The concept of Mind

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The main emphasis in the Vedas is on the recitation of mantras, prayers and performing the rituals to propitiate the many gods. There is no clear notion of mind and it is almost used as synonym to consciousness. The concept of mind is enunciated through many terms such as awareness (sanjna), comprehension (ajnanam), understanding (vijnanam), insight (drsti), resolution (dhrtih), reflection (manas), impulse (jut), will (sankalpa).1 The transition from the Brahmana literature to the Upanishads is characterized by the transmission of values from rites and rituals to knowledge and meditation, from faith to reason and from objectivity to subjectivity.2 Thereafter, in the later Indian philosophical thought the notion of mind is brought into the nucleus of philosophical dialogue.