The 3 Layers of the Mind

Yoga Sutra 1.2 says Yogas Citta Vritti Nirodhah, yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. this word Citta means mind, but in a more holistic and layered sense than we’re accustomed to.

The Citta has 3 layers:

Manas: The outer layer - The “monkey mind” that fluctuates from one thought to another based on input from the senses.

Ahamkara: The middle layer - The source of the ego that claims those thoughts as “mine” and separates oneself from others. It’s not all negative though; this is where our personality comes from!

Buddhi: The inner layer - The discerning mind capable of insight and awareness. The subtlest part of our mind that’s closest to the true self. Buddhi can still be clouded by the thoughts and the ego, but in its purest form, it witnesses them.

For example, if we spill coffee on our shirt:

Manas notices the warmth & wetness and reacts to it, starting to wipe it off.

Buddhi assesses whether we should just proceed with our day, go change shirts, cover it with our jacket, or go buy a tide to-go stick. It discerns & decides.

Ahamkara puts the “I” in it, perhaps worrying about what people will think of us when they see it, or worrying about our shirt being stained.

All of these parts of our mind work in cohort in fractions of a second. So while yoga philosophy breaks it down into these layers, in reality, it’s all happening a bit too quickly for us to fully differentiate between them.

But it’s helpful to know, because we can start to observe our minds with more clarity and witness our tendencies and patterns.

The goal isn’t to live with more Buddhi and less Manas or Ahamkara. We’ll always have all of them. The goal is to live with the awareness of using the mind as a tool rather than the mind using us.