Philosophy:Vritti

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Vritti (Sanskrit: व्रित्ति, IAST: vṛtti; also written vrtti or vritti) is a Sanskrit term with a broad range of meanings, including "turning", "activity", "function", "state", "conduct", "occupation", and "mode of being".[1][2]

In the philosophical system of Yoga, particularly in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, vṛtti refers to an activity, operation, or modification of citta (the mind or mental faculty). It does not itself mean "consciousness". In later explanations of yoga, these mental modifications have sometimes been compared metaphorically to waves or ripples on the surface of water.

Etymology and meanings

The noun vṛtti (वृत्ति) is formed from the Sanskrit verbal root vṛt (वृत्). Sanskrit lexicons record a wide range of meanings for the word. Monier-Williams gives senses including "rolling", "mode of life or conduct", "course of action", "state", "condition", "occupation", "profession", "maintenance", and "subsistence".[3]

Vaman Shivram Apte similarly gives meanings including "being", "state", "condition", "action", "movement", "function", "operation", "conduct", "profession", and "livelihood".[4]

The meaning therefore depends on context. The specialized psychological meaning associated with yoga is one use of a word that has a considerably broader history in Sanskrit literature.

Usage in the Yoga Sutras

The term is central to the definition of yoga in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Sutra 1.2 states:

योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः
yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ

The compound citta-vṛtti refers to the activities or modifications of citta. I. K. Taimni translates the sutra as "Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications of the mind."[5] In his 1914 translation of the Yoga Sutras and the traditional Yoga-bhāṣya, James Haughton Woods uses the expression "fluctuations of mind-stuff" for citta-vṛtti.[6]

Sutra 1.5 states that the vṛttis are fivefold and may be kliṣṭa ("afflicted") or akliṣṭa ("unafflicted"):

वृत्तयः पञ्चतय्यः क्लिष्टाक्लिष्टाः
vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ

The five classes are enumerated in Sutra 1.6:

प्रमाणविपर्ययविकल्पनिद्रास्मृतयः
pramāṇa-viparyaya-vikalpa-nidrā-smṛtayaḥ

They are:

  1. Pramāṇa (प्रमाण) – valid cognition or a means of valid knowledge. Sutra 1.7 identifies three forms: direct perception (pratyakṣa), inference (anumāna), and authoritative testimony (āgama).
  2. Viparyaya (विपर्यय) – erroneous or false cognition. Sutra 1.8 defines it as knowledge not established in the actual form of its object.
  3. Vikalpa (विकल्प) – conceptualization or imagination based upon words without a corresponding real object, as defined in Sutra 1.9.
  4. Nidrā (निद्रा) – sleep. Sutra 1.10 treats sleep itself as a vṛtti, describing it as based upon a cognition or mental content of absence.
  5. Smṛti (स्मृति) – memory or recollection. Sutra 1.11 defines it in terms of the retention or non-loss of an experienced object.[7]

Thus, in Patañjali's system, vṛtti is not synonymous with consciousness. Rather, it denotes the various activities, forms, or modifications attributed to citta.

Wave and ripple metaphor

The translation of vṛtti as a "wave" or "ripple" is especially associated with later explanatory metaphors rather than being its sole or literal lexical meaning.

Swami Vivekananda, in his exposition of Raja Yoga, compared citta to a lake and the vṛttis to waves and ripples arising upon it. He wrote that "Chitta ... is the mind-stuff, and Vrittis are the waves and ripples rising in it".[8]

In this analogy, the waves represent changing mental activities. The metaphor became influential in modern explanations of the Yoga Sutras, but "wave" or "ripple" should not be treated as the exclusive dictionary definition of vṛtti.[3][4]

Other Sanskrit uses

Outside the technical terminology of yoga, vṛtti has numerous meanings in Sanskrit literature. It may refer to a person's conduct or mode of life, an activity or function, a state or condition, a profession or means of livelihood, and, in grammatical and scholastic literature, a commentary or explanatory gloss.[3][4]

The broad semantic history of the word should therefore be distinguished from its specialized use in the compound citta-vṛtti in Pātañjala Yoga.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 1010. https://sanskrit.uohyd.ac.in/SKT/MW/247.html. 
  2. ↑ Apte, Vaman Shivram. "वृत्ति". The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Pune: Prasad Prakashan. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 1010. https://sanskrit.uohyd.ac.in/SKT/MW/247.html. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Apte, Vaman Shivram. "वृत्ति". The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Pune: Prasad Prakashan. 
  5. ↑ Taimni, I. K. (1961). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation and Commentary in English. Theosophical Publishing House. p. 6. ISBN 9788170592112. 
  6. ↑ Woods, James Haughton (1914). The Yoga-System of Patañjali. Harvard Oriental Series. 17. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 
  7. ↑ Woods, James Haughton (1914). The Yoga-System of Patañjali. Harvard Oriental Series. 17. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 
  8. ↑ Vivekananda, Swami. "Concentration: Its Spiritual Uses". Raja Yoga. https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_1/raja-yoga/concentration_its_spiritual_uses.htm. 

Further reading

  • Bryant, Edwin F. (2009). The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary. North Point Press. ISBN 9780865477360. 
  • Taimni, I. K. (1961). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation and Commentary in English. Theosophical Publishing House. ISBN 9788170592112. 
  • Woods, James Haughton (1914). The Yoga-System of Patañjali. Harvard Oriental Series. 17. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 



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