center of being

[Michael Witzel]

>Any comments about a general observation that Indians identify their center
>of being as exisiting within their chest and their center of feelings as
>being in the lower abdomen; whereas Westerners identify their center as
>being in the head and their center of feelings in the chest?


Since the Vedas:
manas 'mind' is occasionally connected with 'heart'; and *more often* than
one might think.

while the connection of Manas and Vaac is much more prominent,  there are
quite a few quotes which clearly establish the connection between Manas and
the heart, see especially below, ZB and JUB... But there is some connection
between the two already in the early Yajurveda texts (c. 1000 BCE), Maitr.
Samhita (MS) etc.:

Ordered by text level:

Early Yajurveda Samhitas and Brahmanas:

hRdasyaavadyati, manasa eva tenaavadyati  MS 3.10.3

mano haardim yaccha  MS 1.2.18

mano hRdaye (pratitiSThitam)  TS 3.10.8.6;  ZaankhAr. 11.6

(vaag ca vai manaz ca devaanaaM mithunam  AB 5.13)



later Brahmanas/early Upanisads:

!!       kasmin nu manaH pratiSThitaM bhavatiiti hRdaya iti   ZB 14.6.9.25

!!  sa eSa hRdaH kaamaanaaM puurNo, yan manaH   JUB 1.18.3.3

aatmaa vai mano hRdayam  ZB 3.8.3.6

kaamaH saMkalpo vicikitsaa zraddhaa 'zraddhaa dhRtir adhRtir hriir
dhaarbhiir ity etat sarvaM mana evA  ZB 14.4.3.9

na saMdRzo tiSThati ruupam asya,  na cakSuSaa pazyati kaiz cainainam /
hRdaa maniiSaa manasaabhigupto, ya etad viduramRtAste bhavanti
  KathSamkalanam 104: 9-10

hRt-pratiSThaM yad ajaraM yaviSThaM, tan me manaH zivaM saMkalpam astu
KathSamk. 134: 11

(yat tapa iti manasvat JB 3.360)

cf. also:

yad dhy eva manasaa kaamayeta, tad vaacaa vadati JB 3.349



Late Vedic :

hRdasya reto mano, manaso vaak Ait.Ar. 2.1.3

hRdayaan mano manasaz candramaaH  AitAr. 2.4.1, Ait Up. 2.14

prajaanaaM reto hRdayaM, hRdayasya reto manaH  AitAr. 2.1.3

And the most complex one, closer to what you might see in Pali:

yad etad hRdayaM manaz caitat  saMjJaanam AjJaanaM vijJaanaM prajJaanaM
medhaa dRSTir dhRtir muurtir maniiSaa juutiH smRtiH saMkalpaH kratur asuH
kaamo vaza iti sarvaaNy evaitaani prajJaanasya naamadheyaani bhavanti
Ait Ar. 2.6.1


I hope this helps..... we really need a detailed study....
Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138

ph. 617-496 2990 (also messages)
home page:     www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies:         www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: attachment.bin
Type: text/enriched
Size: 2586 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20000301/089ef44e/attachment.bin>