40 ASPECTS OF HUMAN MIND

1) Chitta
Subconscious mind is termed 'Chitta' in Vedanta. Much of your subconsciousness consists of submerged experiences, memories thrown into the background but recoverable. The Chitta is like a calm lake and thoughts are like waves upon the surface of this lake and name and form are the normal ways in which these waves rise. No wave can rise without name and form.
The functions of the Chitta are Smriti or Smarana (memory), Dharana (contemplation) , attention and Anusandhana (enquiry or investigation).

The mental processes are not limited to the field of consciousness alone. The field of subconscious mentation is of a much greater extent than that of conscious mentation. The mind is not conscious of the greater portion of its own activities. As man can hold in consciousness but one fact at a time, only a fraction of our knowledge can be in the field of consciousness at any one moment. Only ten per cent of mental activities come into the field of consciousness. Ninety per cent of the mental activities takes place in the subconscious mind.

2) Hrdaya: The faculty which accepts sense stimuli from the world of sense objects.

3,4) Manas,Buddhi: (Mind, Intellect)
The thinking faculty of the mind is called Manas. In Vedanta, living organisms are said to have five sheaths, which are divided into three bodies according to their characteristics.

a) Annamaya (Food Sheath) which consist of the Gross body – the five organs of action, five organs of perception
b) Pranamaya (Vital Energy sheath) – Which consist of the five vital energy which manifests as the five vital air (Prana is mostly misunderstood as air, it is not so. Prana means life energy)
c) Manomaya (Mind Sheath) which consist of the Subtle body – the mind
d) Vijananamaya (Intellectual Sheath) Which consist of the intellect
e) Ananandamaya (Bliss Sheath) which consist of the Causal body

These five sheaths can be classified into three.
Food sheath + Vital Energy Sheath + Mind Sheath + Intellect Sheath = Gross Body
Mind Sheath + Intellect Sheath (alone) = Subtle Body
Bliss Sheath = Causal Body
The Causal body, as the name suggest is the cause for the gross and subtle bodies, it may be defined as the latent tendencies which drives man to think and thus pushes him to act. Mind, here is given two names according to its function for easy understanding (manas and buddhi).

Manas can be called the objective mind or the one facing the stimuli reaching from the objects of the world outside, Buddhi can be called the subjective mind or the one facing within. The mind can called healthy in which the objective mind and the subjective mind works in harmony, or in other words, when the objective mind is in doubt, it can be brought readily under the intelligent discipline of the subjective mind. It is the before mentioned latent tendencies which acts as a layer between the manas and buddhi, which separates them, creating more confusions in the objective mind by the raising storms of desire, passions and lust.

Causal Body (Vasanas) is not necessarily negative, it is the “drive” behind desires. Desires may be noble or evil.


5) Dishana:
Those tendencies or that aspect of the mind which makes an individual a prodigy, more or less - even which makes him excel in his field of activity is called Dishana

6) Dhi – Memorizing and followed by contemplation on those objects

7) Prajna – Pranja is the state of wisdom which is higher than the knowledge obtained by reasoning and inference.

8 ) Shemushi - The ability of to have control on desires, non-interest in objects

9) Mathi- Opinion based on knowledge (It is based on this word, the word “Matha” is born, therefore – Matha means Opinion, not religion – In Sanskrit , there is no such word as religion)

10) Preksha – Witnessing

11) Ubalabdhi – Understanding

12) Prathipath – The discriminative ability to distinguish between dual concepts (eg: a person who checks the authenticity of diamond has a high “prathipath”)

13) Chethana – That which illumines (It is when this aspect of the mind is unhealthy, the individual has diseases like Alzheimer’s)

14) Medha – The ability to recollect

15) Sankalpa – Imagination

16) Avadhanam – Single pointed Determination

17) Charcha – Discussion within

18 ) Sankhya – Systematized thought development

19) Tharka – Self-answering the doubts

20) Vicharana – Arriving at conclusions based on proofs

21) Ooham – Guessing

22) Vichikitsa – Mixture of certainty and uncertainty

23) Samshayam – Doubt

24) Sandeham – Worrying over a loved one

25) Dwapara – Uncertain between dual concepts (Eg:The feeling of platform moving when the train moves)

26) Nirnayam – Arriving at conclusions

27) Siddhantha – Systematization of knowledge (Theorizing)

28 ) Branthi- Misapprehension due to Non-Apprehension (Eg:Madness)

29) Angeekara – Accepting Responsibility

30) Prathishrava – Vigilance and ready to act

31) Jnanam- Desire for liberation from relative existence

32) Mukti – State not conditioned by object, time or space

33) Kaivalyam – Non perception of objects

34) Nirvanam – Liberated from relative existence

35) Shreya – ??

36) Nishreyas – ??

37) Amrta – Immutable state

38 ) Moksha – Liberating the self from the not-self

39) Ananda – Effortless Abidance in the state of bliss

40) Samadhi – Transcendental State

Here, the states up to 30 are known to us and can said as familiar but, a scientific minded man may reject the states from 31 to 40, because he has no proof of those states which to him may or may not exist. We should see that these are subjective experiences of a human personality and to objectify such experiences through words is very difficult. Therefore, we can only give directions in which the seeker should turn his minds full attention in vigilance so that he can come to experience these states in it fullness.

