point—continuous, unremitting, prolonged for an indefinite period—has its own
consequences which are very advantageous. It breaks through the thick wall that is
obstructing the vision of Truth. These obstructions are nothing but the vrittis of the
mind.
The vrittis of the mind are the powerful tendencies of the mind to move outward in
the direction of objects. The senses drag the Self with a power which is unthinkable
and tie this Self to the peg of objects, so that it looks as though the objects are the
masters and the Self is the slave. Such a strange event has taken place. The master
has become the servant and the servant has become the master. This is the work of
the senses. They are the driving impetuous forces which violently blow like a tempest
and shift the attention of consciousness in the direction of objects.
This urge of the mind is called a vritti, a modification, a shape that the mind takes in
respect of a given object outside. It has some motives behind it, and these motives
are the objects of sense. The intention of the activity of the senses is the identification
of consciousness with the object so that the consciousness may go and impinge upon
the object, identify itself spatially and temporally with the object, cling to the object
and imagine that its comfort, joy and delight are in the object. This is what the senses
are intending to do, and they have no other activity. This tempestuous activity of the
senses is the essence of the vrittis. These vrittis are multifarious, multifaceted,
diverse, and very powerful. They are powerful because they are charged with the
force of consciousness itself, the power of the mind itself. We ourselves have sold
ourselves to these evil vrittis—the tendencies towards objects—and these tendencies
are so powerful that as long as they are active, there is no chance of the mind
thinking in another direction.
But by the intelligent analysis that we have been provided with in the system of yoga,
and the continued practice with persistence and ardour of feeling, a day will come,
the scripture tells us, when these vrittis will get attenuated. They will become
weakened in their power. There is no remedy for these vrittis except meditation
itself. Yogena yogo jñatavyo yogo yogat pravārtate (Y.B.III.6): Yoga is to be attained
through yoga, and yoga comes from yoga, says the Yoga Bhasya. Thus, in this sutra,
dhyānaheyāḥ tadvṛttayaḥ (II.11), Patanjali tells us that we need not be afraid of these
vrittis of the mind. They can be overcome, root and branch, by meditation itself. As
diamond is cut by diamond, mind is overcome by mind only; but as long as these
vrittis are present even in a very minute form, even subtly, they will become the
cause of rebirth. Sati mūle tadvipākaḥ jāti āyuḥ bhogāḥ (II.13). If the root is present—
well, the sprout also must be present. And if the root of suffering, the root of rebirth,
the root of transmigration is not completely dug out, then naturally it will manifest
itself as the tree of samsara.
The fruition of these vrittis which exist in a latent form is manifested as the kind of
life that we are living here, the circumstances under which we are born into this
world, the length of life for which we live, and any experience that we pass through.
Jati means the category, or the species, or the genus into which we are born. We may
be human beings, we may be men, we may be women, we may be this, we may be
that; this is called jati. Why is it that one is born as a man and another as a woman,
and one here and one there—one of this category, one of that category? This is
determined by the latent vrittis of the mind. The length of life—how many years we
are going to live in this world—is also determined by the nature of the fruition of