In his Six Systems of Hindu Philosophy (p. 383), F.M. Muller writes:
Muller might have been hesitant to translate manas by "brain," but, to the reader engaged in interpreting the symbols and personalities of the Puranas through the (profoundly) microcosmic literature of Sankaradeva, it soon becomes pretty apparent that manas represents the brain, the "mind-organ," and that Brahma is the personification of it in the Puranic texts.
Understanding a Microcosmic Painting: 1. Brahma is the brain. 2. The lotus is the trachea (or bronchial tree). 3. Ananta is the respiratory diaphragm. Visnu is purusa, the spiritual personality (in the microcosm). Brahma atop the lotus seems to indicate neural control of breathing.
Manas, generally translated by mind, but really a kind of central organ of perception, acting as a door-keeper, meant to prevent the crowding in of perceptions, to arrange them into percepts...One might feel inclined to translate Manas by brain...
Muller might have been hesitant to translate manas by "brain," but, to the reader engaged in interpreting the symbols and personalities of the Puranas through the (profoundly) microcosmic literature of Sankaradeva, it soon becomes pretty apparent that manas represents the brain, the "mind-organ," and that Brahma is the personification of it in the Puranic texts.
Understanding a Microcosmic Painting: 1. Brahma is the brain. 2. The lotus is the trachea (or bronchial tree). 3. Ananta is the respiratory diaphragm. Visnu is purusa, the spiritual personality (in the microcosm). Brahma atop the lotus seems to indicate neural control of breathing.
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