“Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 2 is a Lakṣaṇa Sūtra in that it
describes the characteristics of Yoga as Citta Vṛtti Nirodha.”
– TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 2

“Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 2 is not Yoga Sarva Citta Vṛtti Nirodha.
This is a relative Sūtra, which allows for a gradual evolution.”
– TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 2

“The mind is like a fluid,
which can modify into different things.
A sense of change.
Thus restraining modifications is channelising.”
– TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 2

“Yoga arises from
the containment of,
our propensity to fluctuate.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 2

“Yoga is the experience of stillness,
within the fluctuations of mind,
rather than the experience of stillness,
of the fluctuations of mind.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verses 2-3

“At all other times we identify with
the fluctuations within the mind.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 4

“The mind modifies perception.
Though you might even say that,
the mind muddifies perception.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 4

“Given the at all other times in this verse,
we need to thwart the ploys of the mind to
conform to its unhelpful fluctuations by reducing:
1. The tendency of the mind to perceive in too many ways.
2. The tendency of the mind to distort what we see.
3. The tendency of the mind to fantasize.
4. The tendency of the mind to go to sleep at inappropriate moments.
5. The tendency of the mind to get lost in memory or impose memory on reality.
When these old or other tendencies take over you are not there.
So if you are not consistent with your efforts,
you will not change your state of mind.
Plus, the unhelpful aspects of the fluctuations reduce
the tendency of the mind to experience a clarity of being.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 4

“In Sūtra 1.4 what are the fluctuations that
we personally most often conform to?”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 4

“Mental activities are called Kliṣṭa when they result
in Duḥkha and Akliṣṭa when they do not.
When the three Guṇa are dominant,
Jīva is troubled and mental activities result in Duḥkha.
When the mind is free from desires, inclined toward discrimination
and seeking truth, mental activities do not result in Duḥkha.
– T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 5

“These fluctuations fall into five groups
and can be helpful or unhelpful.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 5

“Rāja Yoga is the relationship we have with our thoughts,
notably those that afflict, as in knock down or weaken, us.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 5

“In Sūtra 1.5 Patañjali suggests that the psychic
fluctuations will be either Kliṣṭa or Akliṣṭa.
How can we discern?”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 5

“In this Sūtra, Patañjali lists the five types of mental activities:
Pramāṇa Vṛtti, Viparyaya Vṛtti, Vikalpa Vṛtti, Nidrā Vṛtti, and Smṛti Vṛtti.
Vṛtti and Pariṇāma are synonymous, meaning “change of form”.
These five Vṛtti represent changes in the characteristics and functions of the mind.”
– T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 6

“Although the activities of the mind are countless,
Patañjali categorizes all of them in one of five groups:
Pramāṇa, Viparyaya, Vikalpa, Nidrā, and Smṛti.”
– T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 6

“In Sūtra 1.6 Patañjali identifies the psychic
fluctuations as being fivefold.
In looking at this statement,
which of these are you engaging?”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 6

“Vikalpa is a particular kind of Citta Vṛtti in which understanding
arises from the spoken word. Is this kind of understanding valid or not?
Patañjali, in the definitive Mahābhāṣya commentary on Saṃskṛta grammar,
states that the essence of the spoken word is not separate from the fact
or object it refers to. Objects themselves cannot express their various aspects;
only Śabda can present them to us. Śabda can convey nuances
of meaning that only a special faculty of the mind can grasp.
Such an ability to comprehend is not given to everyone.
The essence of this Sūtra is that Vikalpa is the mental activity by
which what is spoken is understood to mean what it represents,
even when the actual thing is not present.
Thus when we hear the word Sarpa we know it means snake
even though there is no snake present at the moment.”
– T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 9

“Deep sleep is the fluctuation of obscuration,
supporting an absence of mental activity.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 10

“In Sūtra 1.10 Patañjali defines Nidrā as a
Citta Vṛtti or, a specific type of cognition, one
where Tamas is the object, to the point where
the mind’s link with external stimuli is cut off.
How do we discern between states such as
Pratyāhāra as a disengagement, or Samādhi,
where one is as if empty of one’s own character,
and what is seen as the experience of Tamo Nidrā?”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 10

