---
type: Concept
title: "Manas"
description: "The feeling-doubting mind interface that qualifies every perception with like or dislike — not the mind."
tags:
  - vedic-psychology
  - antahkarana
  - Samkhya
  - non-translatable
darshana:
  - Sāṃkhya
  - Advaita Vedānta
not:
  - term: "Mind"
    why: "English mind lumps perception, reason, memory, and emotion together; Vedic psychology distributes these across four instruments, of which Manas is only the feeling-doubting interface."
    instead: "Keep Manas untranslated; gloss as the feeling-doubting sensory interface."
  - term: "Emotional mind"
    why: "Too narrow and too modern; Manas is the sensory coordinator that tags input with like or dislike before analysis, not the seat of emotion as such."
  - term: "Heart (metaphorical)"
    why: "Romantic-Western shorthand; Manas is a technical faculty (the eleventh indriya), not the metaphorical heart."
related:
  - /concepts/buddhi.md
  - /concepts/ahankara.md
  - /concepts/chitta.md
  - /concepts/atman.md
  - /concepts/prakriti.md
timestamp: "2026-06-18"
okf_version: "0.2"
---

# Manas

**Not:** Mind, Emotional mind, Heart (metaphorical)

## What It Actually Means

Manas is one of the four components of *Antaḥkaraṇa* (the inner instrument) AND **the eleventh Indriya** — the coordinator of all sensory input and output. It is not the full cognitive apparatus; it is specifically the interface between the internal and external worlds where *Jñānendriyas* (sense faculties), external objects, and [Ātman](/concepts/atman.md) meet.

Manas operates in binary mode: it qualifies every cognized object with either *rāga* (liking/attraction) or *dveṣa* (disliking/aversion) — without rational analysis. That immediate gut reaction before thought kicks in? That is Manas.

Critically, Manas is *insentient* (*jaḍa*) by nature. It does not generate consciousness — it only reflects the consciousness of [Ātman](/concepts/atman.md), like the moon reflects sunlight. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.3): Manas is the reins of the chariot — it guides the senses (horses) under the direction of [Buddhi](/concepts/buddhi.md) (charioteer).

## Why "Mind" Fails

"Mind" in English encompasses everything from perception to reasoning to memory to emotion. In Vedic psychology, these functions are distributed across four distinct instruments: Manas (feeling/doubting), [Buddhi](/concepts/buddhi.md) (deciding), [Ahankāra](/concepts/ahankara.md) (self-identifying), and [Chitta](/concepts/chitta.md) (remembering). Calling Manas "the mind" collapses a precision instrument into a blunt category.

## Audience Metaphor

Manas is like the notification system on your phone — it flags everything as either "want" or "don't want" before you even open the app. It's fast, reactive, and binary. [Buddhi](/concepts/buddhi.md) is the part that actually reads the notification and decides what to do.

## Citations

1. [Kaṭha Upaniṣad](/references/katha-upanishad.md) 1.3.3–4 (chariot analogy)
2. [Sāṃkhya Kārikā](/references/samkhya-karika.md)
3. Rajiv Malhotra, *Sanskrit Non-Translatables* (2020)
4. Cross-bundle note: the doctrinal source-school treatment of the Antaḥkaraṇa apparatus is sankhya-darshana v0.13 — this file remains the canonical concept entry; v0.13 adds only school-source framing, no restatement
