What is Antahkarana

Bhakta: Off and on everything is a puppet show, Swami. The mind forgets and is caught by the fascination of the objects. What is this my-stery, Swami?

Swami: Well, the mind is associated with all kinds of activities or vrittis. It always follows the trail of the vasanas or impulses and instincts. This is its very nature.

Bhakta: Does that mean we cannot set it right. Then where is the hope? Ultimately, Swami, do we have to be immersed in vasanas and loose ourselves?

Swami: There is hope, my boy! No need to get immersed and lost. Though it is its [mind’s] nature, it can be changed. Charcoal by nature blackens all that it gets mixed with…. When fire enters it, the charcoal becomes red. So, too, though the mind is always wandering in the illusion of darkness, through the Lord’s grace the fire of jnana [spiritual wisdom] enters it [mind], changes it to the satwik [sublime] nature of the Divine.

Bhakta: Swami, what is antahkarana?

Swami: Karana means indriya or senses. Antahkarana means internal indriya.

Bhakta: So, are they the internal indriyas and external indriyas?

Swami: Yes, of course. The external indriyas are called karmendriyas; the internal indriyas are named jnanendriyas.

Bhakta: Swami, please tell me which are the karmendriyas and the jnanendriyas.

Swami: Well, all bodily acts are by karmen-driyas; they are five in number. Those that impart jnana from inside are named jnanendriyas. These are: hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. Both these together are called dasendriyas (the ten organs.)

Bhakta: So, how do they function? What is the connection between their function and the manas or mind?

Swami: Well, really, whatever work they do, they can’t achieve anything without the meditation of the manas. The karmendriyas perform acts in the world and receive knowledge, and the jnanendriyas discriminate the good and the bad and offer them to the atma through the manas. If there is no mind at all, how can these be transmitted? When we have to reach the other shore of a flooded river, we rely on the medium of a boat or raft. When the karmendriyas and the jnanendriyas are connected with pra-kriti [nature], and desire to attain the atma they have to accept the help of the boat, manas. Otherwise, they cannot attain their goal.

Bhakta: If so, where do buddhi, chittam, and ahamkaram reside?

Swami: They too are in this only. The jnanendriyas and karmendriyas are together called dasendriyas. Of these, four are distinguished and referred to as the internal four indriyas. These four are manas, buddhi, chittam, and ahamkaram.

Bhakta: Very nice…. Swami, what is the function of these four?

Swami: Manas grasps the object; buddhi examines arguments for and against; chittam understands the object by these means; ahamkaram changes the decision for or against and by attachment slackens the hold of jnana. These are the things they do.

Bhakta: Excuse me, Swami, where do these exist in the body?

Swami: Manas is in the cupola [head], buddhi in the tongue, chittam in the navel, and ahamkaram in the heart.

Bhakta: Excellent. So, buddhi and ahamkaram are in the most important places! These are the chief causes of all the world’s miseries. Thus, if we examine it with reference to Your words, it looks as if there will be no misery when these two places are purified!

Swami: You have indeed listened to me attentively. Yes, that is right. First, words should be used in a clean and pure manner, that is the proof of buddhi treading the right path. When ahamkaram is suppressed and conquered, that is proof of the heart being pure. Therefore, be very careful with regard to these two. Then, even your manas and chittam will come to have good vrittis. Then only will you be free from pain and misery.

Bhakta: So, among all these, who is the ‘I’? Who experiences all this?

Swami: We have arrived at the right point. ‘You’ are none among all these! All these exist only so long as the feeling, ‘This body is mine’ exists. They are all associated with some activities or vrittis. The atma that observes all these vrittis, that is ‘you.’ The joy and sorrow, the loss and misery, the good and bad of these activities are all related to the body only and so, they are not yours; they will not be yours. You are the atma. Until this truth is realized, you sleep the sleep of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ In that sleep, dreams appear of loss, misery, sorrow, and joy. The dreams persist only until you awake and after you wake up, the fear you had while dreaming the sorrow you experienced, all disappear and are no longer true. Similarly, when delusion is thrown off and you ‘awaken’ in jnana, you will understand that all this is not ‘you’ that you are the atma.

Bhakta: Then, Swami, for whose sake do these, the manas, buddhi, chittam, and ahamkaram, do all this work?

Swami: For no one’s sake! They are engaged in their own work! The atma observes everything and its shadow the jiva, which is deluded by the association of the body-consciousness, plays this drama, through all these acts.

Source: Sandeha Nivarini