness" of that sound — that is, that sound apart from any of its particular variations stated. The Tanmātra have, therefore, aptly been called the "generals of the sense particulars" — that is, the general elements of sense perception. These necessarily come into existence when the senses (Indriya) are produced; for a sense necessitates something which can be the object of sensation. These Sūkṣma (subtle) Bhūta, as they are also called, are not ordinarily themselves perceived, for they are supersensible (Atindriya). Their existence is only mediately perceived through the gross particular objects of which they are the objects of immediate (Pratyaksa) perception only to Yogis. They are, like the gross sense-objects derived from them, five in number namely, sound (Śabda Tanmātra), touch and feel (Sparśa Tanmātra), color and form (Rūpa Tanmātra), flavor (Rasa Tanmātra), and odor (Gandha Tanmātra) as universals. Each of these evolves from that which precedes it."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd.p. 57-59.

Bahya-Kāraṇa | External Instruments

Bahya-Karana

Bahya-Kāraṇa (IAST)
Translation: "External Instruments"

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

"Sensations aroused by sense-objects are experienced by means of the outer instruments (Bahya-Kāraṇa) of the Lord of the body, or senses (Indriya), which are the gateways through which the Jīva receives worldly experience. These are ten in number, and are of two classes: viz., the five organs of sensation or perception (Jñānendriya), or ear (hearing), skin (feeling by touch), eye (sight), tongue (taste), and nose (smell); and the five organs of action (Karmendriya), which are the reactive response which the self makes to sensation — namely, mouth, hands, legs, anus, and genitals, whereby speaking, grasping, walking, excretion, and procreation are performed, and through which effect is given to the Jīva's desires. These are afferent and efferent impulses respectively."

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy

ज्ञानेन्द्रिय – Jñānendriya (Organs of Knowledge)

Translation: "organs of knowledge; senses of knowledge"
Definition:

1. The five cognitive sense organs are the organs of knowledge. They are the organs of hearing (Śrotra), touch (Tvak), sight (Cakṣuḥ), taste (Rasana), and smell (Ghrāṇa).
2. The Sāṅkhya school also includes the mind (Manas) as one of the sense organs. The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika also includes mind as one of the Indriyas.
3. They are also referred to as the "internal senses" as they impact knowledge from inside.

कर्मेन्द्रिय – Karmendriya (Organs of Action)

Translation: "organs of action"

Definition: The five conative sense organs. They are the organs of speech (Vāk), prehension (Pāṇi), movement (Pāda), excretion (Pāyu), and generation (Upastha).

तन्मात्र – Tanmātra (Subtle Essence)

Translation: "the subtle essence of the five elements; the pure elements; elemental essence (from tad = "that" + mā = "to measure")"

Definition: "They are sound (Śabda), touch (Sparśa), sight (Rūpa), taste (Rasa), and smell (Gandha). The five elements (Mahābhūta) are derived from the Tanmātras: from sound comes ether; from touch comes air; from sight comes fire; from taste comes water; and from smell comes earth. The Tanmātras are said to evolve from the Tāmasa aspect of egoity according to Sāṅkhya."

महाभूत – Mahābhūta (The Great Elements)

Translation: "the five great elements"

Definition: "They are ether (Ākāśa), which emerges from sound (Śabda); air (Vāyu), which emerges from touch (Sparśa); fire (Tejas), which emerges from color (Rūpa); water (Ap), which emerges from taste (Rasa); and earth (Pṛthvī), which emerges from smell (Gandha). These five gross elements emerge from the subtle essences of the elements (Tanmātras).

