Chapter 6 - Observation and Conclusion

Vedas, Upaniṣads, Purāṇās, and Itihāsas are the unique durable attributes of Indian culture. The word ‘Veda’ commonly denotes ‘the treasure of knowledge’. The people who are compelled to answer questions on Indian tradition, culture and the workings of the human mind rely on the ocean of Vedic knowledge. It was the earliest philosophical and cultural fountain of knowledge of the world. There was and there is no other method to dispel the darkness of ignorance other than Vedas. Vedic rituals turned out to be the first chain of human knowledge and it is the outcome of human thinking. The humans were pondering over for something special and the Vedic literature took a form. The Vedic thinker’s got themselves engaged to think about the complicated human mind, thoughts, sense organs, body-mind relation, consciousness and its complexity etc.

The Āryans took the mastership of the Dravidians and the four classes that existed on the bases of karma before 5000 B.C. The suzerain of the Aryans led them to use the chance to promote their thoughts and to mature philosophy in the society. So they started to produce Vedic rituals, and classified the four Vedas. Based on these the Brāhmaṇas, the Āraṇyakas, and the Upaniṣads were formed. The concept of mind can be found in Vedic literature. It is from the root ‘man’ meaning ‘to think’ and the word ‘citta’ synonymous to ‘mind’ that the concept originated. The Gāyatri mantra in the Vedas opens out the avenue for the enlightenment of one’s mind. It gives us the idea on the ‘mind as a whole’ and is redolent of the necessary techniques of controlling mind. It also discusses the characteristics of mind that can be truthful, mature, unruffled, firm and sharp.

The concept of mind in Indian philosophy from the very beginning has been recognized as distinct from Self or Atman. But its nature and function are associated to the Self or the Atman. Mind literally means ‘measuring’ and is designated by pleasure, pain, feelings etc. Mind or manas can be distinguished from other sense organs. But it is the inner sense organ. It is not composed of the materials. The process by which we become aware of the changes through the senses, which we call perception, is also linked to this concept of mind. The idea of perception is explained in the Upaniṣads also.

Indian philosophy is classified on the bases of the justifications on Vedic authorities. The main streams are the orthodox and the heterodox. Orthodox system justifies the Vedic authority and the heterodox system does not accept the authority of the Vedas. Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Nyāyā, Vaiśeṣika, Purvamīmāṃsa and Uttaramīmāṃsa or Vedanta belong to the orthodox category; and Buddhism, Jainism and Materialism are of the heterodox group. The concepts of mind in the orthodox systems mainly accept mind as an instrument and it is an internal organ. The orthodox or āsthika darśana includes the Sāṃkhya System which advocates that the mind is the third internal organ, and it is compared to buddhi and ahaṃkāra. They are enumerated in the Sāṃkhykārikā of Iśvarakṛṣṇa. Mind has double character (ubhāyātmakaṃ) because it has the common property of sensory and motor organs. The Sāṃkhya System holds that the mind has a major role in the process of perception. The Yoga Darśana call the mind as citta.

The concentration of mind is possible by yoga and japa of the praṇavamantra–

‘tatjapastadarthabhāvanam’.

As a means to right living, Sage Pathanjali suggested the eight limbs by practicing the eight states of dhyānā, the mind can be made free from the attributed qualities like satvarajastamoguṇaḥ:

dhyānaṃ nirviṣayaḥ manaḥ

Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika deliberates the idea of mind from the epistemological and ontological points of view. Mind is one of the substances. According to Nyāya, personality is composed of the Self, mind and body. Self or Atman is the fundamental ground of all thoughts and experiences. Nyāya holds mind as the sixth sense and regards it as an internal organ. Nyāya enumerates the function of mind as remembrance, inference, verbal cognition, doubt, intuition, dream, imagination, the perception of pleasure and pain, desire and rest. Vaiśeṣika holds the mind in a wide sense. It is applied for the mental powers like sensation, perception, understanding, feeling, willing and higher intellectual powers.

Pūrvamīmāṃsa also considers the mind the instrument of the Self and an agent. In Advaita Vedanta, mind is the internal organ; and the external organs are instruments of either action or perception. Mind is capable of establishing contact with all the external organs. The knowledge of the subject is the combination of mind and organs. The entire apparatus of the internal organ consists of four division manas, buddhi, ahaṃkāra and citta. Mind is said to be the organ of knowledge, “manaivedamāptavyam”.

