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The tenth sutra of the Samadhipada, of the Yoga Darshana, is the description, analysis and exposition to understand what is Nidrā vṛtti, Nidrā vṛtti. Nidrā as a Vritti.
It is really surprising how Nidrā can be a vṛtti and which has to be stopped or eliminated. And that is how beautifully the sutra goes. The tenth sutra is
अ॒भा॒वप्रत्ययालम्बना वृ॑त्तिर्नि॒द्रा ॥ १.१०॥
Abhāva-pratyayālambanā vṛttir nidrā ॥ 1.10 ॥
Abhāva-pratyaya-alambanā vṛttiḥ nidrā - Abhāva is absence, voidness, not having. Pratyaya is the experience of a particular object or experience for a particular moment. That is called pratyaya. Pratyaya is a special unique word used in Yoga Sutras which comes in other sutras also in the coming chapters.
But based on the place and the context, the meaning changes. So Abhāva pratyaya alambanā, alambanā is the support, or supported by, taking support. That is alambanā.
Vṛtti as we have seen, it is a modification of the citta and all the functions of the citta. And nidrā is sleep. Here nidrā is taken as a dreamless sleep.
As normally what we call as sound sleep. Sound and dreamless sleep. What is termed in generally understood as the suṣuptiḥ. Patanjali uses here the word nidrā. Because it is a vṛtti, as a vṛtti. So the meaning of the sutra goes as Swami Vivekananda translates it beautifully. He says, sleep is a vṛtti which embraces the feeling of voidness. That is the vṛtti based on an experience of total absence of any content, any vṛtti. And that is called as nidrā. And that is how the meaning, definition of nidrā is given and explained by Maharshi Patanjali. All of us, every day we experience nidrā. We go to sleep.
We experience sleep. When we experience sleep, we say we have a good sleep or have a sound sleep, refreshing sleep. These expressions will come after we wake up from the sleep. But during the sleep, we are not aware how we slept, how we are sleeping. What are we during sleep, that we are not aware. But after we wake up, we express the experience and quality of sleep.
So, during the sleep, there is a faculty of the citta which experiences. And that experience is exclaimed after coming out of the sleep. It is a very important dimension to understand in sleep. And what is that faculty? What is that experience? That is the pratyaya. That is termed as the pratyayā. And it is Abhāva, not having, absence. Abhāva is not having absence. Absence of what? Not having of what? Absence of jāgrat and svapna avasthās. That two are not having. That is the abhāva. But there is something, that is pratyaya. And alambanā is, it is supported by that experience.
The vṛtti, that modification, that expression, supported by voidness. And that is how the beautiful Sutra goes. That is, abhāva-pratyaya-alambanā vṛttiḥ nidrā.
And that is the beautiful word, which we should try to clearly understand. This abhāva-pratyaya. Abhāva-pratyaya is the experience of total absence. And nidrā, sleep, is not a state, it is a vṛtti. Patanjali defines, what are the states of the mind or citta? Citta, there are the five Bhūmikās. The mudha and other things, it will come in later Sutras. So citta is not absent in nidrā. Citta is not absent in nidrā, citta is there. But change of vṛtti will be there. And this change of vṛttis, as we understood earlier, is the change of state of the citta. Because there is a change of vṛttis, and citta is undergoing a change because of the vṛttis, it is a vṛtti, nidrā is a vṛtti. And it is pratyayasya abhāva - प्रत्ययस्य अभाव. Pratyayasya abhāva and abhāva-pratyaya. Abhāva-pratyaya, experience of the voidness. And voidness is experienced. Nothing is there. We don't remember anything.
And abhāva alambanā and alambanā abhāva it is. Means support on the abhāva, Nothingness, blank. But the blank is supported. Blank is supported and support of the blankness, voidness. And that is the nidrā. Abhāva-pratyaya or pratyayasya abhāvaḥ. And it is said beautifully, Swami Vivekananda refers the difference between sleep and Samadhi. He says a fool entering into sleep returns as a fool. But a fool enters, goes into Samadhi, but returns as a wise man. What is the difference there? If the nidrā is citta in Tamasic state. Citta has three qualities. If the vṛtti is with the tamasic state, that is the nidrā. And this word vṛtti is again repeated in this particular sutra. Not in the earlier pramāṇa-viparyaya-vikalpa the word vṛtti is not used. Because it is very clear in that. Nidrā is transitory state. The vṛtti is transitory, temporary state. We sleep and we wake up. And nidrā and samādhi may look similar. But the difference is, in nidrā, the vṛttis are there.And we remember that we slept. And this important difference, that is the difference between samādhi and nidrā. That non-existence, that is the abhāva-pratyaya, is the non-existence of wakeful state. And not an absolute non-existence. It should be very clear. This abhāva-pratyaya is non-existence of wakeful state. And it is not the absolutely non-existence. It is not that. And the disturbed sleep, heaviness in the sleep, dullness in the sleep, that is because the Tamasic nature of the nidrā and the Rajas combination. And if the tamasic quality of the nidrā combines with the Sattva, then you have a good sleep. Freshness, a bright intelligence, mind is clear, you feel lighter. This experience is because of Tamasic nature of the sleep combined with Sattva.
The fact that we remembered sleep, the experience of sleep, itself is a proof that it is everything. And that memory, that remembrance, is the smṛti. Then what is smṛti? That we shall see in the next Sutra.
So nidrā, which we undergo every daily, regularly, is not necessary just for the physical rest. It is a psychological, at a mental level, at a citta level, it is a modification of the citta. That is one of the reasons, or in fact maybe the reasons, that the practice of Yoga reduces the hours of sleep, maintaining the freshness, energy, reducing the physical fatigue, and enhancing the enthusiasm, enthusiasm, dynamism, lightness.
This is the contribution of the practice of Yoga, because there is the citta vṛtti is under control. And let us see that important dimension of what is memory, what is that faculty, which we remember, which was responsible for the way we slept, we remember it. That is the smṛti, the next Sutra.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued..
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These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/zIYiTdk6JV8?si=qE-1N4xyM9xpfl-yRead n Get Articles, Magazines, Books @ http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org
मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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