10. The Concept of Mind in the Chāndogyopaniṣad

The Chāndogya-upaniṣad is the Brāhmaṇopaniṣad of the Chāndogya branch of Sāmaveda. It consists of eight adhyāyas and it aims at describing the highest wish of the human life. The first five chapters of the Upaniṣad deals with worship and knowledge. Śrī Śankara in his commentary divides worship into three; -the first is connected with sacrifice and Sāma, the second and the third are connected with Brahman: -Saguṇa (with attributes) and Niṛguṇa (without any attributes). The central idea of Chāndogya-upaniṣad revolves round a man who is completely engrossed in doing the actions in order to fulfill his desires to give some time and attention first to the practice of the upāsanas and energy to the realization of Ātmavidya.

Being a part of Sāmaveda the Chāndogya-upaniṣad shares its authority and honor. About one hundred and thirty topics are discussed in this Upaniṣad and they form the foundation of the later developments in the history of religion and philosophy of India. The mind is explained in this Upaniṣad through various mantras. In the second chapter one should meditate on the prāṇas or the sense-organs. The nose is hinkāra, speech is the prastāva, and the tongue is superior to the nose which can smell only when there is odour; the eye is the udgītha; the ear is pratihāra and the mind is nidhāna. These are progressively higher and better.

It is in the mind that all the objects, cognized by the different senses as their respective objects of enjoyment, reside:

prāṇeṣu pañcavidhaṃ parovarīyaḥ sāmopāsīta prāṇo hiṃkāro vākprastāvacakṣurudgīthaḥ śrotraṃ pratihāro mano nidhanaṃ parovarīyāṃsi vā etāni || ^[1]

Again this Upaniṣad says about the importance of mind. One, who meditates on the oblation for the fathers, should sing the stotra attentively. In the third chapter, this Upaniṣad says about the importance of the worship of mind. At the northern door of the heart is posted the wind i.e., samāna-which equalizes breath. The function of this wind is to distribute the food and water to all limbs of the body. Mind is the equalizer and does this function. This mind is connected with the activity of the rains. It is the mind of the Virāt Puruṣa which has produced water and its divinity, namely Varuṇa.

Therefore, one who does the upāsana of samāna becomes famous or successful or lustrous:

atha yo asya daṅ suṣiḥ sa samānastanmanaḥsa parjjanya stadetat kīrtiśca vyuṣṭiścetyupāsīta kīrtimānvyuṣṭimān bhavati ya evaṃ veda || ^[2]

The second chapter of this Upaniṣad clearly justifies the importance of mind in other organ. It says:

mano hiṅkāro vākaprastāvacakṣarudgīthaḥ śrotaṃ pratihāraḥ prāṇonidhanametadgāyatraṃ prāṇeṣu protam || ^[3]

Śrī Śankara says in his Bhāṣya:

manasaḥ sarvakaraṇavṛttināṃ prāthamyāt |^[4]

The entire Brahman can be conceived in the form of mind as well as ākāśa. These are very subtle. To conceive the mind as the Brahman is adhyātmic knowledge, while to conceive the all-pervading, upādhiless ākāśa as the Brahman is the ādhidhaivata knowledge. Now the mind as Brahman can be thought of having four feet. They are vak, prāṇa, cakṣu and śrotra. The ākaśa as Brahma possessing these feet are illumined by agni, vāyu, āditya and diśaḥ. The mind is enabled to have the experience of smell, form [rūpa] and words. One who knows this becomes, in each of the four ways, endowed with fame, success, and lustre of the Brahman.

Śrī Śankara says:

mano manute'nenetyantaḥkaraṇaṃ tadbrahma paramityupāsīteti etadātmaviṣayaṃ darśanamadhyātmam || ^[5]

Again this Upaniṣad says that the mind is the receptacle for all the enjoyments. One who meditates on this pāda would himself become the support of all and to all the worlds after death. The discussion concerned with the manas in the context of upāsanas can be seen in the Āraṇyakas concerning the performance of the sacrifices. The wind itself is a sacrifice. And as any activity implies motion, the relation between action and the wind is that of inherence. Therefore, vāyu is both the beginning and the support of sacrifice. Of this sacrifice, in the form of vāyu, speech and mind are the two essentials, since both of them are necessarily dependent upon the movement of prāṇa and apāna. The mind is the internal organ, which is greater than speech. It is endowed with the power of thinking. It is intended to speak when what is intended to be spoken.

The fifth khāṇḍa of the sixth chapter of this Upaniṣad says (between the discussion of Āruṇi and Śvetaketu) about the formation of mind. Mind is considered to be the part of designated name or the activity of man, related to the measure of pleasure, pain etc. This is said to be the annamaya in the Chāndogya-upaniṣad

This is in the form of matter. It is said in their dialogue:

annamayaṃ hi somyamanaḥ āpomayaḥ prāṇastejomayī vāgitī |
bhūya eva mā bhagavān vijñāpayati iti tathā somyeti hovāca || ^[6]

Food, when eaten and digested by the fire in the stomach, takes three different forms. The gross portion of it turns into excreta, the portion which is neither so gross nor subtle becomes the flesh, and that which is subtle and fine reaches first the heart and then, passing through the heart and other subtle nadis, nourishes the senses such as speech and others, and ultimately becomes the manas. Therefore, mind is the product of anna [food].