The Upaniṣads form the backbone of Vedic literature and give a profound entity and great spiritual enlightenment. The Upaniṣadic wisdom affects and embodies the different classes of spirituality in different ways. The Upaniṣads are the final portion of the Vedas as revealed through the sacred text and are called the end of the Vedas. It is acknowledged as a sacred foundation of the Vedantic philosophy. The Upaniṣads discuss the philosophical tendencies implicit in the Vedic hymns. It is foolishness to evaluate the Upaniṣads on the bases of modern situations, for the Upaniṣads came into existence before 3000 B.C. The era of the Upaniṣads transports our mind to a stage to attain the reality. The Upaniṣadic philosophers debate on the various concepts of gross and subtle form, time, mind, intellect etc and the Atman. Brahmānanda Sivayogi, as the teacher of atheists, postulated that the concept of ‘the mind is the God’.

The theory of Lokayātacāryas argues that the mind is Atman:

manaiti manovido buddhiriti ca tadvidaḥ cittamiticittavidodharmmādharmo ca tadvidaḥ ||

The Upaniṣads are based on a single quintessence, that is Atman or Brahman. It is the undefined theory that has settled in man and it controls his faculties like to know, to do, to think etc. It thinks over the sense organs, antaḥkaraṇa, prāṇa and body. They are not systematic treatises on philosophy and are not the works of any single author. The sages whose intuitions are recorded in the Upaniṣads are mystical seers. They are more than mere investigators of the metaphysics. Sages adopted the method of the Upaniṣads in a more poetic than in philosophical or psychological ways. Even where the language used is prose, the poetic quality is quite evident. It is true that in many places symbolic expressions are employed which hide the meaning rather than make it explicit.

The Upaniṣads follow the mission of rearing the only truth. Yet, each Upaniṣad is varied to the eternal novelty of that truth. They are not only eternal but also creative or realistic in nature.

In Taittirīyasaṃbandabhāṣya Upaniṣad is described as:

“upaniṣaṇṇaṃ vā asyā paraṃ śreyaiti |”.

The aim of the Upaniṣad is the realization of knowledge to attain Brahman.

I am trying to approach psychologically the word Upaniṣad. This word is the union of ‘upa’, ‘ni’ and ‘sad’. The word ‘Upaniṣad’ indicates the pupil who sits near a Guru to listen to the

śrutivākyas. It is the occupied imperative subject that is dealt with between the teacher and the pupil. The ‘upa’, ‘sad’, and ‘ni’ are the words meaning ‘near’, ‘sitting down’ and ‘sitting place’ are respectively. This signification psychologically, not physically, means the pupil who realizes his limitations on the knowledge of his subject, so he is very modest before his Guru. To deal with the philosophical doctrines of the Upaniṣad is not easy because they are not based on a single philosophy.

The major Upaniṣads are enumerated as ‘Daśopaniṣads’ by Muktikopaniṣad. They are Īsāvāsyopaniṣad, Kenopaniṣad, Kaṭhopaniṣad, Praśnopaniṣad, Muṇḍakopaniṣad, Māṇḍūkyopaniṣad, Taittirīyopaniṣad, Aitareyopaniṣad, Chāndogyopaniṣad and Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad.

In Upaniṣadic philosophy, mind or antaḥkaraṇa is only a name for the totality of conscious states of which pleasure and pain are but two different aspects. Mind is a union of emotions and sensations. The Īśāvāsya-upaniṣad explains the nature of Brahman and compares to mind. Brahman is swifter than mind, so mind is the swiftest among other creatures. The Kena-upaniṣad , one of the Sāmavedopaniṣads, says that the person who makes a quest for Brahman is not able to attain even the mind. Philosophy of mind from the seekers like ‘who am I?’, ‘How can the universe originate? Who is the profounder of this world? etc. The same questions are seen in the Bhagavd Gītā also. The Upaniṣad says that the Atman or Brahman is sufficient to make the senses and this function is undertaken by the mind. So mind has an important role ie. it leads to the questions of all mental actions.

The Kaṭha-upaniṣad makes a fantastic example of revealing the idea of mind. It clearly illustrates the various aspects of mind. The mind can be compared to the reins to control and the sense organs to the horses. The mental concentration is backward in a man who does any harmful activities. The Praśna-upaniṣad deals with the problem of the states of waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep. In the discussion about these certain questions are raised: Which organ make the person sleep, which organ keep him awake, which deity sees the dream? etc. In all these, mind has an important role, and all sense organs become one with the mind. The Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad enumerates the characteristics of mind, its feelings like attachment, fear, sorrow etc. This Upaniṣad also observes that perception is impossible without the help of mind.

