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Yoga is defined as restraint of fluctuations in the consciousness. It is the art of studying the behaviour of consciousness, which has three functions: cognition, conation or volition, and motion. Yoga shows ways of understanding the functionings of the mind, and helps to quieten their movements, leading one towards the undisturbed state of silence which dwells in the very seat of consciousness. Yoga is thus the art and science of mental discipline through which the mind becomes cultured and matured.

This vital sutra contains the definition of yoga: the control or restraint of the movement of consciousness, leading to their complete cessation.

Citta is the vehicle which takes the mind (manas) towards the soul (atma). Yoga is the cessation of all vibration in the seat of consciousness. It is extremely difficult to convey the meaning of the word citta because it is the subtlest form of cosmic intelligence (mahat). Mahat is the great principle, the source of the material world of nature (prakrti), as opposed to the soul, which is an offshoot of nature. According to samkhya philosophy, creation is effected by the mingling of prakrti with Purusa, the cosmic Soul. This view of cosmology is also accepted by the yoga philosophy. The principles of Purusa and prakrti are the source of all action, volition and silence.

Words such as citta, buddhi and mahat are so often used interchangeably that the student can easily become confused. One way to structure one’s understanding is to remember that every phenomenon which has reached its full evolution or individuation has a subtle or cosmic counterpart. Thus, we translate buddhi as the individual discriminating intelligence, and consider mahat to be its cosmic counterpart. Similarly, the individuated consciousness, citta, is matched by its subtle form cit. For the purpose of Self-Realization, the highest awareness of consciousness and the most refined faculty of intelligence have to work so much in partnership that it is not always useful to split hairs by separating them. (See Introduction, part I – Cosmology of Nature.)

The thinking principle, or conscience (antahkarana) links the motivating principle of nature (mahat) to individual consciousness which can be thought of as a fluid enveloping ego (ahamkara), intelligence (buddhi) and mind (manas). This ‘fluid’ tends to become cloudy and opaque due to its contact with the external world via its three components. The sadhaka’s aim is to bring the consciousness to a state of purity and translucence. It is important to note that consciousness not only links evolved or manifest nature to non-evolved or subtle nature; it is also closest to the soul itself, which does not belong to nature, being merely immanent in it.

Buddhi possesses the decisive knowledge which is determined by perfect action and experience. Manas gathers and collects information through the five senses of perception, jñanendriyas, and the five organs of action, karmendriyas. Cosmic intelligence, ego, individual intelligence, mind, the five senses of perception and the five organs of action are the products of the five elements of nature – earth, water, fire, air and ether (prthvi, ap, tejas, vayu and akasa) – with their infra-atomic qualities of smell, taste, form or sight, touch and sound (gandha, rasa, rupa, sparsa and sabda).

In order to help man to understand himself, the sages analysed humans as being composed of five sheaths, or kosas:

Sheath	Corresponding element
Anatomical (annamaya)	Earth
Physiological (pranamaya)	Water
Mental (manomaya)	Fire
Intellectual (vijñanamaya)	Air
Blissful (anandamaya)	Ether

The first three sheaths are within the field of the elements of nature. The intellectual sheath is said to be the layer of the individual soul (jivatman), and the blissful sheath the layer of the universal Soul (paramatman). In effect, all five sheaths have to be penetrated to reach emancipation. The innermost content of the sheaths, beyond even the blissful body, is purusa, the indivisible, non-manifest One, the ‘void which is full’. This is experienced in nirbija samadhi, whereas sabija samadhi is experienced at the level of the blissful body.

If ahamkara (ego) is considered to be one end of a thread, then antaratma (Universal Self) is the other end. Antahkarana (conscience) is the unifier of the two.

The practice of yoga integrates a person through the journey of intelligence and consciousness from the external to the internal. It unifies him from the intelligence of the skin to the intelligence of the self, so that his self merges with the cosmic Self. This is the merging of one half of one’s being (prakrti) with the other (purusa). Through yoga, the practitioner learns to observe and to think, and to intensify his effort until eternal joy is attained. This is possible only when all vibrations of the individual citta are arrested before they emerge.

Yoga, the restraint of fluctuating thought, leads to a sattvic state. But in order to restrain the fluctuations, force of will is necessary: hence a degree of rajas is involved. Restraint of the movements of thought brings about stillness, which leads to deep silence, with awareness. This is the sattvic nature of the citta.

Stillness is concentration (dharana) and silence is meditation (dhyana). Concentration needs a focus or a form, and this focus is ahamkara, one’s own small, individual self. When concentration flows into meditation, that self loses its identity and becomes one with the great Self. Like two sides of a coin, ahamkara and atma are the two opposite poles in man.

The sadhaka is influenced by the self on the one hand and by objects perceived on the other. When he is engrossed in the object, his mind fluctuates. This is vrtti. His aim should be to distinguish the self from the objects seen, so that it does not become enmeshed by them. Through yoga, he should try to free his consciousness from the temptations of such objects, and bring it closer to the seer. Restraining the fluctuations of the mind is a process which leads to an end: samadhi. Initially, yoga acts as the means of restraint. When the sadhaka has attained a total state of restraint, yogic discipline is accomplished and the end is reached: the consciousness remains pure. Thus, yoga is both the means and the end.

(See I.18; II.28.)