11. The Concept of Mind in the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad

The Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad is known as ‘Bṛhat’ because it is the most voluminous of all. It has been studied in the forest [āraṇyaka] and it is also known as ‘Āraṇyaka’. It forms the Vājasaneyi Brāhmaṇa portion of the Kaṇva branch of the Yajurveda. This Upaniṣad contains six chapters. These chapters provide a full analysis of Indian philosophy. Most of the Upaniṣads majestically expound, through fascinating dialogues conducted by the outstanding personalities, the central theme of all the Upaniṣads i.e., the divinity of man and the spiritual solidarity of the whole universe as Brahman. This is also the central theme of Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad It contains one of the four mahāvākyas, ‘I am Brahman’.^[1] It is the realization that the jīvātma, the paramātma and the universe are the same.

The concept of mind in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad is described in the context of the beginning of the universe. In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe.

Everything was covered by Death or Hiraṇyagaṛbha. It was covered by hunger which itself was Death. He produced the mind. He desires for the mind:

naivaha kiṃ canāgra āsīnmṛtyuḥ naivedamāvṛtamāsīdaśanāyayāśanāya hi mṛtyustanmano'kurutātmanvīsyāmiti || ^[2]

This Upaniṣad again says that the Death desires a body to be born to him. This is the union of the speech or sound with the mind:

so akāmayata dvitīyoma ātmājāyateti sa manasā vācaṃ mithunaṃ samabhavadaśanāya mṛtyustadyadreta āsītsaṃvatsaro'bhavat || ^[3]

So he again desires to perform yajña. While he is tired and afflicted, his glory and power go out; his body begins to swell, even though his mind remains close to the body.^[4] Again Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad states that mind sings the Udgītha for gods. The well-being that accrues from the mind, is obtained for the gods by singing; but mind utilizes the fine thinking for itself.^[5] The worship of prāṇa as the Atman, thus, enables a man to go beyond death and sins. Then one after another he is relieved of the sins, the senses of smell, sight, hearing and the mind. They are transformed into the original divinities. So mind immediately gets transformed to moon.^[6] The organs of senses and how their names are attributed to this are described in this Upaniṣad. When performing breath it is called vital force, when it speaks it is called the vocal organ when it sees, the eye, when it hears, the ear etc. So when it thinks it is called the mind. These names are given on the basis of its functions.^[7]

The importance of mind in this Upaniṣad. suggests that the Atman, wife, progeny, wealth and activity are the subsidiary factors of mind, speach (vāk), vital (prāṇa), eyes, body etc. The mind verily stands for the sacrifice; it directs the body that is said to be the wife who is subservient to the mind. The vital force is his after considering utterances, the eye his human wealth and the body itself his rite. So this is a mental sacrifice consisting of five factors:

This Upaniṣad states: trīṇyātne akurute | Speech, mind and prāṇa are meant by the progenitor for him alone. These are the first evolved things. Mind is quite distinct from the Atman and the other senses. Because the mind is absented in the object, the perception is not possible. It is the interconnecting factor of all sense organs. It is not perceived though it is necessary as a separate and distinct instrument to make knowledge possible at all.

Desire, resolution, doubt, faith, patience, impatience, modesty etc are all the forms or functions of mind:

trīṇyātmane'kurūteti manovācaṃ prāṇaṃ tānyātmane'kurutānyatramanā abhūvaṃ nādarśamanyatramanā abhūvaṃ nāśrauṣamiti manasāhyeva paśyati manasā śruṇoti | kāmaḥ saṅkalpovicikitsā śraddhāśraddhādhṛtiradhartihrīrdhīrbhīrityatatsarvaṃ mana eva | tasmādapi pṛṣṭhata upaspṛṣṭo manasā vijanāti yaḥ kaśca śabdo vāgeva sā | eṣā hyantamāyattaiṣā hi na prāṇo'pāno vyāna udānaḥ samāno'na ityetatsarvaṃ prāṇa evaitanmayo vā ayamātmā vāṅmayo manomayaḥ prāṇamayaḥ |^[8]

The existence and presence of mind are described by Śrī Śankara in his bhāṣya.

kāmaḥ strīvyatikarābhilāṣādiḥ saṅkalpaḥ pratyupasthitaviṣayavikalpanaṃ śuklanīlādibhedena, vicikitsā saṃrāyajñānaṃ, śraddhā adṛṣṭārtheṣu karmasu astikyabuddhiḥ devatādiṣu ca, akṣaddhā tadviparītā buddhiḥ, dhṛtiḥ ghāraṇaṃ dehādyavasāde uttambhanaṃ, adhṛtiḥ taddhiparyāḥ, hrīḥ lajjā, dhīḥ prajñā, bhīḥ bhayaṃ ityetadevanmādikaṃ sarvaṃ mana eva, manaso'ntakaraṇasya rūpāṇyetāni | manaso'stitvaṃ pratyunyacca kāraṇamucyate-tasmānmanonāmasyantaḥkaraṇaṃ, yasmāccakṣuṣo hyāgocare pṛṣṭhato'pyupaspṛṣṭaḥ kenacit hastasyāyaṃ sparśaḥ jānorayamitivivekena pratipadyateḥ yadivivekakat mano nāma nāsti tarhi tvaṅmātreṇa kuto vivekapratipattiḥ syāt; yattat vivekapratipattiḥkāraṇaṃ tanmanaḥ || ^[9]

Therefore, if one is touched even from behind, one discovers it through mind and whatever sound is there indeed and speech, because it underlies the revelation of objects, but it is not itself subject to revelation. This body is composed of speech, mind and vital force. These are indeed the three worlds. The organ of speech itself is the earth, the mind is the sky and the vital force is heaven. These are the three Vedas. The speech is the Ṛgveda, mind is the Yajurveda, and the vital force is the Sāmaveda. These are indeed the gods, the manas, and man, corresponding to the gods, mind and men respectively. Again these are also indeed the father, the mother, and the child. Whatever is to be known is a form of the mind, because the mind is what is to be known.

