What is Vṛtti?
वृत्ति (Vṛtti) — Fluctuation / Thought-Wave
Deep Understanding
Imagine walking to a perfectly still lake to see the reflection of the moon. If the wind is blowing, the lake is covered in ripples. You do not see the moon; you see a thousand shattered, distorted fragments of moonlight bouncing off the waves. The lake is the mind (Chitta). The moon is your true soul (Purusha). The ripples are Vrittis. A Vritti is literally any movement in consciousness. As long as Vrittis are firing, the consciousness mistakes itself for the chaotic thoughts ('I am sad,' 'I am brilliant'). Only when the Vrittis are perfectly ceased (Nirodha) can the soul finally gaze upon its undisturbed reflection.
The central antagonist in the Yoga Sutras. The entire eight-limbed path (Ashtanga) is an escalating series of physical, respiratory, and psychological interventions designed to stop the Vrittis.
Core Principles
- 1Every waking moment is a succession of thousands of Vrittis
- 2Patanjali categorizes them as either painful (causing suffering) or not-painful
- 3You use not-painful vrittis (like repeating a mantra) to cancel out the painful ones
- 4Ultimately, even the spiritual vrittis must be dropped to attain Samadhi
In Practice
The next time you are overwhelmed, visualize your thoughts literally as physical waves crashing in your skull. Each wave is a Vritti. Do not fight the wave. Let the wave crash. Focus your attention entirely on the silent, hollow gap that exists between the end of one wave and the start of the next.
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