The finest part of it becomes manas.

tanmanaḥ—mano bhavati mano rūpeṇa vipariṇamamāno manasa upacayaṃ karoti ityarthaḥ |^[7]
tathā ca annāśanāt pūrvameva manasaḥ siddhatve'pi nānupapanti || ^[8]

When Āruṇi that says that mind is food, Śvetaketu wants explanation. Guru says how anna or food is the cause of mind. When curd is churned its subtle portion comes up in the form of butter, even so when the food is being churned by the fire in the stomach as helped by vāyu, its subtle portion becomes collected and comes up in the form of mind. It conveys the fact that from a very gross element, the subtle portion can also manifest. It is like the subtle portion that rises up from curd and as butter is given. For, the mind is greater than vāk. Because a man first thinks or desires in his mind to do some activity and then does it.

Manas is said to be a particular desire because it is obtained after the desire is cherished by the mind. So manas should be worshipped as the Brahman:

annamayaṃ hi somyamanaḥ āpomayaḥ prāṇastejomayī vāhitī |
bhūya eva mā bhagavān vijñāpayati iti tathā somyeti hovāca || ^[9]

It is that the human beings consume food and it reaches the stomach and is churned by the fire which digests the food along with the vital air and to be assimilated in the body. In the Śankarabhāṣya on this mantra he says:-“getting transformed into the mind-stuff, the subtlest part of the food nourishes the mind.

Since the mind is nourished by food, it is certainly made of matter.

na hi atrivṛtkṛtamannaṃ aśnāni kaścidāpo vā atrivṛtkṛtāḥ pīyante tejo vā atrivṛtkṛtamaśnāti kaścidityannādīnāmākhuprabhṛdīnāṃ vāgmitvaṃ praṇavatvaṃ cetyadyaviruddham || ^[10]

But it is not considered to be eternal and partless as held by the Vaiśeṣikas”. It is:

kevalamannabhakṣiṇa ākhuprabhṛtayo vāgminaḥ prāṇavantaśca tathā annamātrabhakṣyāḥ sāmudrā mīnamakaraprabhṛtayo manasvino vāgminaśca tathā snehapānāmapi prāṇavatvaṃ manasvitvaṃ ca anumeyam ||

atrivṛtkṛtamannamaśrāti kaścit, āpo vā atrivṛtkṛtāḥ pīyante, tejo vā atri vṛtkṛtamaśnāti kaścit ityatrādānāmākhuprabhṛtīnāṃ vāgmitvaṃ prāṇavatvaṃ ca ityadyāviruddham || ^[11]

Ahaṃkāra is also referred to in this Upaniṣad as:

ahaṅkaraḥ -athāto'haṅkārādeśa evāhamevādhastādahamupariṣṭādahaṃ paścādahaṃ purastādahaṃ dakṣiṇato 'hamevedaṃ sarvamiti || ^[12]

Śrī Śankara commends on this:

ahaṅkāreṇa ādiśyata ityahaṅkārādeśaḥ draṣṭurananyatvadarśanārthaṃ bhūmaiva nirdiśyate ahaṅkāreṇa ahamevādhastādityadinā || ^[13]

Mind is a part of the subtle body and it provides the basis of all sense organs. It is inert, non-eternal and immaterial. Mind has been given supreme position in the Upaniṣads. It is superior to speech. The word ‘citta’ is also described in Chāndogya-upaniṣad and has been referred to as a solemnized entity. Both citta and manas have been used in a single hymn (mantra) and manas has been referred to as divine sight. An important description of manas has been given in this Upaniṣad. Manas perceives and governs the five perceptive organs and five organs of action. It corresponds to mental sheath. Jīvātman perceives the objective world through mind. So mind is called the divine eye of Atman.^[14]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad-2.7.1

[2]:

Ibid -3.13.4

[3]:

Ibid -2.11.1

[4]:

Chāndogyopaniṣad Śānkarabhāṣya-2.11.1

[5]:

Ibid-3.18.1

[6]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad-6.5.1

[7]:

Chāndogyopaniṣad Śankarabhāṣya-6.5.1

[8]:

Commentary of Śri Upaniaṣadbrahmayogin on Chāndogya-upaniṣad -6.5.1

[9]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad-6.5.4

[10]:

Chāndogyopaniṣad Śankarabhāṣya -6.5.4

[11]:

Chāndogyopaniṣad Śānkarabhāṣya-6.5.4

[12]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad -7.25.1

[13]:

Chāndogyopaniṣad Śānkarabhāṣya-7.25.1

[14]:

Ibid-7.12.5