Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 5
वृत्तयः पञ्चतय्यः क्लिष्टाक्लिष्टाः ॥५॥
vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭa-akliṣṭāḥ ||5||
The fluctuations are fivefold and they afflict or don’t afflict.
vṛtti - fluctuation; modification; turning; set in motion, course of action, behaviour, movement; activity, function; profession, mode of life or conduct, course of action, behaviourpañcataya - fivefold; having five parts or limbskliṣṭa - afflicted, tormented, distressed; connected with pain or sufferingakliṣṭa - not afflicted, tormented, distressed; untroubled, undisturbed, unweariedCommentaries and Reflections
Commentary by T Krishnamacharya:
“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.”
“With discipline and modest fare.
Stay lean and keep the fire going in your belly.
Think of God and repeat his words
– silently and out loud.
If you want to be happy take up Yoga.
If you don’t; don’t.
Follow your Dharma.
Stay where you belong.
Sing songs and thank the sun every day.
Look sharp, a vagrant mind will lead you astray.
Practice, pay attention and be amazed.
Doubt burns up everything, including the doubter.
To banish it bow down to the Lord.”
Commentary by TKV Desikachar:
“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.”
Commentary by Paul Harvey:
“These fluctuations fall into five groups
and can be helpful or unhelpful.”
“Rāja Yoga is the relationship we have with our thoughts,
notably those that afflict, as in knock down or weaken, us.”
“In Sūtra 1.5 Patañjali suggests that the psychic
fluctuations will be either Kliṣṭa or Akliṣṭa.
How can we discern?”