Rāja Yoga Study Group
Samādhi Pāda · Lesson 3
Welcome to Samādhi Pāda, Lesson 3. Enter Patañjali’s opening definition of Yoga, then explore Citta, its five modes, Vṛttis, and the mind as a reflector of reality through Swamiji’s teaching, then integrate what you observed in your journal.
- 1 ListenReceive Swamiji’s teaching without rushing.
- 2 ExploreSelect each term in the interactive infographic.
- 3 IntegrateReflect, practise, and complete the guided journal.
Sūtra 1.1 · The Auspicious Beginning
Now, Yoga Begins
The video could not be loaded. Please refresh the page or contact Ambika.Now begins the exposition of Yoga—of Samādhi.
Interactive Infographic
The Four Movements of Readiness
Select each petal to follow Swamiji’s teaching: the sacred “now,” the true goal, the preparation, and the sign of readiness.
Atha · Now
The Sacred Now
Atha is “now,” but it is also a word of blessing. It marks the rare and auspicious moment when the teaching is present and a student is ready to receive it.
“Now” is a sacred opportunity, not merely a point in time.
Manana · Reflection
What would it mean for me to become ready—now?
Sūtra 1.2 · The Definition of Yoga
Inside Citta-Vṛtti-Nirodha
Yoga is the restraint—or stilling—of the modifications of the mind.
Interactive Infographic
Inside the Definition of Yoga
Select each petal to explore one term. These terms belong to the sūtra; they are not chronological steps.
Yoga · Samādhi
The State Being Defined
After announcing the exposition in 1.1, Patañjali now defines Yoga. Here Yoga is the state of Samādhi.
Here Yoga means Samādhi: citta-vṛtti-nirodha.
Manana · Reflection
How does your understanding of Yoga change when nirodha is approached as restraint rather than only as complete stopping or annihilation?
Sūtra 1.2 · Deep Dive I
What Is Citta?
The video could not be loaded. Please refresh the page or contact Ambika.Citta may name the storehouse of memory and, in a broader sense, the entire inner instrument.
Interactive Infographic
The Four Faculties of the Inner Instrument
Antaḥkaraṇa means the inner instrument. Select each faculty to see its function. In this teaching, citta can also name the whole inner instrument.
Citta · Storehouse
The Memory Faculty
In its narrower meaning, citta is like the subconscious storehouse: it holds memories, instincts, and learned habits.
Citta can mean one faculty—and it can also name the whole inner instrument.
Manana · Reflection
In this moment, what can you notice being remembered, imagined or doubted, discerned, and finally claimed as “I” or “mine”?
Sūtra 1.2 · Deep Dive II
The Five Modes of Citta
The same inner instrument may be scattered, dull, alternating, one-pointed, or fully restrained. These modes describe its present operation—not who you are.
Interactive Activity · Notice Before Revealing
Which Mode Is Operating?
Read each situation and choose a mode before revealing the teaching response. The modes describe how citta is operating in a moment—not a fixed personality or diagnosis.
The Jumping Mind
During meditation, attention moves from a sound to an email, to breakfast, to tomorrow, and then briefly back to the mantra. Which mode seems most present?
The Depleted Mind
After prolonged stimulation, you read the same sentence several times but cannot take in its meaning. Which mode may be operating?
Gathering, Then Wandering
You understand the teaching for several minutes, drift into planning, notice it, and return. Which mode does this illustrate?
The Steady Flame
Attention remains steadily with one question, allowing deeper understanding to emerge. Which mode is being cultivated?
Is Ordinary Calm Niruddha?
You feel peaceful for two minutes after relaxation. Does that necessarily mean citta is in Niruddha?
Interactive Infographic
One Mind, Five Ways of Operating
Select a mode to explore how citta is operating. These are changing modes—not fixed personalities or diagnoses.
Kṣipta · Scattered
The Monkey Mind
Attention jumps from object to object. Thinking becomes fast, reactive, superficial, and unable to remain with one line of inquiry.
Many impressions; little depth.
Manana · Reflection
Which mode is most present now—and what do you notice in your attention, energy, and reactivity?
