Yoga Sutras 1.5-1.11
1.5 vrittayah pancatayah klishta aklishta - The functions of the mind are fivefold. Some cause misery; others do not.
vrittayah = the vrittis are
pancatayah = five fold; five categories; panch means five
klishta = colored, painful, afflicted, impure; the root klish means to cause trouble; (klesha is the noun form of the adjective klishta)
aklishta = uncolored, not painful, not afflicted, pure; not imbued with kleshas; the root a- means without or in the absence of; hence, without the coloring called klishta
Commentary:
There are five functions of the mind. Yes, the entire range of your mind oscillations can be categorized into five buckets. Some are bad and some are not bad. Rather than saying some are bad and some are good. It’s really meant to say some harmful and some are harmless. Some are painful and painless; muddied and pure. So what are the five categories?
1.6 pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra smritayah - The five functions of mind are: 1) right knowledge, 2) incorrect knowledge, 3) fantasy or imagination, 4) unconsciousness; dreamless deep sleep, and 5) recollection or memory.
pramana = real or valid cognition, right knowledge, valid proof, seeing clearly
viparyayah = unreal or invalid cognition, indiscrimination, wrong knowledge, misconception, incorrect knowledge, not seeing clearly
vikalpah = imagination, verbal misconception or delusion, fantasy, hallucination, dreaming
nidra = unconsciousness, dreamless deep sleep
smritayah = memory, remembering
Commentary:
All of our thoughts can become a barrier or veil between the mind and the True Self. We begin to master the functions of the mind by witnessing our thoughts and be able to categorize them into buckets. Without mastering the functions of the mind, we fall prey to our “samsaras” -unconscious thoughts patterns and thus lose control of our freedom and the ability to choose. The next five sutras expand on the five functions of the mind.
1.7 pratyaksha anumana agamah pramanani - There are three ways of gaining correct knowledge: 1) perception, 2) inference, and 3) testimony or verbal communication from others who have knowledge.
pratyaksha = direct perception or cognition through the senses
anumana = inference, reasoning, deduction
agamah = authority, testimony, validation, competent evidence
pramanani = valid means of knowing, proofs, sources of correct knowing
Commentary:
How do we gain right knowledge? This sutra tells us! I think direct experience is fairly straightforward. This is something you’ve seen with your own eyes or you’ve had a personal sensory experience. For example, I saw a quarter and picked it up for closer inspection and it was indeed a quarter. The second way to gain right knowledge is logic or inference. Sticking with the quarter imaginary, you look at the heads side of the quarter and can use logic and infer that the other side of the quarter is tails. Third is testimony from an authority. I like to think of sacred texts when it comes to this third way of gaining right knowledge. What makes a text sacred? Because it’s true and withstood the test of time. Ideally, we can really know something is true by checking all three boxes: you had direct experience, it’s reasonable, and there’s validation from an authority.
1.8 viparyayah mithya jnanam atad rupa pratistham - False understanding or incorrect knowledge is mistaking something for something else.
viparyayah = unreal cognition, indiscrimination, perverse cognition, wrong knowledge, misconception, incorrect knowing, not seeing clearly
mithya = of the unreal, of the false, erroneous, illusory
jnanam = knowing, knowledge
atad = not its own, not that
rupa = form, nature, appearance
pratistham = based on, possessing, established, occupying, steadfast, standing
Commentary:
Oh look, there’s a quarter on the ground. Then you pick it up, it’s a bottle cap. This is false understanding or invalid thinking. There is a reality, but the truth was veiled until closer inspection.
1.9 shabda jnana anupati vastu shunyah vikalpah - Imagination is that which, due to the usage of words, appears to have content but in reality is devoid of any content.
shabda = word, sound, verbal expression
jnana = knowledge
anupati = following, in sequence, depending upon
vastu = a reality, real object, existent
shunyah = devoid, without, empty
vikalpah = imagination, verbal misconception or delusion, fantasy, hallucination
Commentary:
Purple polka dotted flying elephants. This is totally imaginary and does not exist in reality. Do you r emember how sutra 1.5 says some functions of the mind are painful and painless? We’ve all had the experience of our imagination getting away with us. We must be careful to not let the imagination be a source of brooding. There was a time when I played the lottery regularly. I would spend time thinking about all the things I would purchase with my lottery winnings. Besides wasting my money because I never won, I wasted time and energy on imagining a future that would never occur. I even became depressed because I was thinking about all the things I did not have. It was similar to focusing on the glass half empty rather than focusing on and being grateful for the half that was full.
However, imagination is also the creative function of imagination that finds solutions to problems in the external world or within our being. Our creative imagination can construct a helpful lifestyle and environment conducive for the practice of meditation.
1.10 abhava pratyaya alambana vritti nidra - Dreamless sleep (nidra) is the subtle thought pattern which has as its object an inertia, blankness, absence, or negation of the other thought patterns (vrittis).
abhava = absence, non-existence, non-occurrence, negation, voidness, nothingness
pratyaya = the cause, the feeling, causal or cognitive principle, notion, content of mind, presented idea, cognition
alambana = support, substratum, leaning on, dependent on, having as a base or foundation
vritti = operations, activities, fluctuations, modifications, changes, or various forms of the mind-field
nidra = deep sleep
Commentary:
How does one master unconscious sleep? Consider that the mind does not cease to exist during sleep. When we wake up, we know we’ve been asleep and whether it has been a restful or restless quality of sleep. Yogis say during deep sleep, the mind has put a thick veil of darkness (tamas) over itself. In a way, it’s as if we are in meditation using the dark fuzzy tamas as an alabama (a support for the mind to rest in.) Dreams are considered to be a function of imagination.
You are not be able to work specifically with your mind during unconsciousness but there are ways outside of unconsciousness that you can improve your time during unconsciousness such as creating a sleep routine, paying attention to what you eat and drink before bedtime, creating a restful environment such as utilizing black out curtains and white noise, include physical activity in your daily routine, and managing stress with activities such as journaling and meditation.
Yoga Nidra is alert, conscious sleep where practitioners are able to rest the mind, nervous system, and body while awake.
1.11 anubhuta vishaya asampramoshah smritih - Memory is the modification which takes content from the experience that has not yet disappeared fully.
anubhuta = experienced
vishaya = objects of experience, impressions
asampramoshah = not being stolen, not being lost, not having addition
smritih = memory, remembering
Commentary:
To master memory is called viveka khyati. To cultivate retentive power through stillness and one pointed focus results in a blossoming of spiritual aptitude and wellbeing.
So often we suffer from remembering what we don’t need and forgetting what we do need. Everything we sense creates subtle impressions in our mind field.
Meditation is like organizing the closet of the mind and our memory is the closet. What kinds of things do you have you stored in there? Do you have the ability to find the items you need and discard the things you don’t?