References:

1. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p.59.
2. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press

Citta | Mind

Citta

Citta (IAST)
Translation: "Mind"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: चित्त
Transliteration: Citta

Translation: "consciousness; mind; thought; apperception (from the verb root cit – “to perceive, observe, know”)"

1. In Kashmir Shaivism, the limitation of the Universal Consciousness manifested in the individual mind. It is the mind of the empirical individual. In Rāja Yoga, Citta means mind, and in Advaita Vedānta, it refers to the subconscious.
2. In the Vaibhāṣika system, it is Saṃskṛta-Dharma, born out of the interaction of the senses with their objects.
3. In the Yogācāra system, it is the Mano-Dharma. It is the primary Dharma and essentially the only Dharma.
4. In the Yoga system, the intellect (Buddhi), ego (Ahaṅkāra), and the senses (Indriya) are often called Citta.
5. According to the Sāṅkhya, the mind (Citta) has five processes: Pramāṇa, Viparyaya, Vikalpa, Nidrā, and Smṛti.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)

Citta – the “primary stuff of consciousness” which is “universal in Nature, but is subconscient and mechanical in nature of Matter”; the “pervading and possessing action of consciousness” in the living body which forms into the sense-mind (Manas); it consists of a lower layer of passive memory in which “the impressions of all things seen, thought, sensed, and felt are recorded”, and a higher layer (also called Manas-Citta) of the emotional mind where “waves of reaction and response... rise up from the basic consciousness”; also short for Cittākāśa (the ether [Ākāśa] of the Citta or basic mental consciousness, a mental Ākāśa defined as the “ether of the pranic Manas”, whose contents are experienced especially in Antardarśī Jāgrat and Svapnasamādhi).

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

Citta in its special sense is that faculty (Vṛtti) by which the Mind first recalls to memory (Smaranam) that of which there has been previously Anubhava or Pratyaksa Jñāna — that is, immediate cognition. This Smaranam exists only to the extent of actual Anubhava. For remembrance is the equivalent of, and neither more nor less than, what has been previously known; remembrance being the calling up of that. Citta, again, is that faculty whereby the current of thought dwells, thinks and contemplates upon (Citta) the subject so recalled by Smaranam, and previously known and determined by Buddhi. For such, meditation (Dhyāna) is done through the recall and fixing the mind upon past percepts and concepts. According to Vedānta, Buddhi determines but once only, and the further recall and thought upon the mental object so determined is the faculty of the separate mental category called Citta. Sāṅkhya, on the principle of economy of categories, regards Smaranam and Citta to be functions of Buddhi. In the works here translated and elsewhere Citta is, however, currently used as a general term for the working mind — that is, as a synonym for the Antaḥ-Kāraṇa.

The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)

Commentary: "This word is derived from Cit or Citi (Part 4, Verse 34) one of the three aspects of Paramātman called Sat-Cit-Ānanda in Vedānta. It is this aspect which is at the basis of the form side of the Universe and through which it is created. The reflection of this aspect in the individual soul which is a microcosm is called Citta. Citta is thus that instrument or medium through which the Jīvātman materializes his individual world, lives and evolves in the world until he has become perfected and united with the Paramātman. Broadly, therefore, Citta corresponds to ‘mind’ of modern psychology but it has a more comprehensive import and field for functioning. While Citta may be considered as a universal medium through which consciousness functions on all the planes of the manifested Universe, the ‘mind’ of modern psychology is confined to the expression of only thought, volition and feeling."

"Citta, as pointed out in Part 1, Verse 2, is the universal principle which serves as a medium for all kinds of mental perceptions. But this universal principle can function only through a set of vehicles working on the different planes of the Solar system. These vehicles of consciousness, or Kośa as they are called, are formed by the appropriation and integration of matter belonging to different planes round an individual centre of consciousness and provide the necessary stimuli for mental perceptions which take place in consciousness. Patañjali has used the same word, Citta, for the universal principle which serves as a medium for mental perception as well as the individual mechanism through which such perception takes place. It is necessary to keep this distinction in mind because one or the other of the two meanings is implied by the same word—Citta—at different places."

