The Advaitist

What is Yoga? Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations (vRRitti) of the mental plane (chitta). Once that is achieved, the seer resides in its own true nature, otherwise the seer is absorbed in the fluctuations of the mental plane. What are vRRitis? There are five kinds of mental fluctuations - right knowledge, error, imagination, sleep and memory and these may be either detrimental or non-detrimental to the practice of yoga. Right knowledge consists of sense perception, logic and verbal testimony. Error is false knowledge stemming from incorrect notion of something. Imagination is the usage of words that are devoid of an actual object. Deep sleep is the mental state based on absence of any content. Memory is the retention of images of sense objects that have been experienced. What is chitta? In Yoga, human body consists of three layers: a. Gross Physical body b. Subtle Internal body c. Soul or puruSha The Internal body is know as chitta and consists of three layers: a. manas or mind,...

Yoga assumes the same cosmological doctrine as the Samkhya, but while Samkhya pertains to the Universal condition of Nature, Yoga deals with Individual condition of Nature. It believes that the gross individual must have a subtle aspect from which it is manifested and to which it will return. This manifestation of an individual is as a result of the dynamic energy of the individual's past action (karma). "Yoga is the restraint of mental modifications" - Patanjali. jIva is the Individual Soul and is the subjective aspect of the individual in the phenomenal world. It is that which produces the feeling of Being.