man

The word is derived from the same root as Sanskrit manas, mind—the uniquely human capacity for rational thought. The science of yoga deals with human consciousness from the point of view of the essentially androgynous Self (atman). As there is no other terminology in English that would convey these psychological and spiritual truths without excessive literary awkwardness, the use of man and related terms has been retained in this publication—not in the narrowly exclusive sense of the word man, denoting only half of the human race, but in its broader original meaning.