Yoga Philosophy
Chitta and Chitta Vrittis : The aim of yoga is to get rid of its
modifications in order to attain self-realization.Cit has multifarious
modifications under the stress and strain of the three gunas. Patanjali’s yoga is also known as raja
yoga.The cessation is through meditation or concentration which is also called
yoga.
Chitta means the three internal organs of Samkhya – buddhi or
intellect,ahankara or ego and manas or mind.Chitta is the same as
antahkarana.It is mahat or buddhi which includes ahankara and manas.Chitta is
the first evolute of Prakriti and has the predominance of sattva.It is in
itself unconscious.But being finest and nearest to Purusa,it has the power to
reflect the Purusa and therefore appears as if it is conscious.Chitta is really
the spectacle of which the self is by reflection the spectator.When it gets
related to any object,it assumes the form of that object.This form is called
vritti or modification,The light of consciousness which comes from the purusa
and illuminates this form is called jnana.Purusa is essentially pure and is
free from the limitations of Prakriti.But it wrongly identifies itself with its
reflection in the chitta and appears to be undergoing change and modification.Chitta,therefore,is
the physical medium for the manifestation of the spirit.When the Purusa
realizes that it is completely isolated and is only a passive spectator,beyond
the play of Prakriti,it ceases to
identify itself with its reflection in the Chitta with the result that
the light is withdrawn and the modifications of the Chitta fall to the
ground.This cessation of the modifications of the Chitta through meditation is
called yoga.It is the return of the Purusa to its original perfection.The yogi
acquires omniscience when the all-pervading state of Chitta is restored.When it
becomes as pure as the Purusha,it is liberated.
The functioning of Chitta produce potencies which in their
turn cause potencies and so the wheel of samsara goes on perpetually.From these
relations passions and desires arise and the sense of personality is produced.Life
in samsara is the outcome of desires and passions.
The modifications of the Chitta are of five kinds:
1.Right cognition (pramana)
2.Wrong cognition (viparyaya)
3.Verbal cognition or imagination(vikalpa)
4.Absence of cognition (nidra) and
5.Memory (smriti)
Right cognition is of three kinds :
1.Perception (pratyaksha) :When the Chitta through the
sense-organs,comes into contact with the internal mental state
2.Inference (anumana): When the Chitta cognizes the generic
nature of things, and
3.Verbal testimony (shabda)
Viparyaya is positively wrong knowledge like that of a
rope-snake.Vachaspati Mishra and Vijnanabhikshu accept doubt also in this
category.
Vikalpa is mere verbal cognition like that of a hare’s horn.
Nidra is called absence of cognition;yet it is a mental
modification because after sleep a person says ‘I slept sound and new nothing’
and therefore there must be some mental modification to support this absence of
knowledge.In nidra vritti there is predominance of tamas.
Smriti is the recollection of past experience through the
impressions left behind.
The life of ego is restless and unsatisfied,subject as it to
the five afflictios of mistaking the non-eternal for the eternal.Deliverance
consists in severing the relation of self and Chitta.When the self is freed
from Chitta,it withdraws itself into the ground becomes passionless,purposeless
and dispersonalised.When the Chitta is active, the self appears to experience
various conditions, and when the mind becomes calm in meditation,the self
abides in its own true form .By yoga or concentration,we exclude the
superficial layers and get at the inner spirit.Our mind is an arena of
conflicting forces which requires to be subdued to some The obsunity.There are
some desires that seek satisfaction,some vital urges of life,e.g.
self-preservation and self-reproduction,which refuse to be easily controlled.There
are five kinds of sufferings(kleshas) to which it is subject .These are:
1.Ignorance (avidya)
2.Egoism (asmita)
3.Attachment (raga)
4.Aversion (dvesha) and
5.Clinging to life and instinctive fear of death
(abhinivesha)
The bondage of the
self is due to its wrong identification with the mental modifications and liberation,therefore,means
the end of this wrong identification through proper discrimination between
Purusha and Prakriti and the consequent cessation of the mental
modifications.It is the aim of yoga to bring about this result.
There are five levels of mental life (Chittabhumi).The
differences in the levels are due to the predominance of the different Gunas.
The lowest level is called Kshipta or restless,because the
mind here is restless due to the excess rajas and is tossed about like a shuttlecock
between different sense objects.
The second is called Mudha or torpid.The mind here has the
predominance of tamas and tends towards ignorance,sleep and lethargy.
The third is called Vikshipta or distracted.Here sattva
predominates,but rajas also asserts itself at times.
The fourth Ekagra or concentrated.The mind here is entirely
dominated by sattva and rajas and tamas are subdued.The mind becomes
concentrated on the object of meditation.
The fifth and the highest level is called Niruddha or
restricted.Here the mental modifications are arrested,though their latent
impressions remain.The first three levels are not at all conducive to yogic life.Only
the two are.
These states of mind (vritti) comprise our inner
experience.When they lead us towards samsara, into the course of passions and
their satisfactions ,they are said to be klishta;when they lead us towards
samsara or towards mukti,we have to make use of our states of mind;the states
which are bad often alternate with good states and whichever state should tend
towards our final goal (liberation) must be regarded as good.
