Part 1: Understanding the yogic concepts of what is the human mind and consciousness.

Hello yogis!! Welcome to yoga psychology blogs. I have observed that human minds are such a wonderful apparatus to operate this life with intelligence. However, over the centuries, the conditioning of the mind is been done in such a way that instead of discovering, we are running away from ourselves. Mental health has never been an issue in the history of human beings as it is now. Patanjali yoga sutra not only explains the psychology of the mind but also instructs on how to break the patterns and realize our true nature. 

“Atha yoganusasanam” ||1.1||

Meaning: now therefore yoga instruction. I have always wondered why he used the word “Atha”= “now”; like he’s clearly saying you have tried everything now, let’s try yoga. Some books claim that it might be used because preparatory practices are mandatory before starting yogic practices. However, in my opinion, yoga does not require any prerequisites. The whole system of yoga is designed in such a way that it lightens up one’s path despite the fact at which level of ignorance you are standing. Therefore, lets us understand the psychology of the mind with reference to this great Indian text called Patanjali yoga sutras. 

What is human consciousness according to yoga?

To answer this question, let’s start with the basic psychology of the mind according to yoga. There are four basic divisions of the mind:

Intellect (Buddhi)

Memory (manas)

Ego or identity (ahamkara)

Consciousness (Chitta)

To explain in a simplified way our intellect (buddhi) is the survival kit that functions always in human preservation mode i.e its main work is to divide and see what’s useful but it is useful only with the support of memory (manas). If there is no backup data available in the memory, then intellect ceases to function. Memory is further divided into eight parts but we will discuss that in another blog in detail. For now, it can be seen as a duct of stored and collective data in the human mind.

It might amaze some people that how come memory can make one suffer but if we observe ourselves closely then we will find that 80 to 80% of the time we are suffering from memory. What happened years ago we are still holding on to that emotion or hurt and we just do not want to let it go which kind of explains the basic psychology of the mind.

A typical example of these two is our entire education system, where students’ intelligence is based on their cramming power. Hence since schooling, children are in survival mode only. And this is how intellect has become the bases of our living.

The ego (ahamkara) is our sense of identity. Now it can be anything starting from our family, caste, creed, race, religion, or even nationality. Whatsoever one is identified with becomes the means of his existence or living. The funny thing to see here is that our ego supports our intellect based on the memory collections we have. well as previously mentioned, when we hold on to painful memories, the other reason is our ego or sense of identification. If we have a strong identification with the tragic or traumatizing events then it will become more difficult for us to actually come out from such kind of mental suffering.

For example, if one is fighting a war, then if he has to kill the opponent soldier, he must have a strong identity with his nation, and his memory must give him solid proof from the past, which can compel his action in the war otherwise if one of these is missing he won’t be able to kill. So it’s all interconnected. This explains the gross nature of the human mind and its entire structure.

Moving further consciousness (Chitta). This word is powerful and complete in itself. Patanjali has defined yoga in the sense of this word:

Yogaschitta vrtti nirodhah. ||1.2|| 

Meaning: to block or get rid of the patterns of consciousness is what is called yoga. Here we are not talking about suppression but liberation. Yoga offers you the path to do that as it provides you with the tools and techniques to channel your mind towards liberation or awakening or also called pure consciousness.

The English term consciousness means awareness (literally waking state)here. Sanskrit in itself is a very vast and scientific language and here, Chitta represents individual consciousness which includes all these states of mind conscious, subconscious, and unconscious. It’s also evident from the sutra that one can experience these states of consciousness by blocking the mundane patterns or modifications of the mind. 

If we look at the psychology of the mind, we are constantly moving from one pattern of behavior to another. The fluctuations we have at mental levels are outcomes of emotions that are more compulsive than conscious. It’s only the obsessive behavior patterns at the psychological and mental levels which are forcing different types of emotional experiences in the human body.

We could go deeper here all these emotions are chemicals according to chemistry or energy frequencies according to physics, therefore, they have the inevitable nature of constant change, which is what is defined in Samkhya philosophy as Prakriti of human behavior or nature  (Sttava=balanced, Rajas=active, Tamas=inertia). Here they are called vrittis.

Vritti means circular. Hence if we can become a little aware we can easily ss that all psychic behavior or mental manifestations of emotions have cyclic patterns. So to break this cycle and come out with our true awakened nature is called yoga itself.

Sage Patanjali has talked a lot about consciousness in yoga sutras. According to samadhi pada, we can conclude he has pointed out that human consciousness will be fully developed only if the mind is liberated from the clutches of patterns or Prakriti when there is no more identification with the objective world we can access our Chitta, which is pure consciousness without any imprint of memory. In the next following blogs, we will be discovering more about the psychology of the mind and its patterns.

Types of modifications (vrittis) of the human mind:

If we move further to the psychology of the mind, sage Patanjali has mentioned that our mind has ten basic types of modification or vritti, out of which five are pleasant and 5 are unpleasant. Both types of experiences are entirely dependent on the sense perceptions of the person. For illustration, suppose you are wearing a new dress and you are walking into your office or neighborhood. You come across someone and they compliment you for the dress, after hearing these beautiful words of praise your mood gets lightens up, and then the next moment they discourage your choice of shoes, and then you suddenly feel sad or upset.