The mind protects him by becoming what is to be known:

trayo lokāeta eva vāgevāyaṃ lokomano'ntarikṣalokaḥ prāṇo'sau lokaḥ || trayo vedā eta eva vāgevargvedo mano yajurvedaḥ prāṇaḥ sāmavedaḥ || devāḥ pitaro manuṣyā eta eva vāgeva devā manaḥ pitaraḥ prāṇo manuṣyāḥ || pitā mātā prajaita eva mana eva pitā vaṅmātā prāṇaḥ prajā || yatkiñca vijijñāsyaṃ manasastadūpam mano hi vijiñāsyaṃ mana enaṃ tadbhūtvāvati || ^[10]

Śrī Śankara commends on this thus: -

vispaṣṭaṃ jñātumiṣṭaṃ vijijñāsyaṃ, tatsarvaṃ manaso rūpaṃ, manaḥ hi yasmāt sandihyamānākāratvādvijijñāsyam || ^[11]

Mind is, along with jñānendriyas as vṛttis, is the modes of knowing in the body, thus giving rise to knowledge. So mind must be limited in size and subtlety:

tadgṛhīta eva prāṇo bhavati gṛhitā vāgṛhītaṃ cakṣurgṛhītaṃ kṣotraṃ gṛhītaṃ manaḥ || ^[12]

The body of mind is described in the Upaniṣad as the heaven and the Sun, its luminous organ. As far as the mind extends, so far does the Heaven, and so does the Sun. The fire and the Sun are united and from that the vital force is born. It is the Lord. The Divine Mind is the Heaven and the Sun pervades through Him. That is the Divine Mind by which he becomes only joyful and never grieves.^[13] The withdrawn mind is described in this Upaniṣad. The self, associated with the intellect, is thus asleep and it is withdrawn by its specialized knowledge. When it is withdrawn in to the organs, it has the name of Svapiti. The individual jīva is encased in five coverings called pañcakośas in this Upaniṣad. They are anna, prāṇa, mano, vijñāna and ānandamaya. The annamayakośa forms an entity by itself or it is the gross body. The prāṇa, mana and vijñāna can together be referred to as the physical principles. And the ānandamaya is referred to as bliss. Here mind is the aspect of the perishable body:

manomayo'yaṃ puruṣo bhāḥ satyastasminnantahṛdaye yathā vrīhirvā yavo vā sa eṣa sarvasyejñānaḥ sarvasyādhipatiḥ sarvamidaṃ praśāsti yadidaṃ kiṃ ca || ^[14]

The puruṣa is also described as manomaya in this Upaniṣad, that is, the mind is the illuminator, and said to illumine all things. That lives in the innermost portion of the heart and becomes perceptible to the sight of the yogins. By worshipping puruṣa as manomaya the worshipper himself becomes of his nature.

The mind is infinite. This is the explanation of Yājñavalkya to Aśvāla for the questions of the number of gods. The superintending priest protects the act of doing the sacrifice as the rite today. The explanation Yājñavalkya gives is that mind is the only god and it is infinite.

Mind is Viśvadevas, through whose meditation wins an infinite world:

vai mano anantā viśve devaḥ anantameva sa tena lokaṃ jayati || ^[15]

The mind is an organ; it is dominated by its objects, a covetable thing, because one desires covetable things through the mind.

One, who meditates, dwells and controls his mind, becomes immortal:

yo manasi tiṣṭhan manaso antaro, yaṃ mano na veda, yasya manaḥ, śarīraṃ, yo mano antaro yamayatyeṣa, ta ātmāntaryāmyamṛta || ^[16]

The person who has knowledge is the body with the earth and eye with the fire and his light is the mind. He is the chief supporter of all bodies and organs.^[17] Another main part of this Upaniṣad is the concept that mind is the Brahman. One who worships the mind as Brahman, thinking that its own body with undifferentiated support will be full of ananda. Brahman knows everything through the inference. The organs, though inert, function because of the conscious self, which uses them as instruments. From this, the existence of the inmost self is inferred. The vital force functions because of the light of self. The self is identical with Brahman. Desire, resolution, doubt, faith, want of faith, patience, impatience, modesty, intelligence and fear -all these are simply the forms of mind. The mind is treated as a sense organ; it is an instrument of knowledge with a physical basis.

This Upaniṣad asserts that vak is the same because it is the Brahman and should be worshipped as a cow having four udders. Her two udders namely svāha and vasat feed the gods, men live on the milk coming from the udder known as hanta, and the bull in the form of prāṇa is responsible for making the cow of vāk give birth to a calf known as mind.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad-1.4.10

[2]:

Ibid-1.2.1

[3]:

Ibid-1.2.4

[4]:

Ibid-1.2.6

[5]:

Ibid-1.3.6

[6]:

Ibid-1.3.16

[7]:

Ibid-1.4.7

[8]:

Ibid-1.5.3

[9]:

Bṛahadāraṇyakopaniṣad Śāankarabhāṣya-1.5.3

[10]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad -4,5,6,7,9

[11]:

Bṛahadāraṇyakopaniṣad Śāankarabhāṣya -1.5.9

[12]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad -2.1.17

[13]:

Ibid-1.5.12,19

[14]:

Ibid-5.6.1

[15]:

Ibid -3.1.9

[16]:

Ibid-3.7.20

[17]:

Ibid-3.9.10