"The mind, in order to know any object, has to be affected in two ways. Firstly, it must be modified or coloured, at least to some extent, by the object which is to be known, and secondly, it must be simultaneously illuminated by the consciousness of the Puruṣa which is eternally present in the ultimate background. Modified in this double manner, the mind is capable of knowing everything in the phenomenal world, using the word ‘knowing’ in its most comprehensive sense. The significance of the word Sarvārtham which means literally ‘all-including’ or ‘all-apprehending’ lies in the fact that the word Citta does not stand merely for the medium through which the human intellect finds expression. It stands definitely for the all-inclusive medium through which phenomena of every kind, right from the physical to the Atmic plane, are perceived. Even the thinnest veil of ‘matter’ which on the Atmic plane obscures the consciousness of the Puruṣa and involves him in manifestation is associated with the finest grade of mind. Citta is thus co-extensive with Prakṛti and both are transcended simultaneously when Puruṣa attains Self-realization in Kaivalya."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
3. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 64.
4. Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 14, 340-341, 372.

Manaḥ / Manas | Cognitive Mind

Manaḥ / Manas

Manaḥ / Manas (IAST)
Translation: "Cognitive Mind"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: मनः
Transliteration: Manaḥ
Translation: "mind; one of the aspects of the internal organ (from the verb root man – “to think”)"

1. Mind emerges from the Pure (Sattva) aspect of egoity (Ahaṅkāra).
2. Mind stimulates the other senses to attend to their respective objects. Thus, it is an organ of cognition and of action. It is the doorkeeper to the senses. Its specific function is to explicate.
3. According to Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, it is atomic and eternal. It is an instrument of knowing and is inert as any other sense. Its cooperation is necessary for all knowledge. It exercises a double function: it helps the self to acquire knowledge and it narrows its field to a single object or group of objects. Association with the mind is the basic cause of bondage.
4. According to Jainism, it is not a sense organ, but the organ of cognition of all objects of all the senses. It is of two types: physical mind (Bhāva), which performs the mental functions proper, and material mind (Dravya), which is subtle matter compounded into the physical mind.
5. According to Dvaita Vedānta and Sāṅkhya, the mind is considered as one of the sense organs (Indriya).
6. According to Mīmāṃsā, different cognitions are explained by a type of atom called Manas. The mind alone brings about cognitions, aversions, efforts, etc., but by itself it is devoid of any qualities such as color, smell, etc. Thus, it needs the aid of the other organs to cognize these qualities.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo

Manas – mind, the psychological principle or degree of consciousness that is the basis of the mental world (Manoloka or Svar), the highest plane of the Triloka and the summit of the Aparārdha or lower hemisphere of existence; in its essence, “a consciousness which measures, limits, cuts out forms of things from the indivisible whole and contains them as if each were a separate integer;” the sensational mind, “the original sense [Indriya] which perceives all objects and reacts upon them,” capable not only of “a translation into sense of so much of the outer impacts as it receives through the nervous system and the physical organs,” but also of “a subtle sight, hearing, power of contact of its own which is not dependent on the physical organs;” the principle that governs the realm of Svarga, the lower plane of Svar; the name of a particular Svarga.

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

"The process of experience is the selection of a special section from out of a general whole, and then being engaged on it, so as to make it one's own, either as a particular object of thought or a particular field of operation. Lastly, as Western psychology holds, the senses give not a completed whole, but a manifold - the manifold of sense. These "points of sensation" must be gathered together and made into a whole. These three functions of attention, selection, and synthesizing the discrete manifold of the senses, are those belonging to that aspect of the mental body, the internal agent (Antaḥ-Kāraṇa), called Manas. Just as Manas is necessary to the senses (Indriya), the latter are necessary for Manas. For the latter is the seat of desire, and cannot exist by itself. It is the desire to perceive or act, and therefore exists in association with the Indriya.

Manas is thus the leading Indriya, of which the senses are powers. For without the aid and attention of Manas, the other Indriya are incapable of performing their respective offices; and as these Indriya are those of perception and action, Manas, which co-operates with both, is said to partake of the character of both cognition and action.

