Dheeyo yonah pracodayat

 In the language of the Veda and Yoga, manas, buddhi, and dhī are three distinct but interrelated functions of inner cognition. Manas is the sensory mind, the coordinator of inputs. It gathers impressions, reacts, doubts, oscillates, compares. In modern neurological terms, it resembles the distributed sensory processing networks along with limbic reactivity, constantly evaluating stimuli and generating internal commentary. Buddhi is the discriminative faculty, from √budh “to awaken.” It decides, judges, concludes. Neurobiologically, this aligns most closely with higher cortical processing, especially the prefrontal cortex responsible for evaluation, inhibition, and executive decision-making. Dhī, however, is subtler. While often translated as intellect, it is better understood as illuminated cognition, inspired insight. It is not just deciding but perceiving truth directly. In the Gayatri Mantra, when we pray “dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt,” the request is not for more reasoning but for inner illumination of the faculty that guides reasoning itself. If manas processes, and buddhi evaluates, dhī intuits and aligns the whole system toward truth. In neurological language, dhī would imply integrated cortical regulation harmonized with emotional circuitry, where higher awareness governs impulse and perception is suffused with clarity. Manas is movement, buddhi is decision, dhī is luminous direction.