Patanjali states of mind_1

 Know where you are: 

It is very useful to be aware of these stages, both in the moment, and as a general day-to-day level at which one is functioning.

 It reveals the depth of practice that one might be able to currently practice. 

Some aspect of yoga meditation applies to every human being, though we need to be mindful of which is most fitting and effective for a person with this or that state of mind.

Two of the states are desirable: Of the five states of mind (described below in more detail), the later two (one-pointed and mastered) are most desirable for the deeper practice of yoga meditation. 

For most people, our minds are usually in one of the first three states (disturbed, dull, or distracted). 

To deal with the troubled mind and the lethargic mind is progress, leading one to a merely distracted mind, from where one can more easily work on training the mind in one-pointedness.

Stabilize the mind in one-pointedness:

 By knowing this, we can deal with our minds so as to gradually stabilize the mind in the fourth state, the state of one-pointedness . This is the state of mind which prepares us for the fifth state, in which there is mastery of mind. 

(If the first two states are dominant or intense enough they manifest as mental illness.)

Knowing where your mind is now ...tells you how to get where you're going.

1. Kshipta/disturbed: 

The ksihipta mind is disturbed, restless, troubled, wandering.

 This is the least desirable of the states of mind, in which the mind is troubled. 

It might be severely disturbed, moderately disturbed, or mildly disturbed. 

It might be worried, troubled, or chaotic.

 It is not merely the distracted mind (Vikshipta), but has the additional feature of a more intense, negative, emotional involvement.

2. Mudha/dull: 

The mudha mind is stupefied, dull, heavy, forgetful. With this state of mind, there is less of a running here and there of the thought process. It is a dull or sleepy state, somewhat like one experiences when depressed, ( not meaning only clinical depression.) 

It is that heavy frame of mind we get into, when we want to do nothing, to be lethargic, to be a "couch potato".

The dull mind is barely beyond the disturbed mind, only in that the active disturbance has settled down, and the mind might be somewhat more easily trained from this place. 

Gradually the mind can be taught to be a little bit steady in a positive way, only occasionally distracted, which is the next state. Then the mind can move on in training to the Ekagra and Nirodhah states.

3. Vikshipta/distracted: The mind is distracted, occasionally steady or focused. This is the state of mind often reported by students of meditation when they are wide awake and alert, neither noticeably disturbed nor dull and lethargic. 

 in this state of mind, one's attention is easily drawn here and there. 

This is the monkey mind or noisy mind that people often talk about as disturbing meditation. 

The mind can concentrate for short periods of time, and is then distracted into some attraction or aversion. 

Then, the mind is brought back, only to again be distracted.

The Vikshipta mind in daily life can concentrate on this or that project, though it might wander here and there, or be pulled off course by some other person or outside influence, or by a rising memory. This Vikshipta mind is the stance one wants to attain through the foundation yoga practices, so that one can then pursue the one-pointedness of Ekagra, and the mastery that comes with the state of Nirodhah.

4. Ekagra/one-pointed: The Ekagra mind is one-pointed, focused, concentrated (Yoga Sutra 1.32). 

When the mind has attained the ability to be one-pointed, the real practice of Yoga meditation begins. 

one can focus on tasks at hand in daily life, 

practicing karma yoga, the yoga of action, 

being mindful of the mental process and 

consciously serving others.

 When the mind is one-pointed, other internal and external activities are simply not a distraction.

The ability to focus attention is a primary skill for meditation and samadhi.

The person with a one-pointed mind just carries on with the matters at hand, undisturbed, unaffected, and uninvolved with those other stimuli.

 . The one-pointed mind is fully present in the moment and able to attend to people, thoughts, and emotions at will.

The one-pointed mind is able to do the practices of concentration and meditation, leading one onward towards samadhi. 

This ability to focus attention is a primary skill to develop for meditation and samadhi.

5. Nirodhah/mastered: The Nirodhah mind is highly mastered, controlled, regulated, restrained (Yoga Sutra 1.2). 

 The real understanding of this state of mind comes only through practices of meditation and contemplation. 

There is no suppression of thoughts and emotions.. 

One arrives at a 

 natural process when the mind is one-pointed and becomes progressively more still as meditation deepens. 

It is not that the thought patterns are not there, or are suppressed, but that attention moves inward, or beyond the stream of inner impressions. 

In that deep stillness, there is a mastery over the pr

ocess of mind. It is that mastery that is meant by Nirodhah.