Spiritual Message for the Day – Yoga - The Study of the Inner Structure of the Mind by Sri Swami Krishnananda

Baba Times Digest© | 15 March 2015 19.29 EST | New York Edition

Yoga - The Study of the Inner Structure of the Mind

Divine Life Society Publication: Achieving the State of Cosmic Experience by Sri Swami Krishnananda

(Spoken on January 3, 1973)

The study of the vritti is the entire task of yoga. The condition of the vritti, or the particular modification of the mind in respect of objects, is the condition of our life. Whatever the vrittis are, that we are. We are almost inseparable from the situations through which our mind passes because life is experience, and experience is associated so intimately with the stages and states of our mind that, we may say, mind is life and life is mind. If this is the fact, the mind is, again, inseparable from its constituents, and these constituents of the mind are known as the vrittis. Thus, by a gradual reduction to the minimum of the processes involved in our life as a whole, we conclude that the modifications of the mind are an explanation of everything.

Now, what are these modifications? They are certain transformations which the mind undergoes on account of stimuli which it receives from outside. The term ‘object’ that we use here in yoga psychology has a peculiar significance that is slightly different from the common-sense definition of it. In this psychology of yoga, the object before the mind or before the psyche is not necessarily something physical outside, but it is any kind of form that is presented to the mind. The object is better put as ‘form’ rather than any kind of concrete substance. The shape presented before the mental operation is its object. Thus, the object of the mind may be external or it can be purely internal. A concept also is an object. Just as when a physical object is perceived it casts the mind into the mould of that particular form of the object, in the same way, when a thought arises in the mind, the mind gets cast into the mould of even that concept.

So the vritti of the mind studied in yoga is that modification of the mind into which it is cast by either an external perception of a physical object or by purely the rise of a concept within itself. How do concepts arise in the mind? Whenever an idea,  concept or notion arises in the mind, that becomes an object for the mind. The mind temporarily is cast into the formation or the mould of that concept, and there is a vritti even in internal perception. Even if we close all our sensory avenues, shut our eyes and plug our ears and have no sensations outside, there can be an object for the mind, which is samsara or existence binding us to temporal life even if our senses are not operating.

Hence, the yoga psychology tells us that the study of the mind is a more difficult task than merely an analysis of sensory perception. Though it is true that the mind depends upon the senses for its knowledge, it does not always depend on sensory activity for undergoing any transformation into a vritti. It is not true that the vritti of the mind takes place only when there is sensory perception. Even a mere thought can cause a vritti. Concisely speaking, a vritti is any kind of modification of the mind into a particular form.

What is a form? The form which we call an object for the purpose of our study here is a location of consciousness. It is the tethering of our thoughts into a particular spot, the fixing of our attention on a particular notion in terms of space and time. The form is inseparable from the space-time concept. As a matter of fact, there is no form without space-time, and the very idea of the operation of a limiting adjunct such as space-time is the determining factor of any form. The mind cannot escape transforming itself into vrittis under any circumstance. Even if there be no physical objects, it will be in samsara; it will be in a process of vritti. Therefore, the study of yoga is a very deep-rooted subject which is not merely a theoretical formation of ideas concerning the outer structure of object, but is primarily a study of the inner structure of the mind.

Excerpts from: Yoga –The Study of the Inner Structure of the Mind - Achieving the State of Cosmic Experience by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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