Manas, through association with the eye or other sense, becomes manifold, being particularized or differentiated by its co-operation with that particular instrument, which cannot fulfill its functions except in conjunction with Manas.

Its function is said to be Saṅkalpa-Vikalpa, that is, selection and rejection from the material provided by the Jñānendriya. When, after having been brought into contact with the sense-objects, it selects the sensation which is to be presented to the other faculties of the mind, there is Saṅkalpa. The activity of Manas, however, is itself neither intelligent result nor moving feelings of pleasure or pain. It has not an independent power to reveal itself to the experiencer. Before things can be so revealed and realized as objects of perception, they must be made subject to the operation of Ahaṅkāra and Buddhi, without whose intelligent light they would be dark forms unseen and unknown by the experiencer, and the efforts of Manas but blind gropings in the dark. Nor can the images built up by Manas affect of themselves the experiencer so as to move him in any way until and unless the experiencer identifies himself with them by Ahaṅkāra — that is, by making them his own in feeling and experience. Manas, being thus an experience of activity in the dark, unseen and unrevealed by the light of Buddhi and not moving the experiencer until he identifies himself with it in feeling, is one in which the dark veiling quality (Tamas Guṇa) of Śakti Prakṛti is the most manifest. This Guṇa also prevails in the Indriya and the subtle objects of their operation (Tanmātra)."

Lessons on the Upanishads (Swami Krishnananda)

"There are four functions of the psychic organ. The internal psyche, which is generally called Manas – or mind, in ordinary language – has four functions. In Sanskrit, these four functions are designated as Manas, Buddhi, Ahaṅkāra, and Citta [Antaḥ-Karaṇa-Catuṣṭaya]. Manas is ordinary, indeterminate thinking – just being aware that something is there. That is the work of the mind; that is Manas. Buddhi determines, decides, and logically comes to the conclusion that something is such and such a thing. That is another aspect of the operation of the psyche – Buddhi, or intellect. The third form of the mind is ego, Ahaṅkāra, affirmation, assertion. “I know that there is some object in front of me and I also know that I know. I know that I am existing as this so-and-so.” This kind of affirmation attributed to one’s own individuality is the work of Ahaṅkāra, known as egoism. The subconscious action, memory, etc., are called the Citta, which is the fourth function. Thus, Manas, Buddhi, Ahaṅkāra, and Citta are the four basic functions of the internal organ, the psychological organ."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
3. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 60-62.
4. Krishnananda, Swami (1991). Lessons on the Upanishads. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/upanishad.html. p. 100.

Ahaṅkāra | Ego / The 'I'-maker

Ahankara

Ahaṅkāra (IAST)
Translation: "Ego / The 'I'-maker"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: अहङकार
Transliteration: Ahaṅkāra

Translation: "'I'-ness; egoism; the concept of individuality (from the verb root kṛ = "action" + aham = "I"); literally = 'I'-maker"

Definition: "In the evolutionary process, Ahaṅkāra is said to evolve from the intellect (Buddhi) and give evolution to the senses (Indriya) and the subtle essence of the elements (Tanmātra) in turn. Its function is self-assertion. It is an aspect of the inner organ (Antaḥ-Karaṇa) and it has the three aspects of Vaikārika or Sattva, Taijasa or Rajas, and Bhūtādi or Tamas."

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy

Ahaṃkāra (Sanskrit, ‘I-maker’, ‘I-crier’), in Hindu thought, the ego or faculty that gives the sense of ‘I’ or individual personality; by extension, egotism, pride, conceit. In the Sankhya and Yoga systems, it is the third element of ever-changing Nature evolving in creation. From it evolves the remainder of the phenomenal world. Other than Nature, which includes the individual intellect (Buddhi), the faculty of perception (Manas), the organs, and the senses, is the unchanging individual self (Puruṣa, Ātman). The human predicament results from the ignorant identification of oneself with Nature rather than the true self. In earlier texts the cosmic sense of Ahaṃkāra dominates as the means by which the Creator formulates Himself to create the world.