Sūtra 1.2 · Deep Dive III
Vṛttis — From Ripple to Whirlpool
A vṛtti is an active movement taking shape in citta—from a subtle thought we can witness to an intense pattern that absorbs attention.
The Different Expressions of Vṛttis
How Vṛttis Appear in Citta
After listening to Swamiji, compare the forms and intensities he describes: one observable thought-wave, many thoughts interfering with one another, and a powerful whirlpool awakened by deeper vāsanās.
Swamiji’s teaching: Vṛttis can appear in a mild form or become intense whirlpools. A powerful vṛtti can arise from an awakened vāsanā and draw us into identification.
Interactive Activity · Experience the Movement
Ripple, Interference, Whirlpool
Pause after each prompt and observe what actually appears in citta. Reveal the teaching only after you have noticed your own experience.
Hear One Word
Read the word mountain. Close your eyes for ten seconds. What image, memory, feeling, or association appeared?
Many Movements Meet
Imagine a mountain. Now remember breakfast, hear the nearest sound, think of an unfinished task, and return to the mountain. What happened to the first image?
The Unanswered Message
You send a message and receive no reply. What stories might the mind create? Which story could absorb your attention as though it were already true?
Name Without Becoming
Complete this sentence silently: “A __________ vṛtti is present.” Then notice what changes when you do not say, “I am __________.”
Interactive Infographic
How a Movement Takes Hold
Choose each named image. A vṛtti is the movement happening now; saṃskāra is the impression left behind; vāsanā is a deeper tendency formed from accumulated impressions.
A Single Ripple
One Thought Enters
Like a drop touching still water, one thought creates expanding ripples. It may fill awareness, yet remain easy to witness.
A movement is present; it is not the whole of you.
Interactive Teaching · Before the Activity
The Canyon in the Mind
Follow one movement as it leaves a trace, deepens into a vāsanā, and meets the conscious pause through which a yogi begins to establish a new sattvic direction. Choose a stage below or select Next Step.
The water is moving now. The active movement is the vṛtti.
Interactive Activity · Follow the Pattern
From One Vṛtti to a Deeper Tendency
Do not treat vṛtti, saṃskāra, and vāsanā as three separate objects. Follow one experience through time: notice what is active, what remains latent, and what may later awaken again.
Important: An observable reaction is first a vṛtti. It may reveal—or may have been conditioned by—a deeper vāsanā, but we do not diagnose a vāsanā from one emotion alone.
Swamiji’s Coffee Example
Open each stage in order01 · EXPERIENCEThe Present Movement
I drink coffee and experience its taste, warmth, smell, pleasure, and stimulating effect.Vṛtti — what is actively moving in citta now.
02 · TRACEThe Experience Subsides
The cup is finished. The immediate experience disappears, but something remains.Saṃskāra — the impression left behind.
03 · REPETITIONImpressions Accumulate
The experience repeats each morning: pleasure, stimulation, comfort, readiness.Related saṃskāras join earlier impressions.
04 · TENDENCYA Pattern Takes Root
Eventually the thought appears: “I cannot begin my day or work without coffee.”Vāsanā — a latent tendency that can condition behaviour.
05 · TRIGGERThe Tendency Awakens
One morning, I smell coffee from another room.The latent vāsanā may become activated.
06 · NEW MOVEMENT“I Need Coffee”
Attention and the body lean toward the desire. If followed automatically, the cycle may be reinforced.A new vṛtti conditioned by the awakened vāsanā.
Reconstruct the Cycle
Open one situation · identify the four parts · then compareReceiving Criticism
A correction awakens embarrassment and “I am not good enough.” Similar experiences repeat. Years later, a small helpful correction brings: “They do not respect me.”
Checking the Phone
A notification brings curiosity and brief pleasure. Repeated hundreds of times, even silence later produces: “Maybe I should check my phone.”
Food and Familiarity
Familiar food repeatedly brings family, comfort, and satisfaction. Later, unfamiliar food produces: “Where is the real food?”
Being Ignored
A child is repeatedly interrupted and thinks, “What I say does not matter.” As an adult, one glance at a phone brings: “No one respects me.”
