The Cause of Unhappiness : 6.

Now, this is an indication of what is to be done. We have suffered from various diseases for the last ten years. What are the kinds of disease that attacked us? We can find out the predominance of these illnesses and the peculiar characters of the diseases to which we are susceptible – the major problems of our life as illness. Likewise, the major or predominant character of the vrittis of the mind can be discovered by a careful analysis of an average taken in this manner. Everyone has desires; everyone has vrittis; everyone has distresses, anguishes, etc., but they vary in tones of expression.


The way in which one reacts to the external conditions of life, normally speaking, is the nature of one’s person – and it is this that has to be subdued.  It is not one vritti that we are subduing; it is the entire tendency of the mind to manifest as vrittis. It may manifest itself as many vrittis, many types of vrittis, but whatever be the types or the ways in which it manifests itself, it has a general character. The general character is the indication of the difficulties that are likely to be faced by us in the future. The past will give an indication of the kind of future that we have to face. Though details may vary, the general features may be the same. We have lived for so many years in this world and we can understand what sort of experiences we had. Similar types of experience are likely to be repeated.


This general feature of the mind, the total character of the vrittis, should be taken into consideration at one stroke at the time of the practice of meditation in yoga. This cannot easily be done by a casual look at the mind or a desultory analysis of the ways in which our mind manifests itself. Many a time we forget various aspects of the mind and take into consideration only certain aspects. Also, it is unlikely that we may agree that the vrittis of the mind are all defects of the mind. Many of us will be under the impression that they are certain justifiable moods that the mind manifests for certain benefits. But it is not so. Every vritti is a defect. It cannot be regarded as a benefit in any manner whatsoever because a vritti – whatever be the nature of that vritti – is an urge within to drive us away from ourselves to a condition which is external.


What is yoga except the prevention of this tendency of the mind and an attempt of a counteracting nature, enabling it to rest in its own self? The vrittis of the mind,  are summed up in the single word ‘citta’. What is to be suppressed or eliminated is not any one vritti, but the citta-stuff. Citta is not merely the conscious mind or the mentation process, but the stuff of the mind. “The modification of the mind-stuff” are the words used. The stuff of the mind is the substance out of which the entire internal organ is constituted – what we call thinking, feeling, willing, memory or remembrance, etc. Various functions are there, including even ego.

To be continued  ...