Patanjali has given the most beautiful technique of yoga in his famous book Yoga Sutra. He arranged yoga in a scientific manner making easy to understand and practice. He explained human psychology and managed yoga accordance of the psychological state of people. Brittis are the main cause of the fluctuation of our mind so we have to remove all our Brittis to attain salvation. He separated Chitta Brittis in different five types. Explaining yoga Patanjali stated that “Yogaschittabriti Nirodha.” Yoga is removing of fluctuation of the mind. The five Brittis are as follows:
- Pramana (Correct knowledge)
- Viparyaya (Incorrect knowledge)
- Vikalpa (Imagination or fantasy)
- Nidra (Sleep)
- Smrti (Memory)
The states of our mind can lead us to the destination of different points of their nature. The real knowledge can overcome the fluctuation of our mind. Yoga can maintain the peace of our mind. Five Brittis of our mind can teach how our mind works. If we understand the trick of our mind, we can understand what is real and what is not. To get rid of all the Brittis, we have to practice yoga in our life. Explanation of five Brittis of Chitta:
1.Pramana (Correct knowledge):The word Pramana means the evidence in Sanskrit language, so the real meaning of Pramana is the knowledge which is based on the evidence. Pramana is the knowledge of the reason and logic. Pramana is the knowledge which is based on the direct experience. There are two kinds of knowledge in the world, first one is direct and second is inference which is based on the imagination.
According to Patanjali, the knowledge doesn’t have to be perceived by the five senses but we have to see the practical application in our life of the knowledge. The valid knowledge is the best. We don’t have to believe the knowledge which is said by others. We have to experience the knowledge by ourselves. We have to perceive the real knowledge. We have to distinguish the real and unreal knowledge.
In total, we can say that the real knowledge is the knowledge of our experience. Any of the knowledge is neither real nor unreal but the knowledge becomes real if the knowledge can help us in our practical life.
2. Viparyaya (Incorrect knowledge): sometimes we think that something is correct but if we go into the deep study, we realize that the knowledge is not correct. The incorrect knowledge, which seems to be correct, is called Viparyaya. We imagine something by our limited knowledge to be the real appearance when our illusion disappears, we can understand the reality of the things.
The knowledge which is gained by our five senses is unreal but seems to be very real. Most of the person of the world think real which can be sensed by our five senses but in reality, the knowledge by five senses is not real. When we practice yoga and get enlightened, we know the supreme reality. The supreme reality cannot be affected by the situation.
We may think to swim in the river is very easy but in reality, we can’t swim in the real. Sometimes, we can think the task is very easy from the surface but the reality becomes too hard because we can’t perform the activities in real. So, we have to recognize the reality of the world in the path of spiritual journey. We have to see everything as they are.
3. Vikalpa (Imagination or fantasy):Vikalpa is imagination which we create in our mind by ourselves. This is the truth that we think something is real by our fantasy. Our life becomes whatever we think about our life. If we think life is hard, life will be really hard in the reality. Our subconscious mind doesn’t analyze either something is real or not but it follows what our conscious mind guides it. If we think ourselves as a successful person in our life, we become successful because there into limitation to be successful in our life. If we think we are happy in our life, we become happy in our life. There is not an absolute reality for our subconscious life but in spirituality, our journey begins to the search for the ultimate reality.
In this world nothing is real but all the realities are as our mind creates they are. Our search should go to the search for real knowledge of the universe.
4. Nidra (Sleep):Nidra is the deep sleep which is the state of our mind in which all the thoughts and ideas absent. If we can sleep soundly, we can be refreshed after we wake up from our sleep. In our sleep, we forget our knowledge, everything about ourselves. If unnecessary thoughts disturb us, we can’t sleep well. If we can’t sleep well, we can’t awake in the fresh mood. We cannot be healthy and happy. We have to rest properly and wake up with new inspiration in our life. We don’t indulge in the daydreaming. We have to be aware all the time to walk in the path of enlightenment.
The disturbed mind can’t awake during the day and can’t sleep soundly at the night. We have to overcome all the fluctuations of our mind to be in the path of the higher goal of our life, i.e. yoga. Stress disturbs us in the path of purification.
5. Smrti (Memory):Memory is the way which leads us to the past. By memory, we can be lost in the past days of our life. We can be happy by remembering the happy moments of the past or we can be unhappy by remembering our sad past events. By the vehicle of the memory, we start to live in our past rather than at the present. We think that we should do that and shouldn’t do that in the past. We become trapped in the past and can’t go ahead in our life. Past can’t be corrected so we have to forgive our past and start our journey to the higher achievement. Past can make us crippled and stop us from our purpose of our life.
In reality, we have to be the audience of all types of Brittis of our mind. We don’t have to be attached with any of those Brittis because they can’t lead us to the higher level of spiritual growth. We have to make still our mind by practicing yoga on a regular basis in our life.
The purpose of yoga is to make people aware of their way of life wherever and whoever they are. To make them able to differentiate between what is real and what is fake knowledge. Patanjali focuses on the factor that we don’t have to hang up on unnecessary activities thinking that they are real.