Conclusion · Interactive Teaching
The Canyon in the Mind
A movement leaves a trace. Repeated traces deepen a familiar channel. Yoga begins when awareness creates enough space to stop feeding the old canyon and consciously cultivate a clearer direction.
movement nowSaṃskāra
trace remainsRepetition
groove deepensVāsanā
old canyonPause
awarenessSattvic
direction
Stop · Perceive the vṛtti · Allow a pause · Clarify fact and reflection · Engage consciously
The vṛtti may still be present, but I no longer have to become the vṛtti.
Manana
Which movement is present now: a ripple, interference, or a whirlpool?
Sūtra 1.2 · Deep Dive IV
From Reflection to Reality
Citta represents reality as a lake reflects a mountain. A steadier mind offers a clearer image—but the reflection is never the mountain itself.
Interactive Activity · Fact and Reflection
The Mountain and the Lake
For each situation, distinguish the observable reality from the representation created in citta. A reflection may contain useful information, but it is not the whole mountain.
“She Did Not Answer”
Which part is the mountain? Which parts are reflections: “She is angry,” “She is ignoring me,” “She is busy,” or “Her phone is off”?
The Interruption
You are speaking and someone interrupts. Separate: the observable event, the meaning your mind adds, and the automatic impulse that follows.
Clear or Disturbed Lake?
Recall a time when a strong emotion changed how you interpreted another person. Did the mountain change, or did the condition of the reflecting lake affect the image?
Choose the Response
Take five natural breaths. Ask: What is fact? What did my mind add? What can I understand now? Which response is clearer, kinder, and more truthful?
Interactive Infographic
The Mountain and the Lake
Choose each part of the analogy to distinguish Reality, its mental representation, and the consciousness that makes knowing possible.
The Mountain · Reality
Reality Is Not Its Reflection
The mountain exists independently of its image. A reflection may reveal shape and colour, yet it remains a representation—not the mountain itself.
A representation can give knowledge of reality, but it is not reality itself.
Manana · Reflection
Where might I be taking a mental representation—about myself, another person, or a situation—to be reality itself?
SPACE Practice · Samādhi Pāda
Create SPACE Between Vṛtti and Response
From Automatic Reaction to Conscious Response
This journal guides you through one complete SPACE practice. You do not need to stop the vṛtti or make the mind perfect. The purpose is to recognise the movement, allow a pause, clarify what is real, and respond consciously.
A Practice to Remember
The SPACE Method
Use these five movements whenever a vṛtti begins to carry you toward an automatic reaction.
Create SPACE between the vṛtti and the response.
S · Stop
Interrupt the automatic movement before it becomes an action.
Stop does not mean suppress. It means: do not act automatically.
P · Perceive the Vṛtti
Notice the movement in citta and in the body without making it your identity.
“A vṛtti is present.” I can perceive the movement without becoming the movement.
A · Allow a Pause
Take five natural breaths without following the vṛtti or fighting it.
The pause is not suppression. It gives awareness room to become wider than the reaction.
C · Clarify Fact and Reflection
Distinguish the mountain from the image taking form in the lake of citta.
A reflection may reveal something real, but it is not the whole mountain.
E · Engage Consciously
Let awareness and discernment participate before action.
The practice is not to have no vṛttis. The practice is to create SPACE and choose consciously.
TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Live Knowledge Check
Before we continue, let’s pause and see how clearly the main teachings have been understood.
This is not an exam. It is an opportunity to observe, reflect, and learn together.
During our live Study Group, we will move through a series of short questions exploring:
- Atha and the meaning of readiness
- Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ
- Citta and Antaḥkaraṇa
- Manas, Buddhi, Ahaṃkāra and Citta
- The five modes of Citta
- Vṛtti, Saṃskāra and Vāsanā
- The Mountain and Lake analogy
- Applying the SPACE practice to daily life
How it works
- 1. ReflectRead the question and choose your answer.
- 2. VoteEveryone answers before the teaching is revealed.
- 3. RevealWe uncover the correct answer together.
- 4. UnderstandA short explanation connects the answer back to the teaching.
- 5. DiscussSome questions will invite us to go deeper and apply the teaching to real situations.
Ready?
10 questions · Interactive · Learn together
Live group activity · Your facilitator selects the group’s agreed answer on this screen, then reveals the teaching.
Learning together
Take a moment to revisit what became clearer and what you would like to explore further.