Hi all.
A first point to emphasize is the relationship between the word yoga and nirodha which introduce and end this sutra. Indeed, the word yoga itself took on two meanings over time: the first commentators of the Ys say precisely that the word yoga is derived from the root YUJ- meaning to put to rest, which is found in French in the verb “juguler” (to brake, to control). Later on, another translation will be often preferred, bringing YUJ_ join, unify, closer together. In AYP, Yogani will make us move forward jointly between the discovery of inner silence, the fruit of the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind, and the “ecstatic bliss” gradually leading us to Union.
Thus it is evident in the coherence of the Ys that “chittta vritti nirodha” unequivocally focuses the basis of the practice as “stopping the fluctuations of the mind” or for my part “stopping the trains of consciousness” joining Christi here by including in the term “train of consciousness” everything that will be described in the following sutras (YS 1.6 and following) thus in an inclusive way (thoughts, memories, emotions, affects,…) projecting us into a train of consciousness as soon as we are no longer in the state of Yoga (YS 1.4). I use the term train to show that the isolated contents of consciousness are less alienating than the dynamics that generate and carry them, a train whose destination we do not control, the term vritti meaning whirlwind.
If we come back to the practice – which is important to all of us here – when Yogani describes Dm as the center of ayp practice, he “sets to music” this sutra in a simple and effective way. In fact, the use of the mantra is not a “chitta vitti”, a train of consciousness that is added to our personal trains of consciousness, but a form of brake, imposing not a repression or a struggle but a gradual slowing down, a calming down of these trains of consciousness that carry us away in a kind of waking dream, a form of “taming” to use Alain’s term.
Another point to emphasize is that this sutra and practice is not some kind of isolated preliminary exercise that will be abandoned as soon as we have deeper and deeper experiences, Samadhis. Indeed, in sutra 1.18 the YS specify that even in Samadhi without support (the content of which they are careful not to describe in order to avoid producing new trains of consciousness), there remain “memorial contents” capable of producing new “trains of consciousness”. Indeed, if in the state of Samadhi without support there are no formal contents of consciousness but a Presence that only covers the inner silence, if each Samadhi profoundly changes in us what we are, it is not an end but a stage on the path that leads to deliverance. So before and after each Samadhi will remain “chitta vritti nirodha”, the search for inner silence not as a static exercise but as the more and more living discovery of this divine ocean that is inner silence.
But next to these timeless moments that are the Samadhis, “Chitta vritti nirodha” is not limited to our DM sessions but will gradually become a cardinal constituent of our spiritual as well as personal evolution. Indeed, as we persevere in our practice, in everyday life a new inner sensitivity manifests itself that alerts us as soon as we are identified with our trains of consciousness as underlined in the fourth sutra (Ys 1.4). It must be emphasized that this is not a conscious effort to “extirpate” them by force; which will be ineffective, but an inner “signal” resulting from the emergence of a new “inner sense” resulting from practice. For example, I drive and I realize that I am no longer focused on my driving but that I am “leaving” in a set of memories, I then return to my behavior, without facing them or taking pleasure in them, in the same way that in the Dm I quietly return to the mantra. In this case, the “brake” is no longer the mantra but the concentration on my activity, a concentration that is already, whatever its object, an extension of my practice.
This suffering, (YS 1.5) the signal that we are “subjugated” can concern our body, pain, an energy deficiency or on the contrary an overexcitement, our emotions (sadness, anger, …) or our thoughts (incomprehension, feeling of absurdity) but also a spiritual suffering resulting from the awareness that we are losing our spiritual path, the unbreakable and dynamic link that unites us to the inner silence. Whether it’s DM or everyday life, the first step is always the sudden realization that we are on a train of consciousness, a waking dream. This awareness will sharpen gradually. It will not interfere in any way with our daily activities, on the contrary it will make us more efficient, more balanced and more focused, the benefit being as much personal as spiritual. Then comes the cessation of these movements that escape us.
Thus we understand to what extent Dm of the AYP and Chitta vrittis nirodha of the Ys designate the same thing, the installation of the Drastr, pure consciousness in its own form (YS 1.3) which is no longer a form of consciousness but a “spiritual form”, the inner silence, the living fullness all along our path.