Here your sense of hearing has nothing to do with the feelings you are experiencing rather it is your identification with the positive and negative of the experience.

If we can look a little deep into it the emotion that arises from compliment and discouragement is not different from one another it is like two sides of the same coin. Hence, modification is the same only your perception is twofold. This implies the foolishness of the psychology of the mind.

If I could go a little deeper into it generally all kinds of human experiences in the mind whether, in the past, present, or future, the emotions of love, hate, grief, happiness, anxiety, anger, or even passion or compassion are patterns of your mind. These all are sourced from within and manifested from within. Therefore, in the psychology of the mind, all the emotions associated with feelings, people, and places are all the times manifest around you according to your level of perception.

“Every dimension of knowledge, every kind of thought and every field of awareness is one of the vrittis of the mind” 

As Ashtavakra said that one is identified with ignorance to such an extent that they are suffering only because of their misapprehensions of reality as they are mistaking rope for a snake in the dark. So the patterns of vrittis are so strong that it veils our perception and ceases the direct apprehension of reality or truth.

The five types of vritti or modifications of human minds are:

Pramana (Right knowledge)

Viparyay (wrong knowledge)

Vikalpa (imagination)

Nidra (sleep)

Smrtayah (memory)

Right knowledge is a state where object and subject both are existing and one can prove the existence of another with direct cognition through their gyanendriya (senses/ organs of knowledge) eyes, ear, nose, tongue, and skin. Hence, whatever one is seeking from outside through their senses gets processed in the form of data in the intellect and eventually gets stored in the form of imprints. E.g when you touch the hot pan you get direct knowledge of the nature of fire/heat that it burns.

Wrong knowledge is exactly the opposite of right knowledge. It is also called avidya or ignorance. Here also both the experiencer and experienced are present but the cognition of the object is false or miss apprehended. A very good example of this is mentioned quite a few times in Advait Vedanta as when you mistake a rope for a snake in the dark.

Imagination is another state of mind. Here no object is present for the direct experience by the subject. This is the only state which is experienced in the mind either in the past tense or the future because it has no base in the present state of being. This state is always connected with later experiences and impressions which are carried by our brain. Therefore, the knowledge here has no basis in reality but is mere imagination.

Sleep is another state. It is quite shocking to read this one as another pattern of mind.

“Sleep is the condition of the mind which hides or conceals the knowledge of the external world”

Here the content of the mind is absent. Psychologically, in that state, the brain and the mind are disconnected and thoughts are suppressed temporarily. In this state of being, there is no knowledge present at all.

Memory is the vritti that represents our tendency not to let go of the object of past experiences. Our memory is a vast duct of collective impressions from not only this life but also our past lives as well. It involves the expression of past knowledge hence there is nothing new present here. It is like a cycle that keeps on repeating its imprints on our mind from time to time which is also called samsara. Hence, memory is the mere representation of the past knowledge recycling itself.

How the Psychology of the mind can be explained through vrittis or modifications:

If we look at these five types of mental modifications then it is evident that sage Patanjali has put very carefully the entire psychology of the mind and brain together into these five folds.

Any new experience is never a new experience if it has its base in the past. For example, a very common phrase used by people is I knew it would happen before, how come one can predict, if it has not been experienced in the past? But what’s wrong here is not the mere prediction of your mind but you have already connected it with the old patterns of your mind (one of the five vrittis, in this case, most likely either memory or imagination) and now your thoughts will function according to the reality you have created in your brain and hence, your actions will reflect what’s cooking inside your head already.

That is why in yoga it is said that your reality is the manifestation of yourself. To rectify this, I would say it’s better to take experience in the past as a lesson. Still, one should look at the new experiences without their petty mental predictions, only by being looked at with profoundness one can experience something extraordinary as it has no bases in their old nature or Prakriti.

“Every dimension of the knowledge, every kind of thought, and every field of awareness is one of the vrittis of the mind”.

An example of the state of anxiety is one kind of reaction to the modification happening at the mental level. Sate of joy is another kind of reaction to mental modification. Both are the experiences of your state of being at a mental level however both are on the opposite sides of the same coin. So, there is nothing wrong in saying that anything which is two-dimensional is not true at all.

If just the coping mechanism of our mind to deal with external and internal conflicts. As all of these states of likes (akalistah) and dislikes(kalistah), good and bad, positive and negative are in constant conflict with each other and therefore their nature is changing or cyclic not constant. This is what suffering is actually. And realizing this pattern or such conflicts of the mind is the first step towards awakening or what we also called liberation.

How one can come out from such patterns of the human psyche?

Abhyasavairagyabhyam tanniroddha||1.12||

This means: repeated practice and detachment can liberate one from mental modifications (vrittis). A very simple and intelligent approach has been given by sage Patanjali to overcome conflicting tendencies of the mind. One thing which is needed to be very clear here, abhyasa means repeated and persistent practice and vairagya means detachment. This sutra explains very well the psychology of the mind and the solution to keep it balanced.