Following is an example of a mantras which indicate the highest state (Samadhi),

"It is not that which is conscious of the internal subjective world, nor that which is conscious of the external world, nor which is conscious of both, nor that which is a mass of consciousness, nor that which is simple consciousness nor is it unconsciousness, It is unseen by any sense organs, the mind, uninferable, unthinkable, indescribable, essentially by of the self alone, negation of all phenomena, the peaceful, the auspicious, and the non-dual, This is what is considered as the Fourth State (Turiya), This is the Atman and this is to be realized."

Here, The Fourth state is said so- with reference to the three (waking,dream and deep sleep)..



Please add your thoughts and suggestions, so that I can make this list better. Also, It would be great if you can also share your experiences referring to your own life.

Namaste


Source: Srimadh Bhagavatham

A scientific minded man would also disagree with number 7 and 3&4




Wisdom beyond knowledge and inference is purely speculatory and metaphysical.

I have heard it exist froms the buddhists and always wondered if there were two versions of me, one who reads books all hs life and one who meditated... which one would be more wise? Well the one who read books could certainly demonstrate his wisdom better! But as for subjective wisdom of the meditator it could never be proven...



Also why do you need 12 and then 25? one is just the opposite of the other.

Imo, prajna is like a refined knowledge..i think it can be referred to as facts, because facts are not subject to change with time, but knowledge is.

Can you explain why the disagreement with 3&4?



wisdom is based on experience..and book knowledge being always 2nd hand knowledge.. doesn't make one wise as one with direct experience from meditation..so, thats my opinion..

i think there should be a balance between experiential knowledge and book knowledge, because..just experience doesn't do any good for others, to communicate the experience, he/she needs to know the terminology etc..which would make communication easy..



That is a good point..I think it is because 12) Prathipath - is more objective, in the sense.. it has more to do with the objective reality..and 25) dwapara can be applied to both objective as well as subjective realm..

for example, we say that the transcendental reality is when dwapara state ends..it may be interpreted as..transcendental state is beyond finite and infinite..where the duality is finitude and the infinitude..

"Pranamaya (Vital Energy sheath) – Which consist of the five vital energy which manifests as the five vital air. Bliss Sheath = Causal Body "

Sounds bogus to me. Imagine if someone walked up to you in the street and started saying "Hey bro, let me mind sheath you with my vital energy sheath so that my subtle body can turn in to a causal body and therefor grow more bliss sheath"

whut...

..i think it's remarkable that we have the Vedic culture, c.2000BC-1000AD, taking much time to attempt to define such an array of possible mental states and psychology, when in European culture we don't see the beginnings of psychology till a few hundred years ago..so definitely a greater duration of experience in such investigation is with such a culture as Vedanta..

there was never really a separation of 'logic' with 'spiritual' in this culture, as occurred in Europe, probably largely due to the regimes of the church, and understandable reaction against it..

so here (in the 'West') study of Consciousness is a fairly new field, whereas with Vedanta it's millennia old..in modern science we conjecture what is the cause or material of Consciousness, but, while lacking agreed definition, agree consciousness exists..
true consciousness research surely involves a study of the phenomena rather than the medium, which is pretty new stuff in the West..the OP is a fine example of such work in ancient times..
while there was no single view in Hinduism, there are many consensuses, as the study or yoga of consciousness, done seriously, involves methodological techniques of observation, and introspective analysis, which, like the experimental method, can be repeated or tried by others..out of this evolves, like science, the need for new terms or words..which are often hard to translate fully from Sanskrit, as our very languages have lacked the cultural concepts for so long..

so we have for instance Turyia (the 'fourth state')...of which there is much consensus after a few thousand years of cross checking, and studying suggested methodology..
but for which there is no European/English equivalent concept (at least as written by anyone in most of the past two millennia) ..in fact a long string of words is needed to try to convey it...but, when partly grasped as the Upanishads try to explain it, is a valid concept, a valid proposition..in definitions of states of consciousness, whether 'believed in' (through introspective experience),understood or not.

each concept in a document like the OP needs to be carefully investigated, by various means, before adequate critique can be applied..some words as analogy are hard to grasp in English..but a work like that is really a collective output, not one person's theory..

that Indians a couple of thousand years ago or more bothered to write down such in depth philosophy and study of consciousness, i am grateful for..
and for the post, 2840..

namaste

I have mentioned that causal body is the cause for all the bodies (that manifest in the waking and dream) and not the other way round...and about the sheaths,here is something which will give it a better picture..

when consciousness functions through the causal body, we are in deep sleep state. when through subtle body alone - dream state , and when through the physical body- waking state.

causal body therefore acts as a seed - for the dream and waking...
when we look at waking state, we have a physical body, mind , intellect ..and there must be a cause for them too,i.e. causal body..so classifying these as food sheath, mind sheath, intellect sheath, and causal sheath...





that is very true, nen888... I had a hard time translating these terms and I doubt if they are near their true meaning...I had once posted it in my blog, but then took it back since I was not confident enough.

Here in the Nexus, with people like you around and a whole lot of experience in exploring these states..I am sure I can refine this and give more insight into this subject, so that it would be helpful for people looking for such information...

Namaste