Nyāya presents a carefully articulated distinction between mind and body, while insisting on their intimate functional connection. The body (śarīra) is understood as a material entity, composed of elements and serving as the physical basis for perception and action. The mind (manas), by contrast, is a subtle, atomic, and non-material substance, distinct from the body and also distinct from the self (ātman). Neither mind nor body is the true subject of experience; rather, both function as instruments for the self, which is the enduring locus of consciousness.

Within this framework, the mind is treated as an internal organ that mediates between self and body. It connects the self to the external sense organs, coordinating sensory input so that perception and cognition can arise. Because it is atomic and extremely subtle, it operates as a kind of inner link, enabling the self to attend to particular sensory or mental events. The body, with its sense faculties, provides the necessary contact with the external world, while the mind processes and channels these contacts toward the self.

Nyāya also emphasizes that the relationship between mind and body is not merely theoretical but causal and dynamic. Bodily conditions and sense contacts shape mental states such as cognition, pleasure, and pain, while mental states like desire, aversion, and volition give rise to bodily actions. Both mind and body are situated within the larger moral and causal order of karma, serving as the field in which karmic results are experienced. In this way, Nyāya portrays human experience as arising from a coordinated triad of self, mind, and body, each distinct yet interdependent in the pursuit of knowledge and the unfolding of life.