Yoga and Memory – Facets of the Mind

Yoga and Memory are closely interconnected.



In fact there are a number of facets of the mind that modern science has not been able to explore, let alone fully understand. According to Yoga the human mind consists of 4 facets. They are called Manas, Buddhi, Chitta and Ahankara.



Manas is often referred to as the mind. This is the grossest state of mind when randomness gets chanelized, human energies begin to be useful.

Buddhi or intellect is responsible for sorting out date by way of thoughts, analyzing them and putting them into different folders.



Just like a postman sorts out letters and puts them in their destination cells, our intellect is supposed to sort out thoughts, and connect all those that are related to a particular subject. All thoughts unconnected are got rid of. Only thoughts connected to a subject are retained and kept to explain a subject. This is often referred to as concentration. Everybody knows the importance and use of concentration to succeed in all any endeavor.

The third facet of the mind is memory. In Sanskrit it is called Smriti. After information has been sorted out but by the Buddhi, whatever has to be stored is transmitted to the memory bank. Not all information has to be or can be stored. Just those important memories that the intellect chooses will find entry into the memory bank. Here they will be kept ready to be unearthed anytime you require.

Finally, at the background of all the states lies the sense of "I.” It is often called the Ego. Whatever man does, there is always an "I thought” – meaning to say, etc. This happens to be the subtlest aspect of the human mind. All put together these 4 facets of the human mind fall under a broad heading called the Antahkarana.