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

"Ahaṅkāra the "I-maker" is self-arrogation — that is, the realization of oneself as the personal "I" or self-consciousness of worldly experience in which the Jīva thinks of himself as a particular person who is in relation with the objects of his experience. It is the power of self-arrogation whereby all that constitutes man is welded into one Ego, and the percept or concept is referred to that particular thinking subject and becomes part of its experience. When, therefore, a sensation is perceived by Manas and determined by Buddhi, Ahaṅkāra says: "It is I who perceive it." This is the "I" of phenomenal consciousness as distinguished from "this" the known. Buddhi functions with its support."

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Audi, Robert (1999). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press
3. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p.62.

Buddhi | Intellect

Buddhi

Buddhi (IAST)
Translation: "Intellect"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: बुद्धि
Transliteration: Buddhi
Translation: "intellect; the discriminative faculty (from the verb root budh – “to enlighten, to know”)"
Definition

1. The ascertaining intelligence and the impersonal or superpersonal state of consciousness of a limited individual.
2. The first evolute of primordial Nature (Prakṛti). It is the basis of the intelligence of the individual. It is the determinative faculty and by it one resolves upon a course of action. 
3. According to Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, it is of two kinds: recollection (Smṛti) and experience (Anubhava).

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)

Buddhi – intelligence; the thinking mind, the highest normal faculty of the Antaḥ-Kāraṇa, also called the Mānasa Buddhi or mental reason, whose three forms are the habitual mind, pragmatic reason, and truth-seeking reason. The Buddhi as “the discerning intelligence and the enlightened will” is “in its nature thought-power and will-power of the Spirit turned into the lower form of a mental activity” and thus “an intermediary between a much higher Truth-mind not now in our active possession, which is the direct instrument of Spirit, and the physical life of the human mind evolved in body”; its powers of perception, imagination, reasoning, and judgment correspond respectively to the higher faculties of revelation, inspiration, intuition, and discrimination belonging to Vijñāna, which may act in the mind to create “a higher form of the Buddhi that can be called the intuitive mind” or Vijñānabuddhi. In compound expressions, the word Buddhi sometimes refers to a particular mentality or state of consciousness and may be translated “sense of”, as in Dāsyabuddhi, “sense of surrender.”

The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)

"Buddhi considered with relation to the other faculties of experience is that aspect of the Antaḥ-Kāraṇa which determines (Adhyavasayatmika Buddhiḥ). "A man is said to determine (Adhyavasyati) who, having perceived (Manas), and thought, 'I am concerned in this matter (Ahaṅkāra)' and thus having self-arrogated, comes to the determination, 'This must be done by me' (Kartavyam Etat Māyā)." "Must be done" here does not refer to exterior action only, but to mental action (Manasi Kriyā) also, such as any determination by way of the forming of concepts and percepts ("It is so") and resolutions ("It must be done"). Buddhi pervades all effects whatever other than itself. It is the principal Tattva because it pervades all the instruments (Indriya), is the receptacle of all the Saṃskāra or Karmic tendencies, and is in Sāṅkhya the seat of memory. It is the thinking principle which forms concepts or general ideas acting through the instrumentality of Ahaṅkāra, Manas and the Indriya. In the operations of the senses Manas is the principal; in the operation of Manas, Ahaṅkāra is the principal; and in the operation of Ahaṅkāra, Buddhi is the principal. With the instrumentality of all of these, Buddhi acts, modifications taking place in Buddhi through the instrumentality of the sense functions. It is Buddhi which is the basis of all cognition, sensation, and resolves, and makes over objects to Puruṣa that is, Consciousness. And so it is said that Buddhi, whose characteristic is determination, is the charioteer; Manas, whose characteristic is Saṅkalpa-Vikalpa, is the reins; and the senses, Indriya, are the horses. Jīva is the Enjoyer (Bhokta) that is, Ātma conjoined with body, senses, Manas, and Buddhi. In Buddhi, Sattva Guṇa predominates; in Ahaṅkāra, Rajas, in Manas and the Indriya and their objects, Tamas."

