The Buddhi

The word discrimination can be a trigger (I know it is for me), because it brings up images of oppression, injustice, and exclusivity. As a friend of my teacher once said, “Words are pregnant with the history of their usage,” meaning how they are used mostly defines them. The word discrimination really just means to be able to distinguish one thing from another – to discern the differences between certain things.

In yogic texts, the ability to discern is of the upmost importance and is the ability that has to be cultivated to reach the goal of yoga. In order to achieve the true state of yoga, we must be able to see that we are not the body that we ride around in, nor the machine-like mind that spits out millions of thoughts for us, but instead are a soul (eternal, wise, blissful). This skill of discrimination or discernment lives in the part of the Mind (Citta in Sanskrit) called the Buddhi.

The Buddhi, or The Mind of Discernment

In today’s world, machines and technology are increasingly doing things that people do (don’t worry, I am very much a real person – just ask my husband!) But from a yogic standpoint, no matter how well a bot does something, it will always be a different entity than what we all actually are because it is made out of a completely different thing than we are. Anything that shows what is called the “symptoms of life” – birth, growth, maintenance, reproduction, dwindling, and death, be it human, aquatic, or animal, contains within it, a soul. And the soul is what is called Purusha (spirit) it is this quality that imbues the soul with it’s natures of sat (eternality), chit (wisdom), and ananda (blissfulness).

To quote the Bhagavad Gita:

• 2.23: The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
• 2.24: This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.

Machinery, bodies, even thoughts however, are NOT made out of Purusha, but are comprised of Prakriti (matter). And because this is the case, anything that is parkritic (made of Prakriti) is temporary. Bhagavad Gita says this about the parkritic, therefore temporary, nature of the body in verse 2.13: As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.

Prakriti is ever-changing because it is comprised of The Gunas – the three modes of nature that are constantly in flux, shifting again and again from passion (Ragas) to lethargy (Tamas), to calmness (Sattva). Everything in this world is a product of this nature of Prakriti except for one thing, Purusha – the soul. And that is what the Buddhi mind can discern… if we use it.

How do we access the Buddhi?

Because of the strong pull of the part of the mind called the Ahankara (the false ego), this is the sector of our mind where we identify with the current body we are in with it’s likes, dislikes, personality traits, and etc. We don’t often contemplate that we are anyone other than what we see in the mirror or what we think in our minds. We have jobs and families and world events to contend with, so it makes sense that taking the time to view ourselves as souls, may fall to the bottom of our to-do list. On top of that, the Yoga Sutras gives a fairly pessimistic view of what happens when we do begin to use the Buddhi mind more often:

• Sutra 2.15: For one who has discrimination, everything is suffering on account of the suffering produced by the consequences of action, by pain, and by the samskaras, as well as on account of the suffering ensuing from the turmoil of the vrittis due to the gunas.

OUCH!!! Let’s unpack that, shall we? What Patanjali (the sage that wrote down the Sutras) is pointing out is that when we stay in world of Prakriti, we are setting ourselves up for suffering! Why? Because we are aligning ourselves with the temporary nature of this world, as opposed to the eternal nature of our soul. It is here we are effected by:

• Karma – the body and mind are subject to the laws of karma, bringing a reaction to every single thing we have ever done, but the soul is eternally free of that.
• Temporality – as humans, we HATE change. Think of moving – how many of us would rather do anything than move?! It’s not just the boxing up of things, but the actual changing of things that we dislike. The thing is, change in the material world is the only thing that is the constant – whereas in the spiritual world (where our soul belongs) eternality is the norm.
• Samskaras – the impressions of the mind, that shape our mind, which means they shape our thoughts, which means that it predicts what we will say and do, which leads to our habits, and habits shape character and character shapes destiny. When we allow the pull of Ragas and Tamas (who I will call the “lesser Gunas” for this point) to drag us into thoughts that are overly passionate (Ragas): I gotta get this! I have to do that! I need more! Why can’t I do more? or overly lethargic (Tamas): What does it matter? Might as well just stay in bed, we make those deep groves in our minds that will take us down roads that are not very pleasant. Even the mode of goodness (Sattva) can possibly trap us. For example, “Look at me, I meditate for soooo long every day! I am totally not like other people, I remain calm all the time. I read so, so, many yogic texts!” is how we can become puffed up about our own achievements, even if they are uplifting and spiritual.
• The Vrittis – the turnings of the mind. These are the things that in the Yoga Sutras we are aiming to stop so we can see ourselves. Yoga Sutra 1.2: Yoga citta vritti nirodha – yoga is the stopping of the turnings of the mind. The more we attach to the working of the material/temporary mind, with it’s material/temporary thoughts, we keep ourselves locked with a mind that is like a hamster in a wheel – whirling from thing to thing, not seeing that who we are is not what we think we are at all.

How to access the Buddhi Mind

The whole point of yoga is to get us to this higher viewpoint, this place of discernment, called Viveka (wisdom), so that we can, even for just a moment, see that we are a soul inside of a body. That we are spiritual beings having a temporary, material experience instead of material beings who every once in a while have a spiritual experience. This takes practice.

Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutras, says that practice is to be done over a long period of time, continuously, and with respect/enthusiasm. This means we have to again and again strive to regulate our thoughts – to try and keep them from whirling over and over again. This is what the yogic practices are all about: the meditation, the asana, the pranayama, the reading. When we can quiet the false ego that keeps us bound in this temporary identity, we can climb into the part of the mind that will help us see who we actually are – a blissful, eternal, wise soul. That is the “Buddhi Call” we do want to have!