“In this Sūtra Patañjali states that there are two ways
to discipline the five types of mental activity.
They are Abhyāsa and Vairāgya.
Abhyāsa is practice.
Vairāgya is to disconnect or sever the link
between the Citta and external objects.
These two, Abhyāsa and Vairāgya,
always go together as a pair.”
– T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 12

“The perception that something is desirable is Sukha.
This perception sets in motion an urge to possess it.
This is Rāga.
Whether what is desired will give a lasting happiness is a different matter.”
– T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 7

“We see ourselves within a mirror
reflecting the opposing fluctuations
of Rajas Guṇa and Tamas Guṇa.”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 15

“How to relate with the inner conundrum that we are
thinking or feeling we are changing every 5 minutes.
Yet, from within that seeming flux we can observe that
we are only appearing to be changing every 5 minutes.
This implies that there is something else, not obvious,
yet constantly abiding within our psychic fluctuations.
Yoga offers a journey towards a direct experience of that
which perceives within our coalesced sense of “I” Am-ness.
In other words, how to be with that we call awareness or
the observer within the seeming seduction of the observed,
given that both mind and senses are part of the observed?”
– Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 18

“You have to practice in such a way that
day to day the breath gets longer and subtler.”
– From T Krishnamacharya’s composition,
the Yoga Rahasya Chapter Two verse 30

“In Yoga it is said that everything that happens is from the mind.
Citta is the mindstuff, the perceptual mechanism.
That which makes us see and remember.
Vṛtti is the activity, transformation, motion, modification, that is caused in Citta.
The mind is the main function for seeing,
without it the senses are useless.
The mind can develop words or ideas.
The mind can remember.”
– TKV Desikachar on Sāṃkhya and Yoga

“Yoga is more about exploring
the movement of the mind, whilst
Āsana is more about exploring
the movement of the body.
The vehicle common to exploring both
is the movement of the breath.
The yoking of all three is towards the goal of
experiencing the source of all movement.”
– 108 Yoga Practice Pointers

Different Types of Postural Activity in Āsana Practice
“Furthermore, the consideration of movement
or stasis sits within a relationship to the
deeper purpose of Āsana within our journey
through the body and the breath, to the mind
and beyond, through considerations such as:
In relation to the fluctuations of the Guṇa.
Ideally, dynamic work is a state of still movement,
rather than a state of active movement, as in Rajas.
Equally, static work is a state of bright stasis,
rather than a state of dull stasis, as in Tamas.
Thus, in relation to the Guṇa, the application
of both movement and stasis in Āsana need to be
appropriately supported by a quality of Sattva.
As in a quality of stillness within dynamic work
and a quality of brightness within static work.”
– 108 Yoga Planning Pointers
– The Viniyoga of Planning Principles Guidelines – Collected & Collated

“Containing the Body,
or Kāya Nirodha
doesn’t always imply that…
you can contain the Breath.
Containing the Breath,
or Prāṇa Nirodha
doesn’t always imply that…
you can contain the Mind.
Containing the Mind
or Mano Vṛtti Nirodha.
doesn’t always imply that…
you can contain the Psyche.
Containing the Psyche,
or Citta Vṛtti Nirodha
doesn’t always imply that…”
– 108 Yoga Study Path Pointers

Links to Related Posts:

• T Krishnamacharya Yoga Sūtra Study Quotes Collected and Collated
• TKV Desikachar Yoga Sūtra Study Quotes Collected and Collated
• Paul’s Yoga Mālā – A Thread of Pearls from Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra
• Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Keywords – Collected & Collated into Chapters
• Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Questions – Collected & Collated into Chapters
• Compendium of Quotes from TKV Desikachar on the Yoga of T Krishnamacharya……
• Principles behind why Krishnamacharya only taught adults 121……
• Sound – A Means Beyond Āsana and Prāṇāyāma……
• TKV Desikachar talks on Śraddhā in the light of the Yoga Sūtra……
• We must respect the practice involving the body…….