The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)
Sanskrit: बुद्धि
Transliteration: Buddhi
Meaning: "the power of cognition"

Commentary: "When the consciousness of the Puruṣa manifests in the realm of Prakṛti, it appears as awareness of the Not-Self and this awareness which expresses itself through the action of Sattva Guṇa is called Buddhi."   

"Buddhi is that faculty which enables the mind to perceive and understand objects in the phenomenal worlds, the mind being inert and incapable of performing this function. As long as Buddhi is functioning through the medium of the mind, it is not possible to know pure consciousness. It is only when it assumes that form in which all movement from one level of Citta to another has been eliminated that it reveals its real nature.[...]

Svabuddhi means Buddhi as it really is and not as it functions through the medium of the mind. We know only this function of perception as it appears in association with Citta. Svabuddhi is the function of perception as it is when exercised upon itself.[...]

Normally, Buddhi functions through Citta and helps the mind to perceive and understand objects in its realm. But when it is freed from the association of Citta, it automatically turns upon itself and illuminates its own nature, i.e. consciousness. It is because the power of illumination is inherent in it that it illuminates Citta when it functions through Citta. If a light is enclosed within a translucent globe it reveals the globe. If the globe is removed the light reveals itself."

The Upanishads: Volume I (Swami Nikhilananda)

Katha Upanishad, Chapter 3, Verses 3-9

Verse 3
Know the Ātman to be the master of the chariot; the body, the chariot; the Buddhi, the charioteer; and the mind, the reins.

Verse 4
The senses, they say, are the horses; the objects, the roads. The wise call the Ātman—united with the body, the senses, and the mind—the enjoyer.

Verse 5
If the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is always distracted, loses its discrimination, then the senses become uncontrolled, like the vicious horses of a charioteer.

Verse 6
But if the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is always restrained, possesses discrimination, then the senses come under control, like the good horses of a charioteer.

Verse 7
If the Buddhi, being related to a distracted mind, loses its discrimination and therefore always remain impure, then the embodied soul never attains the goal, but enters into the round of births.

Verse 8
But if the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is restrained, possesses discrimination and, therefore, always remains pure, then the embodied soul attains that goal from which he is not born again.

Verse 9
A man who has discrimination for his charioteer, and holds the reins of the mind firmly, reaches the end of the road; and that is the supreme position of Vishnu.

References:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
3. Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 62-64
4. Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 299, 369-370.
5. Nikhilananda, Swami (1949). The Upanishads: Volume I—Katha, Iśa, Kena, and Mundaka. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers.

Antaḥ-Kāraṇa | Internal Instruments

Antah-Karana

Antaḥ-Kāraṇa (IAST)
Translation: "Internal Instruments"

A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: अन्तःकारण
Transliteration: Antaḥ-Kāraṇa
Translation: "the internal organ; inner sense; inner instrument; "inner causes""
Definition:

1. It is comprised of the intellect, the mind, the ego, and the consciousness (Buddhi, Manas, Ahaṅkāra, and Cit), according to Advaita Vedānta. The Sāṅkhya school recognizes only the intellect, mind, and ego as comprising the inner organs.
2. It is the seat of the functions of the senses as distinct from their outer organs. It receives and arranges what is conveyed to it through the senses. It reflects objects by its relation with the self (Puruṣa) according to Sāṅkhya or by its relation to the Self (Ātman) according to Advaita Vedānta.
3. According to Advaita Vedānta, the perceived variations of different individuals' cognitions are due to the differences in their respective Antaḥkāraṇas.
4. The inner organ functions by streaming out to an object, illumining it, assuming its shape, and then cognizing it according to Advaita Vedānta.

