Alternative reading of Yoga, plus Ramaswami's chitta vritti newsletter

One of the reasons I wanted to attend the Vinyasa Krama course this summer and study with Srivatsa Ramaswami was a passage I came across in one of his earlier books Yoga for the three stages of life. It has an alternative interpretation of yoga, based on different root of the word that I found appealing. This months newsletter on chitta vritti reminded me of it. Here's the passage (Sorry, bit hacked up, should really read the whole chapter. Google books has an extended preview here). Quite wonderful book this.

'... yoga can also be derived from the root yuja and mean samadhi or samadhana, "to put in place perfectly".... Thus yoga by this definition, would mean putting all mental energies in place, or harnessing mental energies without any dissipation. This definition is different from the earlier derivation of the word yoga from the root yujir, meaning "unity" (yujir yoga).

Based on this interpretation the yoga of Patanjali is a system of practices that lead to the total harnessing of mental energy without any dissipation whatsoever (nirodha "completely contained") One can note that it is not unity with a higher principle that is aimed for in this form of yoga, but rather the removal of all the distractions of the mind.... One system talks of unity the other of freedom"

Yoga for the Three stages of Life. Chapter III, What is yoga. p34-35 Srivatsa Ramaswami

and this from Ramaswami's June 2010 June Newsletter (and in full here).

Chitta Vritti

The Sanskrit word vritti is used commonly in many Indian languages to

indicate one's main activity or avocation. A farmer is said to be in

krishi vritti or agriculture. A sanyasin is said to live on Uncha

vritti or high way of living which is basically asking for minimal

food with a begging bowl. So vritti is used to indicate one's jivana

or livelihood, vritti- jivane as the grammar book says. One mantra in

Suryanamaskara is “apa ca avrittim” which is a prayer to be gainfully

employed --a+vritti meaning joblessness. Some other prefixes also

modify the meaning of the word: pra+vritti or pravritti will indicate

activities towards getting what one wants whereas ni+vritti or

nivritti will indicate activities (and the result) associated with

getting rid of what one does not want. Chitta vritti would mean the

activity of the chitta. Chitta itself has an interesting meaning.

Chitta which is usually translated as mind-stuff or brain is that

which though is inert matter appears to have consciousness. “Cit iva

bhavayati”, like my computer which does not even have life but appears

to be super intelligent ( I know I have used this comparison

earlier).

So what does the chitta do, what are its vrittis or activities?

Basically the chitta through the vrittis gives us experiences of

varied types. It projects different images within its confines-- in

its own space, mental space, even though the projections appear to be

in the outside real space. For the sake of convenience several works

divide functionally the chitta into manas (mind), buddhi (intellect),

ahamkara(ego) and smriti/citta(memory). I receive information from the

outside world through my senses, eyes, ears, etc., due to the vrittis

of the indriyas. Then the manas or mind which is also known as the

11th indriya collates and coordinates and presents to another faculty

of the chitta called buddhi. Buddhi analyzes all the information and

makes a judgment and then the ego or ahankara aspect of chitta comes

into play. If it likes the presentation, it is happy but if not it

shows its unhappiness and produces various reactions. When the Buddhi

or intellect is active then the chitta vritti is also known as buddhi

vritti but when it is dominated by ahankara aspect of chitta the

chitta vritti is known as ahamkara vritti. When some one says that I

am a good person I am happy, my ahamkara vritti makes me expansive and

I hit the roof. If then someone says I am a lousy yoga teacher, I feel

bad, very bad and am down in the dumps due to the ahamkara vritti. So

moment after moment I have a chitta vritti which includes images not

only of the outside objects but also me as the subject of the whole

experience. Therefore the chitta vritti is the totality of my

experience at any given moment. The one that experiences or observes

all these successive chitta vritties is the real “I”, the purusha,

the drashta or observer or the non-changing and hence eternal pure

consciousness.

Patanjali says the chitta is capable of transcending all the vrittis

and remaining oblivious to all the vrittis. To understand that state

he lists all the chitta vrittis in five categories, the main purpose

of it is to indirectly know or infer the state which is beyond the

chitta vritti state, trying to show the unknown from the known . What

are these known chitta vrittis? The first one is called the pramana

vritti or those vrittis which produce correct knowledge of the various

objects. Through the senses, I get information of the outside world

thanks to the tanmatras received from the objects and the knowledge

produced is the pramana vritti. If the knowledge produced is incorrect

then that vritti is classified as the viparyaya vritti. Either one

interprets the incoming information correctly or incorrectly but the

chitta produces a vritti for experience. The chitta sometimes needs no

outside information to produce a vritti experience in which case it is

called vikalpa vritti, the typical example is the dream vritti. Then

we have deep sleep which is considered another activity of the chitta

which vritti is due to the dominance of Tamas and hence is known as

tamo vritti. Finally we have a lot of information stored in our chitta

and when we recall something vividly in the mind it is termed smriti

vritti. Is there a moment in our lives when the chitta is without a

vritti? No, according to the exhaustive classification of chitta

vrittis, there is not a moment when the chitta stops its activities,

its projections in the mental space, its vrittis.

While ordinarily the chitta wallows in these vrittis, Patanjali talks

about a state in which the chitta transcends all the vrittis

mentioned above and remains in that state. That is the state of Yoga.

It happens when the chitta uses all its faculties and yogic training

to concentrate and knows for sure the true nature of the observing

self/soul, the non-changing, hence eternal consciousness. With that

knowledge, with that direct experience, the chitta remains in a state

of resolution, on realizing the nature of the the Self in its true

form (svarupa). When there is realization in the chitta that nothing,

none of the vrittis changes the essential nature of the pure purusha,

it becomes quiet-- completely quiet. In that state the chitta does not

have any of the vrittis mentioned above. But when not in the state of

Yoga, it does not know the true nature of the soul. Rather than trying

to locate and realize the nature of the Self ( as a Raja Yoga

practitioner attempts to do), it creates and projects a shadow self

using its own vritti, a viparyaya vritti. The chitta is capable of

creating this deception. Take for example what the lazy chitta does

during dream state. Getting out of deep sleep, but yet unable to wake

up completely, the chitta creates its own dream space, dream objects

and also creates a self, a dream self, only to discard it when it

wakes up.

Patanjali uses two terms about the nature of the Self and the nature

of the pseudo self. He uses the term swarupa or own form to indicate

the nature of the true Self. He uses the term sarupa or something

similar to the form of the Self for the self image created by the

chitta. It is like the difference between the subject and the wax

model. The model however much it may look like the original is still a

copy and not the original/Self. In fact Patanjali uses the term

sarupa which would mean similar to rather than tadrupa which would

mean identical with or the exact replica. The emphasis is not so much

on how similar or look alike they are (like the mirror image or

reflection, etc. which would be tadrupa) but that the model is not the

real thing. The implication is that the created self or ego or

ahamkara is a creation of the chitta itself; it is itself a chitta

vritti (vritti saarupya).

The ultimate state of Yoga of the chitta is that in which it

transcends all its vrittis. In that trance-like state the Yogi is

oblivious to the surroundings, not sleeping, not dreaming nor thinking

of the past.

The brain or the mindstuff has also another set of vrittis. The

samkhyas call it the samanya or samanya karanaa vrittis. This set of

vrittis helps to maintain life even of the Yogi. These are vrittis of

prana which itself is an aspect of chitta. These non-descript or

ordinary vrittis maintain life. They are known as prana, apana, vyana,

udana and samana vrittis and correspond to the life sustaining

autonomic

activities of the brain. They function until the Yogi decides to call

it quits.