Definition of Vrttis of the Mind
I have read that we have somewhere around 60,000 thoughts a day and that 80% of those thoughts are repetitive. Of those repetitive thoughts, 80% are negative! I found that statistic to be rather amazing and somewhat disheartening. These thoughts create our reality and our suffering or lack of suffering. Yoga teaches us that we can do something about these thoughts, that we can become aware of the activities of our mind and that we can do something about these negative thoughts.
But first Patanjali has to define exactly what the mind is before we can learn how to control it. He defines the mind as the activities (vrttis) that occupy it.
Y.S. I.5 Vrttayah pancatayyah klistah aklistah
There are five activities of the mind. Each of them can be beneficial and each can cause problems.
Y.S. I.6 Pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra smrtayah
The five activities are right knowledge, misconception, imagination, deep sleep and memory.
The activities, or vrttis, are each defined:
Y.S. I.7 Pratyaksa anumana agamah pramanani
Right knowledge is based on direct observation of the object, inference and reference to reliable sources.
Y.S. I.8 Viparyayo mithya-jnanam atad rupa pratistham
Misconception occurs when knowledge of something is not based on its true form.
Y.S. I.9 Sabda jnana anupati vastu-sunyo vikalpah
Imagination is the comprehension of an object based only on words and expressions even though the object is absent.
Y.S. I.10 Abhava pratyaya alambana tamo vrtti nidra
Deep sleep is when the mind is overcome with heaviness and no other activities are present.
Y.S. I.11 Anubhuta visaya asampramosah smrtih
Memory is the mental retention of a conscious experience.
These are the five kinds of vrttis, or thought forms, that we must be aware of and be able to see them for what they are in order to be able to find inner peace. Knowing this, the next question should be how to control these vrttis, because in reality, they seem to be controlling us.