इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते | एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् || 40|| |
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Commentary
Manas is a broad Sanskrit term that includes thoughts and more importantly feelings. Buddhi is intellect – the power of inference, deduction and logic with cause and effect. When we use words like ‘therefore’, ‘hence’, ‘that is the reason’, buddhi is at work. Gnyana is the power of wisdom that discriminates between right and wrong, safe and unsafe, good and bad, true and false, real and unreal.
Where does desire grow? Lord Krishna says it grows in indriyas or senses, manas which is a mix of thoughts and feelings developed during sense interactions with matter and in buddhi or intellect, which is the logical power of the mind oscillating between cause and effect. All these three are again continuously affected by the three gunas inherent in Nature – sattva, rajas and tamas.
Let us review with an example. The sight of food and the action of smelling food constitutes the interaction of two indriyas (sight and smell) with matter. At this very moment, the mind interprets the sense signal as food and a feeling (manas) of like occurs. Immediately buddhi or intellect self-talks, “oh I love this smell”. Personal desire is born. It now resides in the indriyas, manas and buddhi. Till here it is natural but frequent agitation to fulfill the same desire develops a habit that forms a groove in the brain and eventually becomes hard to break. The desire seeps into the manas deeper and deeper developing a strong hold. This desire now forces the omnipresent consciousness and wisdom of the soul within to falsely believe that it is a body.