The mano-maya (Taittiriya Upanisad 2.3)
Higher than the prāṇa-maya is the mano-maya, the subtle body composed of mind, intelligence, and ego. The subtle body is more refined than the vital air and is much more intimately connected with the
Section 3: The mano-maya
Higher than the prāṇa-maya is the mano-maya, the subtle body composed of mind, intelligence, and ego. The subtle body is more refined than the vital air and is much more intimately connected with the soul. The stage of mano-maya is still materialistic but superior to the other two. While in the prāṇa-maya stage, one is concerned about just maintaining his material existence and increasing his domains, in the mano-maya stage one becomes concerned about the activities of the mind and intelligence. In this stage, obtaining knowledge and reasoning about different topics becomes the center of one's activities. At this point, one becomes a philosopher or someone interested in finer knowledge. In a higher stage, one starts to study the Vedas, starting with the Atharva-Veda and other passages that deal with material subjects, and gradually progressing to the Yajurveda, Ṛg-veda, and Sāma-Veda, heard from the spiritual master.
Text 2.3.1
prāṇam devā anu prāṇanti, manuṣyāḥ paśavaś ca ye
prāṇo hi bhūtānām āyuḥ, tasmāt sarvāyuṣam ucyate
sarvam eva ta āyur yanti, ye prāṇam brahmopāsate
prāṇo hi bhūtānām āyuḥ, tasmāt sarvāyuṣam ucyata iti
tasyaiṣa eva śārīra ātmā, yaḥ pūrvasyatasmād vā etasmāt prāṇamayāt, anyo’ntara ātmā manomayaḥ
tenaiṣa pūrṇaḥ, sa vā eṣa puruṣa-vidha eva
tasya puruṣa-vidhatām, anv ayam puruṣavidhaḥ
tasya yajur eva śiraḥ, ṛg dakṣiṇaḥ pakṣaḥ. sāmottaraḥ pakṣaḥ
ādeśa ātmā, atharvāngirasaḥ puccham pratiṣṭhā
tad apy eṣa śloko bhavati
The demigods depend on prāṇa to maintain their lives, just as human beings and animals. Prāṇa is the life of all beings, therefore it is called sarvāyuṣa (the life of all). Those who worship prāṇa as Brahman obtain the full energy of life (sarvam āyur yānti), for prāṇa is the life of all beings. Prāṇa (Brahman) is the Self of the prāṇa-maya person, just like of the anna-maya person.
Different from this prāṇamaya, which consists of prāṇa, is the other, the inner Self that consists of the mind. The prāṇa-maya is filled by the mano-maya person. This mano-maya purusha has a human form, just like the prāṇa-maya. The Yajurveda is His head, the Ṛg-veda is His right arm, the Sāma-veda is His left arm, the instructions of the Vedas are His Self, and the atharvāngirasaḥ mantras revealed by the sages are his foundation.
Commentary: All living beings are dependent on the vital air, or prana, to live. As long as the vital air remains inside the body, one can remain alive. However, as soon as it leaves, the body dies and the soul moves to another body. For ordinary persons, of course, the death of the physical body and the vital air leaving the body happen simultaneously, but there are exceptions. Hiranyakashipu was able to maintain his life even after his body had been eaten by ants by keeping the vital air circulating around his bones. This proves that the vital air is more essential to life than even the physical body itself. Without the proper working of the vital air, one would not be able to live, even if the body were in perfect condition.
Although ordinarily the word prāṇa is translated as "vital air", Vyasadeva explains in the Vedanta sutras that “prāṇa” is also a name for the Supreme Brahman. In this way, the Supreme Lord is the maintainer of both the prāṇa-maya and the anna-maya. Everything is composed of His energy. As explained in the descriptions of the universal form in the Srimad Bhagavatam, all the aspects of the cosmic manifestation are, in fact, different aspects of the universal form of the Lord.
The second part of the verse brings us to the next stage, which is the understanding of the mano-maya, the subtle body composed of mind, intelligence, and ego. The subtle body is more refined than the vital air and is much more intimately connected with the soul. The vital air moves the body and forms a bed where the subtle body (containing the soul) is accommodated inside the heart, as explained in the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.9):
eṣo ’ṇur ātmā cetasā veditavyo
yasmin prāṇaḥ pañcadhā samviveśa
prāṇaiś cittam sarvam otam prajānām
yasmin viśuddhe vibhavaty eṣa ātmā“The soul is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the five kinds of air (prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna), is situated within the heart, and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied living entities. When the soul is purified from the contamination of the five kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited.”
The word “ātmā” in this verse can be interpreted as both meaning the individual soul and the Supreme Lord. When it is taken as meaning the Lord (as interpreted by Madhvacharya in his commentary of the Mundaka Upanisad), it reveals as how the Lord is the shelter of both the vital air and the senses of all beings, and how the soul can regain his original spiritual nature by the mercy of the Lord. When it is taken as meaning the soul, this beautiful explanation of the relation between the soul and the vital airs given by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to Bg 2.17 emerges.
When one studies the human being, the first layer that can be observed is the gross body. Next, one may find the vital air that permeates and animates the body, and if one becomes still more advanced, he may be able to find the subtle body situated inside the heart, from where the consciousness of the soul permeates the body.
In modern medical science, it is believed that consciousness is in the brain and is thus centered in the head. From the Vedic perspective, however, the consciousness is centered around the heart, because this is the seat for the soul, surrounded by the mind, intelligence, and false ego. The material consciousness comes from the combination of the soul and the subtle body, and this subtle body simply interfaces with the gross body through the vital air and the brain.
When we examine this point from the perspective of the different stages of consciousness of the soul, the stage of mano-maya is still materialistic but superior to the other two. While in the prāṇa-maya stage, one is concerned about just maintaining his material existence and increasing his domains, in the mano-maya stage one becomes concerned about the activities of the mind and intelligence.
In this stage, obtaining knowledge and reasoning about different topics becomes the center of one's activities. At this point, one becomes a philosopher or someone interested in finer knowledge. In a higher stage, one starts to study the Vedas, starting with the Atharva-Veda and other passages that deal with material subjects, and gradually progressing to the Yajurveda, Ṛg-veda, and Sāma-Veda, heard from the spiritual master. At this stage, one worships the Lord through the instructions from the Vedas. These instructions discipline the workings of the mind and intelligence, making them function in a way that is favorable for our spiritual advancement.
In the Bhagavad-gita (3.40) Krsna explains that the senses, the mind, and the intelligence are the sitting places for lust, and through them, lust covers real knowledge and bewilders the soul. We can see that in this passage both the mind and material intelligence are put in the same category. Krsna tells us to control the mind using intelligence, but at the same time tells us that material intelligence can't be trusted. This may sound like an apparent contradiction, but in reality, it's not. It just hints at the point that our intelligence can work properly only when purified by the instructions of the Vedas and operating inside the purview of transcendental knowledge.
If one carefully studies the Upaniṣads and the Vedanta-sutra, one will see that the real goal of these texts is to bring one to a personal conception of the Lord and to the conclusion that devotional service is the ultimate goal of life. One who is not inclined to study Vedanta philosophy, however, may attain the same qualification by just studying the Bhagavad-gita, which brings the conclusions of the Upaniṣads and the Vedanta-sutra, and from there proceed to the Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritāmṛta. We can see that Prabhupada centered his efforts on translating and commenting on these three books, making this knowledge accessible to all.