The Māṇḍūkya-upaniṣad refers to an important metaphysical doctrine about consciousness. Waking, dreaming, deep sleep and turīya are the four stages of consciousness. The Māṇḍūkyakārikā of this Upaniṣad says that all yogins attain the state of Brahman when their mind is controlled. The Taittirīya-upaniṣad clearly states the five sheaths. Among these annamaya is works under the idea all living beings arise from food. Food is the form of matter and from matter prāṇamaya originates. Manomaya is characterized by egoism, memory and imagination and mind is the organ of perception, and memory. Vijñānamaya is characterized by discrimination, determination etc. Ānandamaya, love, delight or bliss, the last sheath, is close to the level of pure consciousness. The Aitareya-upaniṣad deals with the synonyms of mind ie. awareness, comprehension, understanding, knowledge, retentiveness, insight, resolution, opinion, memory, reflection, impulse, will, purposed, life, desire, control etc. These are regarded as different intellectual experiences like sensation, perception, ideations and conceptions.

The Chāndogya-upaniṣad asserts the formation of mind. It is said to be the product of food. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad states that the mind is the seat and recourse of the sense organs. “mano vā āyatānam”. This Upaniṣad also discusses the human personality. The functions of mind are summarized as jñānendriyās, karmendriyās, buddhi, manas, ahaṃkāra and citta. Among these, mind is considered to be the co-ordinating organ of perception. In various Upaniṣads the idea of ultimate reality is treated through a psychological method. The relation of the body and the soul is well explained in the manner of its functions. It is just a razor which is placed in the razor case. The Upaniṣad says about the Brahman that exists all the time; but it not the subject of sense organs. How can the Brahman be acquired in mind? The Upaniṣad says that a yogi in his state of yoga utilizes his strength throughout that state.

The whole universe is attributed to Brhman in pure mind. In that state the feelings like pleasure, pain etc are disposed of. Atman is all in everything, controller of Mind, intelligence, senses etc are. It is clear from the description of the psychological thought in the Upaniṣads that they put the stamp, as it were on all the later developments in thought by bodily expressing their views on the self and mental processes. There is no doubt that these reflections of over three thousand years ago give us a theory of mind and theory of consciousness which are valid even today.

They point out that in the highest state of consciousness, the subject and the object become one. The psychological reflections had dominated in Indian thought down the ages, though there was no systematic study or attempt to deal with the problem as a special field, because the foundation of Indian philosophy, the Upaniṣad, has the freedom to enter into every aspect of human mind. There are mainly the problem of consciousness, the relation between body, mind and sense organs etc.

It is clear that the descriptions on the psychological reflections in the Upaniṣads echo the views on the self and mental processes. These theories and the theory of consciousness are valid even today. The Upaniṣads which form the foundation of Indian philosophy, attempt to free every aspect of human mind. So there has been no systematic study or attempt to deal with the problem with a thrust on the psychological reflections as a special field.

The subject matter of almost all the Upaniṣads is Brahman, the Ultimate Reality and the Atman, the individual Self. But the same subject is dealt with in each Upaniṣad in such a manner that the feeling of ‘sameness’ never arises. There is freshness and newness in each Upaniṣad because of which one never feels that it is the same subject of Brahman and Atman that are being discussed. In the Upaniṣad one sees the truth of the statement that it is not the conclusion that matters–what matters is the process by which the conclusion is arrived at.

The findings reached at, based on the above observations, can be summarized as follows:-

Observations and Findings

-) This analytical study shows how the psychology or philosophy of mind was discussed in India in the past.

-) The Atman is all in everything, a controller of mind, intelligence, senses etc.

-) Mind is the chief of all organs.

-) The human personality is the essence of the Atman, the self with pure consciousness.

-) Now-a-days manas or mind and its functions, and its relation with the body have more relevance because all human beings are controlled by these mental activities and physical functions.

-) The study is relevant in same way as the nature of mind as discussed in the Upaniṣad. Hence, this study will help to know the significance of mind in the Upaniṣad especially in the context of the exploration in the Daśopaniṣads.

-) In all experiences the mind is the central factor. Mind is the central linking factor of all other sense organs. It is the pathway for salvation.

-) Mind acts as an instrument for the attainment of knowledge of the Brahman.

-) By means of meditation and concentration, one can attain the supreme path. Liberation is possible only through these functions of mind.

-) One whose feeding food is influenced by his mind is an observable point. Hence, now, in our day-to-day life, we have many unwanted issues are to be comfort. These are cut-off by the habit of good, healthy food.

-) The existence of mind is stated in every Upaniṣad. Likewise it is well explained in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad ie; all other sense organs are active in their duties provided the mind never becomes inactive. If inactive the sensation never happens.

-) The Upaniṣads attribute to the mind as ‘yajamānaḥ’-it is the apt word about mind because the mind is the owner of all other organs.

-) One who wins his life must have control over mind. It is clearly depicted in the Upaniṣads. The Kaṭha-upaniṣad states that mind is the rein of the sense organs. So we can win over our own senses.