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Tattva 16 — The Mind (Manas)

The coordinating mind: it gathers the senses' input and turns it into coherent perception.

Manas is the processing mind — the faculty that takes the raw input of the senses, organizes it into recognizable perceptions, and shuttles attention from one thing to the next. It is the busy coordinator between the senses and the higher faculties of ego and intellect. Together with intellect (buddhi) and the I-maker (ahaṃkāra), manas completes the threefold 'inner instrument' of cognition.

How it traveled

  1. Chāndogya Upaniṣad
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -700
    explains

Key passages(14)

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Tarka-saṃgraha · Annaṃbhaṭṭa

High

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

High

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

High

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā · Svātmārāma

High

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Paramārthasāra · Abhinavagupta

High

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

High

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Praśna Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Moderate

Vijñāna-bhairava · Anonymous (Bhairava Āgama / Tantra)

Moderate