मनस्
Manas
manas
In simple words
Manas is the everyday thinking-feeling mind: it takes in what the senses report, wants things and wavers. Indian philosophy treats it as an instrument we have, not as who we are.
What is it?
In Sankhya and Vedanta, manas is one of the inner instruments (antahkarana), alongside intellect (buddhi) and ego (ahankara); it coordinates the senses and generates doubt and desire. In Nyaya-Vaisheshika, manas is an atomic substance whose contact with the self and senses makes cognition possible one at a time. The Gita's Arjuna calls the mind as hard to control as the wind; Krishna answers that practice and dispassion restrain it.
Scholar’s note
Classic analyses: manas as 'samkalpa-vikalpa' (proposing and doubting) function; the Nyaya argument for atomic manas from the non-simultaneity of cognitions. Buddhist Abhidharma treats mano as the sixth sense base; Yogacara adds manas as the defiled mind that grasps at self. The Katha Upanishad's chariot image makes the mind the reins.How its meaning differs
Manas is an evolute of prakriti — material, not conscious — coordinating the senses and forming intentions.
The mind is an atomic, eternal substance; because it can join only one sense at a time, we have one cognition at a time.
The mind is part of the subtle body and an object of awareness; it is not the Self, whose light it borrows.
Mind is the sixth sense base; in Yogacara a distinct defiled mind (manas) constantly grasps at a self.
The mind (man) is restless and ego-driven, but when attuned to the Name it can itself become a place of divine light.
Where it appears in the Gita
इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्य: परं मन:।
इन्द्रियोंको (स्थूलशरीरसे) पर (श्रेष्ठ, सबल, प्रकाशक, व्यापक तथा सूक्ष्म) कहते हैं। इन्द्रियोंसे पर मन है, मनसे भी पर बुद्धि है (और) जो बुद्धिसे भी पर है, वह (काम) है। इस तरह बुद्धिसे पर (काम)-को जानकर अपने द्वारा अपने-आपको वशमें करके हे महाबाहो! (तू इस) कामरूप दुर्जय शत्रुको मार डाल।
6.26यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम्।
(यह) अस्थिर (और) चंचल मन जहाँ-जहाँ विचरण करता है, वहाँ-वहाँसे हटाकर इसको (एक) परमात्मामें ही भलीभाँति लगाये*।
6.34चञ्चलं हि मन: कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम्।
कारण कि हे कृष्ण! मन (बड़ा ही) चंचल, प्रमथनशील, दृढ़ (जिद्दी) (और) बलवान् है। उसको रोकना मैं (आकाशमें स्थित) वायुकी तरह अत्यन्त कठिन मानता हँू।
6.35By practice and dispassion the mind is held
अभ्यास और वैराग्यसे मन वशमें होता है
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम्।
Yes, the mind is restless and hard to control — but it is held by practice and by dispassion.
नि:सन्देह मन चंचल है और इसका निग्रह कठिन है; परन्तु अभ्यास और वैराग्यके द्वारा इसका निग्रह होता है।
15.9श्रोत्रं चक्षु: स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च।
यह (जीवात्मा) मनका आश्रय लेकर ही श्रोत्र और नेत्र तथा त्वचा, रसना और घ्राण (—इन पाँचों इन्द्रियोंके द्वारा) विषयोंका सेवन करता है।
Where else it appears
Follow this idea
Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Textकठोपनिषद्Katha UpanishadThe chariot image: the mind as the reins of the senses.
- 2Gita verseBhagavad Gita 6.34Arjuna: the mind is as hard to control as the wind.
- 3Gita verseBhagavad Gita 6.35Krishna: practice and dispassion.
- 4Gita verseBhagavad Gita 6.26Wherever the mind wanders, bring it back.
- 5Textयोगसूत्रYoga Sutras of PatanjaliA systematic account of the mind's fluctuations.
- 6TraditionयोगाचारYogacaraA Buddhist analysis of mind's layers.
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