mind, the mischief-maker (was Re: LIFE)

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> I dont understand why so much opposition to the Mind.
> Is it not the same mind that made you K.Sadananda a Ph.D?
> Is it not the same mind of sada turned its attention to divine matters
> promptly on time?

We must all be very careful of what we mean by Mind, with a capital M
here. Intellectual activity in the Indian traditions is ascribed to three
different things, manas, citta and buddhi. It is only manas which is
normally translated as mind. The original Skt. quotations which talk of
the mind becoming no-mind, refer to manas and not to citta and buddhi.
Being used to Western categories, it is easy to club all these three into
one Mind, reminiscent of the Mind vs. Matter debate in Western philosophy.

The thing that gets you the PhD would typically be ascribed to buddhi, not
to manas, in any Indian tradition.

Vidyasankar