THE NATURE OF THE MIND
The ancient rishis also microscopically examined the exact content of what we generally call the mind. As a result, they found that it has four modifications –chitta, buddhi, manas and ahankara. Chitta is the mind’s intelligence aspect, buddhi its need to understand, manas its thought and ahankara its ego. These four modifications constitute what we call as mind. Though they differ subtly in content and in expression, they act instantly and so swiftly together that to decipher the nuances in their differences is very difficult. But when pointed attention is paid to them, the variations can be clearly grasped.
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A person is walking on a lonely footpath and deeply contemplating an important project. Suddenly, his attention^1^ is drawn to a glittering object on the path. It makes him want to understand^2^ what the glittering object is. Then, a thought^3^ rises to find out whether it is a piece of gold. So he bends down and picks up the object. To his utter disappointment^4^ he finds out that it is only piece of waste paper. (^1^Chitta = attention, ^2^buddhi =need to understand, ^3^manas = thought and ^4^ahankara =action.)
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The scriptures enjoin a seeker to submit and surrender the mind, manas, at the holy feet of the Lord. An ancient Tamil saying declares, “Chittam pokku Sivam pokku” meaning, if one is influenced only by chitta or attention, one’s movements are safe, as they are directed without distortion towards Lord Siva, the Truth.
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In the first two subtle variations of the mind –attention and the need to understand –there is no danger of distortion. Distortion occurs in the next two variations, thought and action. The thought aspect of the mind comes into being only in the third stage of the variation. Of course, it then extends itself to the action aspect, resulting in good or bad consequences that affect the person.
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A modern seer challenges serious seekers by posing the question, “Can you stop your mental movement at the state of attention and need to understand without allowing thought to arise at all?”
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Take a look at these two, precious quotations: “Surrender manas, the thought aspect, to the Lord.” “Move, influenced only by chitta, the attention aspect”. If we consider these quotations deeply, we will then clearly understand that manas and ahankara cause outward movements, while chitta and budhi are inward movements of the mind. The outward movement plunges one into the unreal, into untruth! The inward movement reveals the real, the Truth.
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