Monday, January 21, 2013

The four internal subtle senses and their relationship

From Text SB 3.26.14

mano buddhir ahaṅkāraś  cittam ity antar-ātmakam
caturdhā lakṣyate bhedo  vṛttyā lakṣaṇa-rūpayā
Word for word: 
manaḥ — the mind; buddhiḥ — intelligence; ahaṅkāraḥ — ego; cittam — consciousness; iti — thus; antaḥ-ātmakam — the internal, subtle senses; catuḥ-dhā — having four aspects; lakṣyate — is observed; bhedaḥ — the distinction; vṛttyā — by their functions; lakṣaṇa-rūpayā — representing different characteristics.
Translation
The internal, subtle senses are experienced as having four aspects, in the shape of mind, intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. Distinctions between them can be made only by different functions, since they represent different characteristics.
The four internal subtle senses as explained in Text 14 are:
  1. citta - a sense of awareness or consciousness
  2. ahankara- a false sense of self ,false ego
  3. manah- the accepting and rejecting function known as the mind
  4. buddhih- the discriminating function known as the intelligence

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