Vivekachudamani – 93, 94

nigadyate'ntahkaranam manodhīh

ahankritiscittamiti svavrittibhih |

manastu sankalpavikalpanādibhih

buddhih padārthādhyavasāyadharmatah ||

atrābhimānādahamityahankritih |

svārthānusandhānagunena cittam ||

The “inner organs” are called, according to their respective functions as mind, intellect, ego and chitta.
Mind is so called by reason of its function of doubting and hestitating; intellect by reason of its function
of determining the truth of objects.

The ego is so called by reason of its identification with the body as one‘s own self and chitta from its
function of constantly illumining the things of its interest.

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These verses represent the Guru peeling away the ‘non-Self’ layer by layer, like an onion. Starting with
the gross body, he is gradually moving inwards, to the subtler aspects of the body and its functioning.

The action of the jnanendriyas and karmendriyas is at the ‘surface’ level – they are the interface through
which the body interacts with the outside world. What makes these groups of indriyas work, is the
“antahkaranam” (inner prime-mover), which is composed of four parts – dhī / buddhi (the intellect),
manah (the mind), ahankriti (the ego) and the chittha (memory or mental impressions).

These can be taken as two groups of two entities each. The inner-most and most subtle entities are the
ego and the intellect. These two form a pair. Pure Consciousness which is the ego-less state, shines on
the intellect (to animate it to carry out Its work), and what is reflected by this is the ego. Ie, the Self,
operating through the intellect, is the ego. This is where the sense of ‘I’ is generated. In getting reflected
by the intellect, the pure Self appears to take on its shortcomings such as ignorance; an acharya gave
the example of white light shining through a coloured screen, taking on its colour. Because of this, the
ego that is created, tries to act as if it were the Self and, as it were, ‘hijacks’ its function!.

The second pair is the mind and memory. The mind is the conduit that connects the intellect with the
sense organs (this is why in the Kathopanishad, the mind is compared to the reins that connect the
charioteer with the horses). Memory is the set of impressions that are formed in the mind due to its
action, and which are neatly stored and retrieved / illuminated whenever required by the mind. An
uncontrolled mind that is driven by the senses rather than the intellect, will keep creating and changing
impressions in a chaotic manner, creating fluctuations in the memory. This is called chittha vritti, and the
goal of yoga and meditation is to eliminate the chittha vritti (Sage Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutra –
‘yogah chitta-vritti-nirodhah’ – overcoming the fluctuations of the chittha is yoga).

Vivekachudamani – 96

vāgādi pañca shravanādi pañca

prānādi pañcābhramukhāni pañca |

buddhyādyavidyāpi ca kāmakarmanī

puryashtakam sūkshmasarīramāhuh ||

The five organs of action beginning with speech, the five organs-of-perception beginning with the ear,
the group of five pranas, the five elements starting with space, along with the discriminative intellect
etc. and also ignorance, desire, and action—these eight ‗cities‘ together constitute the subtle body.

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Slokas 72 and 73 described how the gross body is formed. The previous four slokas (92 to 96) defined
the subtler elements within the body that enable it to carry out different functions  and undergo
different conditions.

This sloka defines the ‘Subtle Body’ (Sūkshma Sarīram), as a combination of these subtle elements. The
Guru says it is composed of eight ‘cities’:

1.      5 Jnānendriyas – Ears, Skin, Eyes, Nose, Tongue

2.      5 Karmendriyas – Speech, Arms, Legs, Organs of excretion and reproduction

3.      The Antah-karana - Intellect, Ego, Mind and Memory

4.      5 Prānas – Prāna, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna, Samāna

5.      The 5 subtle elements that combine to form the gross body – Space, Air, Fire, Water, Earth

6.      Ignorance – a quality of the Intellect

7.      Desire – a quality of the Mind

8.      Action – a quality of the sense organs

The gross body is called a ‘city with nine gates’ (nava dwāra puram) in several texts. For example, in the
Gita, Lord Krishna calls it by this term in BG V – 13. Srimad Bhagavatam refers to the body as ‘navabhih
dwārbhih puram’ in the episode of Puranjanopakyanam (SB 4.25.13).

Here, the subtle body too, is described as a mega-city, composed of eight individual cities. The term
‘city’ implies that each of these eight components is itself complex, having its own sub-structure of
smaller elements with their own inter-relationships (which are detailed in other texts)

This group of eight components is called ‘subtle’ because its function is not perceptible to the senses.
But it is this subtle body that causes the gross body to ‘live’ - without this, the gross body is just an inert
mass. Over the next few slokas, the Guru describes the functioning of the subtle body, in detail.