1. The Concept of Mind in the Vedas

The nature of mind and the functions and constituents of mind have been agitating the people for a long time. There have been various explanations but none is satisfactory. Indian philosophy, from the very beginning, has recognized mind as something distinct from the self or the Atman, though it partakes of its nature as intelligence through association with it. Since it is subtle in nature, it is not a gross matter. The word ‘mind’ literally means ‘measuring’; and it has been used in this sense in the Vedas and the Brāhmaṇas from early times. It is a subtle matter in all philosophy. It has been considered to be the part of that which was designated by its name manas. It is an activity in the life of man and it measures his wisdom, pleasures, pain, feelings etc. It seems that the problem of the nature of mind and its relation to matter may be satisfactorily solved only if we think of mind as a higher form of matter capable of reflecting the nature of self which is consciousness. This mind or manas has no concrete place. It is the name given to a series of conscious activities such as desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, intelligence, thought etc, and this mind is capable of referring to the past, present and future.

Apart from the qualities of the mind it is very difficult to know the pure self at the empirical level.

“The mind is the material part of the external world. It belongs to us but it does not explain who we really are, just as our house belongs to us but is not us. This may be a shocking matter to consider, but it is really something intuitively known to us. When we speak of ‘my mind’, we are defining the mind as an object which belongs to us and not as ourselves”.^[1]

The mind has a material structure; and it works as an instrument or tool. The sense organs themselves are instruments. The eye is an instrument of seeing; the ear is an instrument of hearing and so on. Similarly the mind that works to process sensory information is itself an instrument. The mind is the main instrument we use to function in life. It is organically related to our physical body. So the mind is also a kind of body organ. The physical body is primarily an organ of perception and expression. It is structured mainly by our sense the motor organs like the sound and hands through which we express ourselves. The mind can function apart from body consciousness as in sleep, trance and after death states.

The reference to mind can be found in the Vedas from the beginning.

The first germ of mind can be radical in the lust or wish. It is desire for individual pleasure. In the Ṛgvedic hymns it is said:

kāmastadagresamavarttatādhi manasoretaḥ prathamaṃ yadāsīt || ^[2]

From these days the philosophers were interested in understanding and controlling the mental processes. Mind originates from the root ‘man’ ‘to think’ and the word ‘citta’ is used at some places almost synonymous to mind and it has been used in this sense in the early Vedas, Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads. It is the recording faculty and it receives impressions gathered by the sense organs from the outside world. It seems to be regarded to attend to all the cognitive, affective and conative processes.^[3]

It is that the gods know the mind of man who proposes and passes on through the breath to be the wind and tells the gods what the mind of man is.

From the beginning such a concept of mind can be found in the Vedas themselves.

The famous Gāyatri mantra in the Ṛgveda and in the Yajurveda reveals the way in which the consciousness pervades the Vedic prayers:

oṃ bhurbhuvasvaḥ tat saviturvareṇyam bhargodevasya dhīmahī dhiyo yona pracodayāt || ^[4]

This mantra was revealed by sage Viśamitra. It is named after its metre Gāyatri which means ‘the saviour of the singer’. It is looked upon as the essence of the Vedas. The essence of the prayer is ‘stimulation of one’s intellect; and enlightening of one’s mind’.

Another great Vedic hymn desires that man’s resolutions should be auspicious verses:-

suṣārathiraśvanivayenmanuṣyānnenīyathe'śubhirvājinaiva hṛdpratiṣṭhayaṃ yadaciraṃ javiṣṭam manme manaḥ śivasaṅkalpamastu |^[5]

It is the fantastic verses about mind. It says that mind is considered as the swiftest, and it is seated in the heart and also unmortified. It is the controller of the sense organs. These verses also indicate the necessity of controlling the mind. In the Vedic texts, there are numerous references to mind as being located in the heart. The Yajurveda declares that the mind is the means of knowledge.^[6] The mind is considered as mananaśīlaṃ jñānasādhanam.^[7] Mind is sarvakarmasādhanam.^[8] In the Ṛgveda the mind occupies a major part of logical thinking and discussions. Mind can be truthful, unruffled, mature, firm and sharp.^[9] The mind has been considered as a lord of the body, showing the significance of mind over the body.^[10] The description of mind in the Ṛgveda comes in the context of alcoholic intoxication.^[11] This indicates that somarasa envelopes the mind and it produces a marked effect on the sense organs.^[12] The ‘naiṣadīyasūkta’ of the Ṛgveda indicates the important role of mind in human life. The word ‘citta’ is used at some places almost synonymous to mind.