Most of the time being human we tend to suffer from our conflicts from time to time when we see we are not getting the results that we expected; however, one thing to understand here is that life itself is a process and we can liberate ourselves with constant practice along with patience i.e without attaching to the results. Once we become perfectly fixed within ourselves, the conflicting nature of our minds will be resolved. 

But the question here is what are we supposed to practice?

This is the reason why a different type of yoga has been defined in scripture. For an instance, karma yoga, Gyan yoga, bhakti yoga, and raja yoga. These all are the types of paths that can lead to the same destination called liberation or pure consciousness. Here the path is not the point but one’s intention is important. If the desire is burning in your heart and you’re ready to through yourself on your path with absolute devotion, then abhyasa and vairagya can set you free from the conflicting psychology of the mind and can take a yogi towards freedom.

“Abhyasa and vairagya are the means one should first master so that meditation will follow easily”

No matter what kind of sadhana one is picking up the constant flow of practice needs to fix. It should become one’s personality. For example,

Karam yogi is fixed in his karma without any conflicts. He must perfect his karma without seeking the results with total awareness. With time he must come to the point where he becomes so perfect in his actions that it will eventually liberate him.

Bhakti yoga is the path of devotion but it also needs to be perfected one must leave his ahamkara (ego) completely and seek absolute with constant practice and detachment. However. Leaving ahamkara to form its root is not easy, bhakti teaches that as one became more and more devotional toward the higher reality or God or whatsoever name is given. As the devotion becomes stronger day by day the ahamkara or ego starts to lose its identification with the petty thing around us here as the vision becomes more clear  one starts to identify himself with one absolute reality (Pramatama or Brahama) and eventually becomes one with him/ higher consciousness. 

Gyan yogi seeks the same through constant self-introspection. He perfects his mind through Gyan (knowledge). It is been said in Vedanta that when one mistakes rope for a snake a lot of agitations and conflicts arise in the mind the entire psyche of the brain confuses people with scary stuff which does not even exist in reality. However, when one lit the lamp, the light brings the right knowledge of the rope then the realization can occur that makes one exposed to reality.

So no matter what path is been chosen by the yogi, if constant abhyasa and vairagya are practiced then awakening is the final product. Even all the meditation practices are required to be perfect only with constant practice however utter detachment is also needed at the same time. It is important to keep this in mind here and I think that is also one of the reasons why sage Patanjali has kept both words together in one sutra is that Although it is important to practice your sadhana constantly, detachment is equally important here.

One can not attach to practice because it will again bind the yogi and the yogi should not feel bound by anything no matter what is been done should be done with absolute freedom only one can reach the end goal. Because at the end a yogi is supposed to leave the sadhana as well and that stage comes later when the sadhana is no anymore in the process of perfection it has become one’s nature i.e it no longer remains sadhana, both practice and practitioner have become one. It is an instant experience that occurs after perfection is to be achieved with content abhyasa.

There is a very simple way of introspecting your mind. We are most of the time aware of our conscious desires however when we sit quietly and try to observe our mind then we will find the deep desires rising on the surface which is probably sitting at an unconscious or subconscious level. These cravings or desires are so deep-rooted that they put one into conflicts all the time. Here, if one pays little attention and observes the patterns of such cravings (vrittis) they will find that our ego (ahamkara) has identified them at such a deep level that person might feel like leaving himself or giving up in that process.

However, sadahka should keep in mind that we must give up our artificial self-identifications in order to get a universal identity or to reach our true identity.

Kindly visit part 2 of the blog to read in detail about the solutions to how to deal with mental pain or suffering and the process of detachment.

FAQ’s

What is the meaning of yoga and Hatha yoga?

The literal meaning of yoga is “to unite” or “union”. Therefore, yoga is the process or a path of uniting the individual consciousness with the supreme consciousness. However, to make the union possible one must undergo the transformation process at physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual levels for which various paths or types of yoga have been introduced. Such as hatha yoga, ashtanga yoga, karma yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, kriya yoga or raja yoga.

Hatha yoga: the word hatha is made of two words “Ha” and “Tha”. Ha means “sun” and Tha means “moon”. This implies that hatha is the union of two energies of the universe called feminine and masculine. Once these two energies are balanced in an individual union occurs. This entire process includes shatkarma (cleansing techniques), asana (poses), pranayama (breath work), mudra (hand gesture), bandha (energy locks), and samadhi (liberation). Hatha yoga is the preparation for the higher forms of yoga.

Is yoga all about flexibi lity and doing handstands?

To answer that question it is not at all about neither flexibility or handstands. Yoga is the process of transformation it offers the way out from the mental and psychological sufferings of the body. Doing handstands and splits is a great thing; however, yogis are not at all identified with their bodies, in fact, the body is looked at as a tool that can help one in the process of liberation which is the end goal. One must know that asana is just one aspect of yoga to make the body prepared for the next steps. One can sure take benefits of doing asana practices at the physical level but that’s just the side effect that follows.

The entire system of yoga is designed for a much greater purpose and it’s up to the practitioner how much they want to get or take from this tool of transformation.