Identification with the movements of our mind (prakṛti) can distract us from recognizing and awakening to our Essential Nature (puruṣa), which is always present. Therefore, it can be helpful to understand the various movements that otherwise bind attention and prevent self-realization.

In the following seven sutras, Patañjali provides us a clear view of the five ways mental activity can arise and cloud perception. Right understanding leads to right orientation, so that in each moment we may break free of our identification with thoughts, and free attention to discover our underlying Essential and unchanging Nature.

What are the movements of the mind that often bind attention?

I. 5. vṛttayaḥ paṇchatayyaḥ - kliṣṭâkliṣṭâḥ

The mind can be categorized as being comprised of five principle activities, states or moods that give rise to our experience of happiness, pleasantness, pain, difficulty, or neutrality.

Identification with the mind’s attitudes of happy, pleasant, painful, difficult, or neutral gives rise to our experience of dissatisfaction and suffering. The practices of yoga help dissolve identification, thereby clearing the way for discriminative perception, insight, and wisdom whereby we realize we are more than any changing attitude that’s arising. We must keep in mind, however, that awakening and enlightenment are not dependent upon the elimination of these activities (prakṛti), but upon recognition of our Essential Nature (puruṣa) that exists independent of any and all of the activities of the mind (See also Yoga Sutra I.3).

What are these five principle activities, or moods of the mind?

I. 6. pramâṇa - viparyaya - vikalpa - nidrâ - smṛtayaḥ

We need to understand the five categories, activities, or movements of the mind, so that we don’t become reactively caught up in and identified with them. These activities are:

(1) Right cognition, reasoning, perception, or intuition, which is assumed to be reliable and therefore to constitute our ability to discern right knowledge;

(2) Misapprehension, unsound thinking, or wrong knowledge, which is based on incorrect assumptions, presumptions, beliefs, self-judgments, deductions, and inferences;

(3) Imagination, hallucinations, or delusions, which are totally unrelated to facts;

(4) Sleep, lethargy, torpor, or dullness, which arise as a result of identification with, and succumbing to the movement of thought, that gives rise to the belief/feeling that it is impossible to break free; and

(5) Memory, which is our recollection of a teaching, experience, notion, or image.

We perceive the existence and workings of the mind through understanding how these five principle movements of the mind function. We must understand that these are filters, modifications, fluctuations, or cycles of thought. By understanding their nature, identification with these movements can be broken, and correct apperception of our Essential Nature (puruṣa) can arise. That said, we must constantly remember that our Essential Nature is always present, but is often ignored as a result of identification with these five movements.

What is right cognition, reasoning, perception, or intuition?

I. 7. pratyakṣa - anumâna - âgamâḥ - pramâṇâni

Right cognition is derived from one of three principle sources:

(1) Direct perception whereby understanding is recognized directly and accurately;

(2) Deductive reasoning, which is an extension of direct perception whereby, in the absence of direct experience, we deduce understanding through the application of logic based on previous knowledge, which may lead to correct understanding, or our false presumption that “since this comes from a reliable source, it must be correct”; and

(3) Scriptural or other trustworthy testimony whereby we accept as proof the statements of others whom we accept as an authority.

Right Cognition occurs in three ways:

1) Our senses provide reliable perceptions, which enable us to perceive and recognize an object directly and accurately.

2) When the senses cannot provide accurate information, the mind can develop an understanding through deductive reasoning based upon prior knowledge.

3) When our senses and mind cannot provide accurate information, our mind can rely upon reliable, authoritative sources.

What is incorrect knowledge?

I. 8. viparyayo - mithyâjñânam - atadrûpapratiṣṭham

Unsound thinking and incorrect knowledge, which is the most frequent activity of the mind, is due to our inability to correctly observation or infer right understanding. Our inability to perceive correctly is based on errors in cognition that we don’t recognized in the moment, or even during subsequent actions. Hence, our thinking is faulty and unsound, as there is no agreement between the perception and reality, between our experience and our description of our experience.

In unsound thinking gives rise to incorrect knowledge due to one of five aspects:

(1) avidya: our inability to perceive correctly

(2) asmitâ: identification with the ego I function of the mind

(3) raga: attachment

(4) aveṣa: aversion

(5) abhiniveśa: blind clinging and refusal to relinquish

What is imaginative or delusive cognition?

I. 9. śabdajñânânupâtî - vastuśûnyo - vikalpaḥ

Imaginative , hallucinatory or delusional cognition is perception without substance, or words that have no corresponding reality, however inspiring or satisfying they may appear to be.

Imagination is created by identification with mental impression of an object, which arise without direct observation, or through faulty communication. So long as perception occurs with the help of words, imaginative delusions will arise. The opposite—truth-bearing wisdom (ṛtambhâra prajñâ)—is based on perception that lies beyond the five categories, or modifications of the mind.

What is sleep?

I. 10. abhâvapratyayâlambanâ - vṛttirnidrâ

When we identify with the content of the mind as an absence or void, sleep prevails, which is our identification with a state of mental inactivity. Sleep is a state characterized by identification with the cessation of cognition. Sleep (nidra) occurs as a daily activity, or as a result of boredom, exhaustion, or physical or mental lethargy. It is a state of mind characterized by identification with the inert state of mind (tamas).

During sleep there is lack of awareness and understanding of the blank or void state that is present. But sleep is a mental state and can be witnessed like any other cognition. Meditation does not stop simply because gross or subtle cognition ceases.

In the waking state the thinking mind, senses, and organs of action are operational. In the dream state only thinking is active. In the dreamless state all three are inactive. Yoga enables us to experience the ability to witness even the dreamless state.

What is memory?

I. 11. anubhûtaviṣaya - asaṁpramoṣaḥ - smṛtiḥ

Memory arises when we cling to, or retain impressions created by past experiences. Because memory is based on past impressions, it prevents current, accurate observation and understanding, and is therefore categorized as a distraction, and should be witnessed like any other cognition.