बुद्धि – Buddhi (Intellect)

Meaning: "intellect; the discriminative faculty (from the verb root budh – “to enlighten, to know”)"

Definition:

1. The ascertaining intelligence and the impersonal or superpersonal state of consciousness of a limited individual.
2. The first evolute of primordial Nature (Prakṛti). It is the basis of the intelligence of the individual. It is the determinative faculty and by it one resolves upon a course of action.
3. According to Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, it is of two kinds: recollection (Smṛti) and experience (Anubhava).

अहङ्कार – Ahaṅkāra (Ego / "The 'I'-maker")

Meaning: "'I'-ness; egoism; the concept of individuality (from the verb root kṛ = "action" + aham = "I"); literally = 'I'-maker"

Definition: "In the evolutionary process, Ahaṅkāra is said to evolve from the intellect (Buddhi) and give evolution to the senses (Indriya) and the subtle essence of the elements (Tanmātra) in turn. Its function is self-assertion. It is an aspect of the inner organ (Antaḥ-Karaṇa) and it has the three aspects of Vaikārika or Sattva, Taijasa or Rajas, and Bhūtādi or Tamas."

मनः / मनस् – Manaḥ / Manas (Cognitive Mind)

Meaning: "mind; one of the aspects of the internal organ (from the verb root man – “to think”)"

Definition:

1. Mind emerges from the Pure (Sattva) aspect of egoity (Ahaṅkāra).
2. Mind stimulates the other senses to attend to their respective objects. Thus, it is an organ of cognition and of action. It is the doorkeeper to the senses. Its specific function is to explicate.
3. According to Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, it is atomic and eternal. It is an instrument of knowing and is inert as any other sense. Its cooperation is necessary for all knowledge. It exercises a double function: it helps the self to acquire knowledge and it narrows its field to a single object or group of objects. Association with the mind is the basic cause of bondage.
4. According to Jainism, it is not a sense organ, but the organ of cognition of all objects of all the senses. It is of two types: physical mind (Bhāva), which performs the mental functions proper, and material mind (Dravya), which is subtle matter compounded into the physical mind.
5. According to Dvaita Vedānta and Sāṅkhya, the mind is considered as one of the sense organs (Indriya).
6. According to Mīmāṃsā, different cognitions are explained by a type of atom called Manas. The mind alone brings about cognitions, aversions, efforts, etc., but by itself it is devoid of any qualities such as color, smell, etc. Thus, it needs the aid of the other organs to cognize these qualities.

चित्त – Citta (Mind)

Meaning: "consciousness; mind; thought; apperception (from the verb root cit – “to perceive, observe, know”)"

Definition:

1. In Kashmir Shaivism, the limitation of the Universal Consciousness manifested in the individual mind. It is the mind of the empirical individual. In Rāja Yoga, Citta means mind, and in Advaita Vedānta, it refers to the subconscious.
2. In the Vaibhāṣika system, it is Saṃskṛta-Dharma, born out of the interaction of the senses with their objects.
3. In the Yogācāra system, it is the Mano-Dharma. It is the primary Dharma and essentially the only Dharma.
4. In the Yoga system, the intellect (Buddhi), ego (Ahaṅkāra), and the senses (Indriya) are often called Citta.
5. According to the Sāṅkhya, the mind (Citta) has five processes: Pramāṇa, Viparyaya, Vikalpa, Nidrā, and Smṛti.

Vivekacuddāmani (Śrī Śaṅkarācārya)
Verses 93-94:

The "inner organs" are called, according to their respective functions as mind, intellect, ego and chitta. Mind is so called by reason of its considering the pros and cons of a thing; intellect by reason of its function of determining the truth of objects. The ego is so called by reason of its identification with the body as one‘s own self, and chitta from its function of constantly illumining the things of its interest.

Reference:

1. Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
2. Chaitanya, Pranipata. Sri Sankara's Vivekachudamani: Devanagari Text, Transliteration, Word-for-Word Meaning, and a Lucid English Translation. Tamil Nadu, India: Tiruchengode Chinmaya Mission