The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c8.s6.t3.5

c8.s6.t3.5

As the central organ of the organs of perception and action Manas is on the one hand what we term understanding, on the other hand conscious volition. The ideas on these objects are not however further developed. Çaṅkara contents himself instead (p. 667, 7, cf. p. 21, 4) with a reference to the unsystematic information in Bṛh. 1, 5, 3: “My mind was elsewhere (anyatra-manas), I did not see, my mind was elsewhere, I did not hear, so we say; for only with the mind does one see, only with the mind does one hear;¹¹⁵ kâma, saṃkalpa, vicikitsâ, çraddhâ, açraddhâ, dhṛiti, adhṛiti, hrî, dhî, bhî,—all these are Manas; therefore when we are touched from behind, we recognise the fact by the Manas.”—The faculties mentioned are explained by Çaṅkara on Bṛh. loc. cit. as follows: “kâma, desire, the longing for sexual enjoyment, etc.; saṃkalpa, decision, the determination of the character of a presented object by differences such as white, black, etc.; vicikitsâ, doubt; çraddhâ, belief, the perception of the existence of invisible objects, e.g. the gods, by their effects; açraddhâ, disbelief, the contrary; dhṛiti, steadiness, keeping oneself up- “right when the body is tired; *adhṛiti*, the opposite; *hrī*, “shame; *dhī*, cognition; *bhī*, fear.”