Mind in Yoga
Through scientific research and understanding we have come to discover the enormous depth and complexity of the human brain. Thousands of researches revealing ever new ways of understanding our mind have been developed.
Amidst of all these advances, the human mind and its inner functioning mechanisms are still a mystery. Still there is no consensus in precisely knowing the system of information gathering, storage and retrieval of the human mind. The more one tries to probe into the mysteries of the human brain, the more one is baffled by our inability to comprehend it.
Surprisingly, tens of thousands of years ago, a more detailed and marvellously realistic understanding of the functioning of our human mind was developed through the system of yoga. The Yogic system of understanding the human mind and its inner functioning is probably the most comprehensive and practical system of knowing our mind.
Yoga moves away from the experimental understanding of the human mind, to the experiential understanding of it. It was understood very early that the only way to understand and comprehend our complex mind is by observing its functioning mechanism through experiential learning.
Yoga classifies the mind into 4 simple categories:
- a) Manas — The mind
- b) Chitta — The consciousness
- c) Buddhi — The intelligence
- d) Ahankara — The Identity
Identity forms the basis of categorizing and classifying all the information that is received through the senses which are seated in the consciousness — Chitta. We understand everything around us only through our personal identity.
Manas is the great void; the unimaginably vast reservoir of memory. Manas or the mind is the seat of all thoughts. Manas is different from the brain. In fact brain is only a tiny part of the visually recognizable part of the mind; mind itself is much more vast, dynamic and pervasive.
Buddhi is pure intelligence. This intelligence is what governs the law of all happenings. It is Buddhi that keeps the body safe, grows it, and nurtures it. It is Buddhi that gives intelligence to discern the right from the wrong. This precise intelligence is an inherent part of us.
Contrary to the western understanding of intelligence that is defined as a process of accumulation of thoughts, the yogic system defines intelligence as a fundamental reality of existence. We are born through intelligence. Our thoughts can only cloud this pure intelligence, making it more difficult to understand ourselves and the world around.
