Antaḥkaraṇa
Antaḥkaraṇa · antaḥ-karaṇa, “the inner instrument”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of antaḥ (within) and karaṇa (instrument, organ): “the inner instrument”.
Meaning: the inner instrument of the jīva, as distinct from the outer senses: the mind and heart in their four functions, manas, buddhi, ahaṅkāra and citta. It is part of the liṅga-śarīra (subtle body). When it is impure it binds the jīva in saṃsāra; when it is made pure by bhakti, Paramātmā shines in it.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa returns to the antaḥkaraṇa in almost every teaching on the ātmā.
Its four forms. Bhagavān Kapila teaches his mother Devahūti that the antaḥkaraṇa appears in four kinds, by the changes that arise in it: manas, which resolves and doubts (saṅkalpa and vikalpa); buddhi, which is certainty (niścaya); ahaṅkāra, the modification “I”; and citta, which is memory. So the tattvas of Saguṇa-Brahman are counted: five mahābhūtas, five tanmātras, four of the antaḥkaraṇa and ten senses (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 26). Vidura, asking Uddhava after the Yādavas, speaks of Aniruddha as the fourth aṃśa of Śrī Mahāvishṇu and the presiding devatā of manas, the source of speech, which is the fourth part of the antaḥkaraṇa, the gathering of citta, ahaṅkāra, buddhi and manas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 1).
Its place among the tattvas. Brahmā tells Nārada that ahaṅkāra has three divisions, sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa: the first became the antaḥkaraṇa, the second the karmendriyas and the third the five mahābhūtas; and that the capacity of the antaḥkaraṇa has vāyu as its root (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 5). Śuka praises Śrī Hari, who dwells in the bodies of beings as antaryāmī with sixteen kalās: the five organs of knowing, the five organs of action, the antaḥkaraṇa and the five prāṇas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 4). Prahlāda counts the antaḥkaraṇa among the sixteen vikāras, with the ten senses and the five gross elements (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 7), and the yakshas, praising Bhagavān Narasiṃha as the one who gives existence and light to the twenty-four tattvas, name the collective antaḥkaraṇa as the nineteenth (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 8). In Nārada’s teaching to Prācīnabarhis, the liṅga-śarīra spreads out as sixteen kalās, the ten senses, the five subtle elements and the antaḥkaraṇa, and joined with the consciousness of the ātmā it is called the jīva (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 29). Antariksha, a son of Ṛshabhadeva, tells Nimi that the Paramātmā divided himself into one “I” that owns the antaḥkaraṇa and into the powers of the ten senses; his brother Pippalāyana teaches that it is from Parabrahman that the body, senses, prāṇas and antaḥkaraṇa come alive; in deep sleep the antaḥkaraṇa dissolves, yet the ātmā remains its witness (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 3).
The cause of bondage. Bhagavān Kapila tells Kardama that the impure antaḥkaraṇa binds the jīva as the liṅga-śarīra, and that he has descended to teach the discriminating knowledge of the tattvas that frees one from it (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 24). Jaḍabharata tells Rahūgaṇa that the antaḥkaraṇa is a product of the māyā-śakti of three guṇas; the jīva, identifying with it, falls into the wheel of saṃsāra, and as the fruit of karma ripened by Time it shows him sukha (of sattva), duḥkha (of rajas) or moha (of tamas) (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 11). Sanatkumāra tells Pṛthu that only while the antaḥkaraṇa is active does a person see the difference of the one who sees, the seen and the witness; in deep sleep, when it is dissolved, none of these is seen (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 22). The jīva in the womb prays that prakṛti alone has become the body, senses and antaḥkaraṇa, which he mistakes for himself (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 31).
The pure antaḥkaraṇa. Bhagavān Śiva tells Satī that when the antaḥkaraṇa is free of rajas and tamas and is pure sattva, the covering of avidyā is removed and Parameśvara shines in it as the ātmā; such an antaḥkaraṇa is called “Vasudeva“, and Parameśvara shining in it is “Vāsudeva”, whom Śiva serves inwardly with namaskāra (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 3). Kapila teaches that the muni sees Parameśvara with his pure antaḥkaraṇa, as the eye sees the sun, and that the jīva is the reflection of the undivided Sat in the antaḥkaraṇa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 27); that the consciousness of the ātmā is distinct from the body, senses and antaḥkaraṇa, as fire is distinct from flame and smoke (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 28); and that those whose antaḥkaraṇa is purified by doing their svadharma reach Śrī Hari by the path of the sun (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 32). He also warns that the babbling of little children draws the householder’s senses and antaḥkaraṇa into household work (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 30).
How it is made pure. Śuka tells Parīkshit that though his own antaḥkaraṇa was established in the Paramātmā beyond the guṇas, he was drawn by the līlās of Śrī Hari to study the Bhāgavata (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 1); that by meditating on the form of Śrī Hari limb by limb, from the feet to the smile, the antaḥkaraṇa becomes pure; and that those who drink the amṛta of his accounts with their ears cleanse antaḥkaraṇas stained by desire (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 2). Sanatkumāra says that love for describing the feet of Madhusūdana purifies the antaḥkaraṇa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 22); Pṛthu’s antaḥkaraṇa was purified by tapas, and by the service of Bhagavān Vishṇu it became one of pure sattva (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 23). Nārada’s gāthā of Purañjana gives moksha through the purity of the antaḥkaraṇa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 29). Jaḍabharata says that one who attends the discourses of Śrī Hari’s glory every day gains an antaḥkaraṇa pure and fixed on Vāsudeva (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 12). Ajāmila lived long without purity of the antaḥkaraṇa (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 1). The Vishṇudūtas told the Yamadūtas that if the mind returns to the bad path after prāyaścitta, the inner instrument was not purified; tapas, dāna and japa may destroy pāpas, but the antaḥkaraṇa that gave birth to the intention of adharma is purified only by serving the feet of Īśvara and praising the qualities of Śrī Hari. Ajāmila resolved to make his antaḥkaraṇa pure by praising Bhagavān Vishṇu (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 2).
Related terms: Manas · Buddhi · Ahaṅkāra · Citta · Liṅga-śarīra · Indriya · Ātmā
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapters 1–2, 4–5; Skandha 3, Chapters 1, 24, 26–28, 30–32; Skandha 4, Chapters 3, 22–23, 29; Skandha 5, Chapters 11–12; Skandha 6, Chapters 1–2; Skandha 7, Chapters 7–8; Skandha 11, Chapter 3