Mahat / Buddhi
“the great principle / intellect”
idea · 2 works · 2 mentions · 7 anchored passages
buddhi · mahat · intellect · the great one · the great principle · the intellect
in the texts
Sāṃkhyakārikā
The 'great one' or intellect, the first evolute of prakṛti and the faculty responsible for discrimination between self and nature.
mahat / buddhi (Intellect) is [marked by] determination.
From prakṛti / pradhāna / mūlaprakṛti (nature) [arises] mahat / buddhi (the great one);
Since mahat / buddhi (the intellect), together with the [other two] internal organs, penetrates every object, therefore the threefold [internal] instrument is the doorkeeper, and the remaining [external organs] are the doors.
Sāṃkhyatattvavivecana
The 'great principle' (mahat), identified with intellect (buddhi), first evolute of pradhāna and locus of virtue, knowledge, dispassion, and lordliness.
'I shall perform [my] duty'—[such] determination is the mark of the intellect.
by the word "great" (mahat) the {{buddhi / mahat|intellect}} of Hiraṇyagarbha is meant.
"From {{pradhāna|the chief}} intellect is born"—so [intellect] is a modification of the chief;