From Late Latin mammona, from Greek mamonas, from Aramaic mamona, mamon “riches, gain.” This word was left untranslated in the Greek New Testament (e.g. Matt. vi:24, Luke xvi:9-13) and was retained in the Latin Vulgate; thereafter it was mistakenly thought by medieval Christians to be the name of a demon.
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [money].” – Luke 16:13
“In an irrefutable, axiomatic way, we can and even must define mammon with two terms:
Manas मनस्, from the root man, “to think” or “mind” — is the recording faculty; receives impressions gathered by the sense from the outside world. It is bound to the senses and yields vijnana (information) rather than jnana (wisdom) or vidya (understanding). That faculty which coordinates sensory impressions before they are presented to the consciousness. Relates to the mind; that which distinguishes man from the animals. One of the inner instruments that receive information from the external world with the help of the senses and present it to the higher faculty of buddhi (intellect). manas is one of the four parts of the antahkarana (“inner conscience” or “the manifest mind”) and the other three parts are buddhi (the intellect), chitta (the memory) and ahankara (the ego).
