Five Chittas: Kshipta, Mudha, Bikshipta, Ekagra, Niruddha  

Chitta is a Sanskrit as well as Pali language word which means the consciousness of the human mind. In the famous book of Patanjali Yoga Sutra, he describes Chitta in detail. We can find the word Chitta is Buddhist literature too but we are focusing this article what Patanjali describes in his book of yoga. The most beautiful exposition of Yoga Sutra can be found in Vyasa’s writing. He has described five types of Chitta and their nature as Patanjali wrote. Vyasa has made Yoga Sutra very simple to understand.

The meaning of Chitta is the mind or our heart or the emotional part of our self which can affect all our activities of daily life. Chitta can lead us in the direction of its nature. There are five states of our chitta. We can upgrade our state of Chitta by regular practice of yoga. Yoga can neutralize our Chitta and maintain the peace of mind. Patanjali focuses on removing the Brittis (the fluctuation of the mind) of Chitta. The five types of Chittas are as follows:

Kshipta (Distracted)

Mudha (Dull)

Bikshipta (Partially Concentrated)

Ekagra (One Pointed)

Niruddha (Controlled)

1. Kshipta (Distracted)

Kshipta is the state of mind where most of the people are standing, most of the time. In general, people are in this state with the fluctuation of the mind. In the waking time we are in this state but not in sleeping. In this state, we are in the reckless situation. Our mind fluctuates with thoughts and feelings. This state is led by the Rajas Guna. In this state, people run for the materialistic gain. They want to work more and more for their growth. The chain of our desire never ends and we can’t come out from this state without great commitment. They indulge in love and hate. They have the ambition to achieve something in their life. They want to show to the people who he or she is.

Attachment and selfishness lead us to this state of mind. This is the agitated state of the mind. The mind can’t stay in one place and it scatters around different affairs of our life. We have to practice to be one-minded to get rid of this state. The regular practice of yoga can bring us one-mindedness.

2. Mudha (Dull)

Mudha is the lowest state of our consciousness of the mind. This state of our mind leads us to the dullness, laziness, delusion, fear, and sleepiness. Lust, greed and other many negative feelings can cause this kind of state of mind. This is the state; one doesn’t want to work anymore. The person in this state has the bad habits and he or she can’t think what is wrong and what is right. The restless mind brings us in this state. This state of the mind is led by the Tama Guna. This kind of mind is not alert to anything.

In this state of the mind, we can’t perform any creative activities because the mind becomes lethargic. Sometimes our mind can’t decide what to do and can’t think anymore. In that state of mind, we can be in the Mudha state. This kind of state of mind can lead us to the depression if we are in this state for the long period of time. This kind of mind is bad for anyone and we have to come out of this mind as soon as possible. In yogic practice, we can find the way to be free from this state of mind.

3. Bikshipta (Partially concentrated)

This is the state of our mind, sometimes concentrated and sometimes distracted. In the search for spirituality, we want to become one-minded but our mind cannot be still. This is the mid-state in the quest for higher achievement. We are led by the Sattva Guna sometimes and sometimes we cannot be in sattva guna. We can be in the rajas and tamas sometimes.

In this state, our mind cannot focus continuously on the spiritual path. In the concentration, we can be distracted and we have to bring our awareness again. It is not negative but we have to come out from distraction to the concentration again and again. We have to determine to continue the spiritual path at any cost. We should have firm determination to continue our spiritual path despite the distraction. We don’t have to be affected by any kinds of fluctuation of our mind.

4. Ekagra (One Pointed)

In the path of spirituality when we can focus on the meditation only, we can be in the Ekagra (Partially concentrated) state. This is the state of one-mindedness in our goal. If we cross the Bikshipta state, we can be in this state. It is the higher state of the spiritual path but not the highest state. We have to continue to practice our task in this state even we get the hints of our successful ascendance.

Ekagra Chitta is led by the Satva Gun. When the detachment increases with worldly affairs in our practice of yoga, we can realize that we are in the Ekagra state. Yogis are in this state and this can be said the Short-term Samadhi, lower Samadhi. Yogis can stay in one place without eating anything in the meditation. They get the wisdom inside.

5. Niruddha

 Niruddha is the state of our mind which is the highest. In this state, the yogis are in the state of beyond three Gunas. This is the state of higher Samadhi or the state of Kaibalya, as many Hindu scriptures mentioned. The perfected yogi only can be in this state. In this state, yogi gets the liberation.

This is the state of complete control of the mind in the hand of Yogi. Yogi can lead his thoughts and feelings what he wants. He doesn’t become a slave to the thoughts rather than the yogi can control all the thoughts and feelings. Now, he needs nothing but he does everything as usual. No task is become compelled for him to do. He never affects the outside situation of this world. He doesn’t walk by the ego, his ego totally dissolves and he gets the supreme state. In this state, all the Brittis of Chitta can be controlled by the yogis. All three Gunas are balanced and yogi becomes more than Gunas.

In this way, we can say that the Niruddha Chitta is the higher state of our mind. To get this state, we have to practice yoga continuously. When we can omit all the Brittis of our Chitta, our goal of spirituality can be achieved. Without removing all the fluctuations of our mind, we can’t achieve the Niruddha state of Chitta. This may take a long period of time; we should continue our journey without rushing. We have to be happy in the process of our journey.