May 2022 Newsletters from Srivatsa Ramaswami--citta vritti

[Srivatsa Ramaswami]

May 2022 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--citta vritti

From April 1st , I have been fooling around for the whole month..

citta vritti

We have heard about this term in yoga sutra so many times and read the translation and explanations many times over. What is new about it? Am  I running out of talking points?

The most popular translation/interpretation of citta vritti nirodha is "Suppression of the fluctuations of the mind". I am a bit uncomfortable with this translation. Let me explain why. The word fluctuation means a certain unsteadiness like we may say that the mind is not able to concentrate on one object for a period of time. The term generally used by yogis for this state of mind is citta vikshepa. But by certain yoga practices these fluctuations can be brought down so that the mind will be in a state of one pointedness which is without fluctuations. Dhyana to some extent and sabija samadhi to a greater extent will fit this state, a state in which the fluctuations of the mind are eliminated for a period of time. Yes, this state is a yoga state but not the final state of yoga which is citta vritti nirodha. Why so? Because in the state of citta vritti nirodha, the citta will be without an object as everything the yogi has to know and do have been accomplished and, in that state, there is no object to think about or work towards a goal. So, the word fluctuation will not apply or correctly describe the state of vritti nirodha. Further in the fluctuations -free state of the mind, it is still with an object to contemplate on and in nirodha state there is no object which is a nirbija samadhi. If you look at the result or the benefit of cittavritti nirodha, it is the clear perception of the true nature of the self/seer by the individual intellect, which does not take place by merely elimination the fluctuations and making the citta one pointed.  

Furthermore, the meaning of the word vritti is activity. In fact, dathu patha the book on the meaning of sanskrit roots would interpret vritti as jivana. (Vritti jivane). It means that the vritti is used to describe the avocation or the main activity of a subject. A person who tills the soil to make a living is said to be doing krishi vritti or the activity of farming. So here we have to find out the main activity or activities of the citta and then the stopping of those activities: and that would mean citta vritti nirodha, not merely stopping the fluctuations of the mind.

In fact, Patanjali in the sixth sutra details what he means by citta vrittis. He identifies five important activities of the citta or mind to deal with and stop these activities. Firstly,  are the activities of the citta to find truth or pramana. This is a very important activity of the mind, called jnana activity. It is to know the loukika  truth or the transcendental truth, that is about worldly matters or the true nature of oneself respectively by observation, analysis and deep contemplation. When the yoga discipline is applied the same citta is able to find out transcendental truth like the nature of one's own Self. The next vritti or activity of the mind or citta is to arrive at wrong conclusions on both worldly and transcendental matters, like the real nature of the Self. like the common blunder-- according to Yogis-- that the empirical (drisya) person is the real Self.  This class of cittavrittis is called viparyaya. In a tamasic mode the citta comes to conclusions without analysis and in a rajasic mode the impatient mind comes to hasty conclusions both of which are viparyayas. Then the citta can be indulging in imaginations like in dream time including day dreaming.  This is called vikalpa. Then due to the forceful activity of tamas one goes to deep sleep when one loses awareness of even oneself. Sleep is considered an activity or vritti of Tamas. The fifth is memory or the ability of the mind to recall incidents of the past or the information stored in the mind. Ability to recall the sutras at will or repeatedly thinking about the choice words used by your neighbor during an altercation are some common examples of smriti vritti

According to Patanjali, citta vritti nirodha is a state of mind when none of these vrittis or activities is operating at the moments of nirodha. The yogi is not engaged in fact finding (pramana), not making wrong conclusions (viparyaya), nor dreaming (vikalpa), not in deep sleep due to the flow of tamas (nidra) or not recalling from memory (smriti vritti). None of these cittas vrittis can adequately be described as mere fluctuations of the mind. Stopping the fluctuations is a desirable yogic activity but is not sufficient to reach citta vritti nirodha. So, citta vritti nirodha is stopping the activities of the mind so that it becomes absolutely quiet and yoga discipline-- the theory and practice-- is said to help achieve that. 

Do these citta vrittis mentioned by Patanjali make the complete list of citta vrittis or activities of the mind? Yes and no. Citta or the antah karana or the internal instrument of action does one thing more or one more vritti. The samkhyas call is samanya karana vritti or the innate activity of citta, What is that? IT is the activities of the citta to maintain life through the five pranas. (samanya karana vritti, vayavah pancha). So even as the yogi is in a state of citta vritti nirodha when all the vrittis/activities are said to have been stopped, the citta continues to act to maintain life. A yogi's citta in a state of nirodha is still active doing the activity of maintaining life, even as the five classes of vrittis are stopped due to yoga. He/she breathes ever so subtly

Citta vritti nirodha is the cessation of all activities of the brain or citta and not merely stopping the fluctuations of the mind even as one pointedness is a desirable trait. Yoga is a well thought out (and worked out), complete system for peaceful life and a peaceful end based on the realization of the truth about oneself.