The Ṛgveda states that intellect is the swiftest of birds. It is:

mano javiṣṭaṃ patayatsu antaḥ || ^[13]

The Ṛgvedic hymns proclaim the unity among the people and maintain the unity for mankind.

The mind can play the main role of universal unity. It preaches that:-

saṃgacchadhvaṃ saṃvadadhvaṃ saṃ vo manāṃsijānatāṃ devā bhāgaṃ yathā pūrve saṃjānānā upāsate | samāno mantraḥ samitiḥ samānī samānaṃ manaḥ saha cittaṃ eṣāṃ samānaṃ mantraṃ abhimantraye vaḥ samānena vo haviṣā juhomi || samānī va akūtiḥ samānā hṛdayāni vaḥ samānaṃ astu vo mano yathā vaḥ sa sahāsati || ^[14]

Mind in the Saṃhitas and the Brāhmaṇas is the pure sensory organ or it is possible intellect. It is identified with the Being. The Carakasaṃhita states that knowledge is the character of mind and that mind and knowledge are interrelated. In the absence of mind, knowledge gets vanished.

So knowledge is the attribute of mind. It says:

lakṣaṇaṃ manasojñānasyābhāvo bhāva eva ca || ^[15]

The Yogavāsiṣṭa discusses the mind of which the characters are declared as abstractive forms. It states:-

saṅkalpanaṃ manoviddhi saṅkalpāttannabhidhyate || ^[16]

The target of mind is to achieve higher knowledge for enlivening the intuition of the Jīvātmā. This presumptive mind is immortal because it has the essence of the Ātman.^[17] The mind is related to the energy of citta.^[18]

In the Vājasaneya Saṃhita the conception of mind as a psychical entity is fully discussed. The concept of mind is dealt with in some details in the Vājasaneya Saṃhita and it takes the ‘mind as a whole’ i.e., tanmemanaḥ śivasaṅkalpamastu. Dr. Jwala Prasad translated the very first verse of this collection in his Indian Epistemology; and he characterizes the mind as something which goes out afar.^[19] It is not a gross physical sense organ, it cannot be conceived as going out of the body, nor can it be the soul for the same reason. Intelligence, feeling and resolution are the three-fold divisions of mental activities and the mind is responsible for all accomplishments. From these ideas it becomes evident that even in the ancient texts the physical and the epistemological functions of mind have been recognized and acknowledged.

The Atharvaveda uses a number of psychological phrases like ṣardayam, samanāsyaṃ etc. The word ‘meda’ is used for intellect or intelligence. The Aitareya Āraṇyaka elucidates the significance of the human mind. According to this, all reality exists as far as it is known. The cognition is divided into the knower [prājñā], the intellect [prajñā], and the cognition [prajñānaṃ]. Some references of mind are given in the Śatapata Brāhmaṇa about the perception and cognition of things, and the relation of name and form with the mind. These ideas or doctrines are further elucidated in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa. The characteristics of mind are enumerated through a number of concepts. Awareness, comprehension, understanding, knowledge, retentiveness, insight, resolution, opinion, memory, reflection, impulse, will, purposed life, desire, control etc are the names of mind or knowledge.

In the second chapter of the Aitareya Āraṇyaka it is mentioned that man is superior to animals because he can anticipate the future and remember the past. The Yajurveda states that the creations given to that in mind the moon, in eye the sun, in ear the air and in mouth the fire are of much significance. Mind is the first creative partner of the world.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Frawely David, Ayurveda and Mind-The Healing of Consciousness, P-4

[2]:

Nasadīya Sūkta of Ṛgveda-X.129.4

[3]:

Śathapathabrāhmaṇa-III.2.6
manodevā manuṣyasyā''pmānantīti manasā saṅkalpayatitatprāṇamapi padyatepprāṇo vvātaṃ
vvatodevebbhya ācaṣṭṭe yathā puruṣasya manaḥ ||

[4]:

Gāyatrimantra of Ṛgveda

[5]:

Yajurveda -34.6

[6]:

mananaśīlaṃ jñānasādhanam |-Yajurveda-2.13

[7]:

Ibid -3.53

[8]:

Ibid -34.3

[9]:

Ṛgveda-10.10.6

[10]:

Ibid -10.57.6

[11]:

Ibid -10.59.6

[12]:

Ibid -10.2.25

[13]:

Ibid -8.100.8

[14]:

Ibid -10.9.2-4

[15]:

Carakasaṃhita-Śarīrasāstraṃ-1.18

[16]:

Yogavāsiṣtaṃ-3.4.43

[17]:

Ibid -3.91.31

[18]:

Ibid-5. 13.88

[19]:

Dr.Jwala Prasad -Indian Epistemology-Vājasaneya Saṃhita- P-29