The Sixth Sutra 🪴

The Sixth Sutra (1.6) is PRAMANAVIPARYAYAVIKALPANIDRASMRTAYAH. Whoaaa quite the mouthful huh? Breaking it up it means:

• PRAMANA = Correct Understanding
• ⁣VIPARYAYA = Incorrect/Invalid Understanding
• ⁣VIKALPA = Imaginary
• ⁣NIDRA = Dreamless Sleep
• ⁣SMRTAYAH = Memory

These are all VRITTIs which are revolving behaviors of the mind. These are all ways in which the mind keeps churning, spinning, is in motion.

The next 5 Sutras go into each of these in more depth. When I read the above, I was honestly a bit lost as to how the heck does correct understanding “PRAMANA” be wrong/bad for the mind? I mean, isn’t one of the goals of yoga to find truth? Also, how is imagination “VIKALPA” wrong/bad? Don’t we need it to conceptualize meaning beyond the physical or material world? In yoga and meditation I feel like we’re always saying things like “imagine”, “use your mind’s eye”, and “visualize”.

Off the bat, I can see how me thinking about these as wrong/bad aspects of the mind is probably not the intention of identifying these vrittis.

I don’t really know too much about nidra besides it’s another form of yoga where you focus on energy points within your body using visualization and your mind’s eye. So this one also feels weird to be in here. Smrtayah or memory - okay I can see how this belongs here. Holding on to our past or relying on false memories could be obstacles for our quest for true knowledge.

I’ll work to update this as I read the sutras.

SUTRA 1.7 PRATAKSANUMANAGAMAH PRAMANANI

This is referring to the vritti arising from PRAMANA or “Correct Understanding. Whaaaaaat?

Okay PRATYAKSA = Sense Perception. ANUMANA = Inference. AGAMAH = Revelation/Knowledge acquired through sacred texts, textbooks, or teachers.

All of these are ways in which you can arise at correct understanding or pramana.

The book by Pandit Rajami Tigunait notes that “any form of information or knowledge on the material plane, even perfectly valid knowledge, is a vritti. It is to be quieted. To reach samadhi, the mind must be free from all vrittis, brought to a single focus, and turned inward.”

Help! I still don’t understand WHY this is a vritti. How does this in and of itself cause the mind to churn/spin/rotate/fluctuate?

I suppose when you are seeking understanding, then that results in you thinking but in that case it isn’t the correct understanding that is causing the churn, it’s the seeking… right?

I will phone a friend on this one and report back.