vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭ-ākliṣṭāḥ The
activities of the mind are divided into five states and can be is considered as
harmful/painful or not harmful or painful; meaning leading to further
material entanglement, or to spiritual enlightenment. So now looking at the
translation, or the English synonyms for the words here - 'vṛttayaḥ'
of course refers to the activities of the mind or the mental states. 'Pañcatayyaḥ'
means the fivefold. Then 'kliṣṭa' - this is the first time that we're hearing
this word - which literally means harmful or painful, or distressful. And then it's
opposite by placing the ''ahh'' sound in front of it - 'ākliṣṭāḥ' - not painful,
or not distressful. So Patañjali is now going to
...he dedicates more or less from this fifth sutra until the twelfth sutra, to
discuss the nature of the vṛttis which he has mentioned. And then, after that, he
will dedicate something like three or four verses to discussing 'nirodha' - the
winding up, or the containing or confining. So 'vidhis' - that is the
mental fluctuations - they give rise to actions or karma. 'Karma' literally means
action. Action then binds the living being to material existence, meaning that
...We become bound for two principal reasons: one is that we become obliged to
experience the consequences of our actions in the form of 'karma-phalam',
which means the fruit of actions. But there is also this reality that when we
engage in action, it causes impressions upon upon our mind that will give
rise to further activity, which further binds the living being. So this very
vicious cycle of action and reaction is known as 'samsara'. Saṁsāra means this
repeated cycle of birth and death that the living being becomes bound to when
we become absorbed in material consciousness. And it's very
profound, the way in which these things happen. For instance, this idea of what I
just mentioned, where I engage in a particular activity and then I must
stick around to experience the result or the consequence of that. But the fact
that having engaged in an activity, it creates what's called... in English the
best terminology is probably, a latent
impression. There is an imprint upon the mind that will give rise in the
future to a desire to either repeat in the same way or in another way, or to
avoid an action that was performed. And then when one does that - when they repeat
it or avoid it - then again they are bound by karma, the laws of karma, and
again it creates a further latent impression or 'saṁskāra'. This is
different than samsara. This is called saṁskāra. Saṁskāra is
used in a couple of different ways in the Vedas, and within the context of
yogic teaching it quite often refers to the the latent impression that
is stamped upon the mind or the consciousness of the living being. So I
think a good example is... there is a story in the Bhāgavat Pūraṇa of a young man
who in his...approaching adulthood, had been raised in a very
traditional Brahmin family, had always been engaged in in pious activity - his
life was very regulated, and he had gone off to collect paraphernalia for puja at
the behest of his father. And while out in the forest he had heard a noise that
drew him to explore, "What is this?" and he came across a kind of a low-class
individual who was drunk, and who was
engaged in sexual activity with a prostitute. Even though Ajamila had not
seen anything like this, or thought of anything like this in this lifetime, it
immediately sparked a very deep effect on him and he began to follow this woman
around town when he saw her, and eventually took her in as a maid servant
in the house. And that was all done so that he could begin to engage in a
sexual relationship with her, which in the ancient Vedic culture was considered
very degraded for somebody of his station in life to do this. And of
course, it had led to a life where he really became engaged in a limitless
variety of very fallen and and sinful activity, in order to support his new
chosen lifestyle, as it were. So in just speaking about that part of that
account or story, it is like, "How is it that someone who has not had this
kind of exposure or anything; has lived a very spiritually directed or spiritually
focused life - at least a very pious life, if not deeply spiritual...?" How just
one incident can completely capture this person's mind and heart, and take
them on this really destructive course. And it has largely to do with these
latent impressions - these latent impressions that are imprinted
upon the consciousness, and may arise within the mind at any time. And so
we see numerous examples of this in different cultures, where suddenly
somebody becomes exposed to something and they just set off in a whole new
direction, because of these past saṁskāras. In this particular śloka, Vyāsa
speaks about how one can perform activity that is more sattvic - in the
mode of goodness - and this also leaves latent impressions, but the latent
impressions are of a more sattvic nature. He says that this is really what
a yogi should be doing, in order to set themself up for success as it were, on
the path of self-realization; by engaging in activity and mental activity that is
more pure and more sattvic. Vyāsa says that when the citta - the
consciousness - manifests its pure sattvic potential, then it very much becomes like
the ātman. And one of my spiritual teachers would often use the example of
like iron. If I take an iron rod; iron is heavy, it is rigid, it is cold... you know it
has these characteristics, but I place that iron rod in an extremely hot fire,
then eventually the iron will become red-hot and then white-hot, and when I
remove it from the fire, it is now manifesting many of the
characteristics of fire itself. It is emanating heat - you can feel the heat
radiating from it; it is emanating light... if it is hot enough it can even take
on a somewhat liquid state; if I touch it to something which is flammable that
thing will burst into flames. So in this way something that
is substantially different then that which is light and hot, and like fire, can
take on the characteristics of fire. And so in a very similar manner, the
process of yoga... our sadhana... is meant for the purpose of now having our
mind engaged in that which is transcendental - immersed in
transcendence and that which is spiritual. And then the mind becomes
purified by this experience, and begins to take on a character that is quite
different than the material mind. It is still material, but now it is in a state
of purification and in many ways, as as Vyāsa has stated, it becomes or manifests
characters that are like the atma, or like the self.
pramāṇa-viparyaya-vikalpa-nidrā-smṛtayaḥ
The five mental states are: one, correct understanding of what is; second, false
understanding of what is; three, conceptualization; four, deep sleep, and
five; memory. So now, looking at the English synonyms: for the
Sanskrit: 'pramāṇa', it means right perception or correct understanding; 'viparyaya',
is misconception or false understanding; 'vikalpa', means
conceptualization based on a verbal delusion... we'll explain that a little
later when we deal specifically with that condition; 'nidrā',
is deep sleep; and 'smṛtayaḥ,' means to recollect or remember something - It
refers to memory. So Patañjali now lists the five distinct categories, or types of
vrttis, or mental states. Someone may think, "Well how come there's only five?
Aren't there other sorts of mental states that one can exist in?" These ancient
sages put a great deal of time and effort into understanding these things,
and in this particular system of yoga, and in Sankhya yoga, these five
states are considered to be five actually really distinct states, or
conditions of consciousness, or the citta. If there are any other
states that we want to consider or focus on, they would be
considered to be somehow contained within one of these five states. So
all these other types of consciousness are considered like subsets of these
five principal vṛttis, or states of consciousness. So on this particular
sloka we won't go any further. And the commentators themselves have
traditionally not gone any further on that, because now Patañjali is going to
speak about each one of these five states, and explain the nature of
that state; the nature of that vṛtti.