What are the vrittis? They are not substances. They are not things to be seen with the
eyes. They are only energies of the mind. They are the forces of the mind itself, or
rather, they are the desires of the mind; these are the vrittis. The various likes and
dislikes in the mind are really the vrittis. And, what is this like and dislike, desire,
etc? It is the urge that is felt inside the mind itself which propels it towards
something outside, whether it is a physical object or a conceptual notion. This urge
within is the disease of the mind. That is the obstacle. That is the impediment. There
is an inner pressure felt by the mind itself, due to which it is obliged to move out of
itself in respect of an object of sense. This is the sarvarthata vritti.
An ekagrata vritti is not normally present in the mind. It has to be brought about; it
has to be introduced by effort. This is samyama; this is, precisely, yoga. The
ekagrata vritti is the healthful tendency of the mind, the power with which it keeps
the organism of the mind intact and prevents any kind of depletion of energy. The
integrating force, which is the ekagrata vritti, will not allow the leaking out of
mental energy in respect of objects outside. It blocks all the passages of sense and the
tendency of the mind. But these tendencies are also powerful enough, so they try to
break through the fortress which has been built by the ekagrata vritti, and then,
somehow or other, try to get out, just as prisoners can run out of the jail in spite of
the great guard that is kept around them. Somehow or other something happens, and
they get out. This is what happens, says Patanjali: sarvārthatā ekāgratayoḥ kṣaya
udayau cittasya samādhipariṇāmaḥ (III.11).
Therefore, we should not be under the impression that the moment we sit for
meditation we are in a peaceful ocean of milk and honey. It is not like that. This is
when the real war takes place. In the beginning it was only a preparation for this
great Armageddon. And, the war that takes place inside is more fearful and more
difficult to face than any kind of warfare that we could have heard of. It is not like the
political wars or the external tussles that we hear through the passage of history. This
is more painful because it is connected with the subtler layers of being. Also, the
subtler the level, the greater is the sensitivity felt; therefore, the pleasures and the
pains—both—are more intense on the subtler levels than on the grosser levels.
Hence, the joys of meditation as well as the pains that precede this experience of
delight are both equally very intense.
Thus, there is a great competitive activity going on inside the mind between two
aspects of it—the higher and the lower, as we may call them. There is, on the one
side, the desire to ramify the mind into the various objects for the purpose of contact,
and on the other, the effort to centre the mind. We usually lead a life of external
relationship. This is withdrawn, and the rays of the mind are brought back to the
centre by the ekagrata vritti. So on the one hand there is an attempt at the
withdrawal of the rays of the mind to the centre, and on the other hand there is the
tendency of the mind itself to allow the branching out towards objects.
We can observe in our own selves, many a time, that we have two tendencies.
Sometimes we like to give vent to our own sentiments, and we feel great pleasure in
it. We have some feelings which we may call weaknesses. They are the sentiments.
There is no logic behind them. “I like it”; that is all we say. Why we like it, we do not
know. We like to give ventilation to that particular sentiment, and we become happy.
And at other times, we are more rational with our mind. We begin to argue out: “Why
should this sort of inclination, which is completely out of my control, arise in my