"Popular definitions of yoga often include terms such as balance, harmony, health, and peace. While these qualities are certainly desirable, and must be created before one can enter the state of fixity, or yoga, they are not included in the definition Patanjali offers us in his Yoga Sutras, the classic second-century B.C. exposition generally accepted as the bible of yoga."
"There, in the second verse of the first chapter, he defines yoga with a simple Sanskrit phrase, Yogas citta vrtti nirodah, which means "the resolution of the agitations of the mind." Patanjali explains in the first part of the Sutras that cessation of the mind-stuff must come from a complete fixity of the mind; by fixing the mind, it becomes one-pointed (ekagrata), and this process leads ultimately to the lack of fluctuations called yoga."
"Manas is the portion of the mind that functions automatically, through various brain centers. It regulates breath, heart rate, and digestion, controls growth and repair, and directs the growth of a child. It cannot be called "lower mind" because it carries out exceedingly complex functions and thus frees other parts of the mind for study, thought, and creation. Ahamkara is best translated as ego. It distinguishes the "I" from the "not I.""
Patanjali defines yoga as the resolution of the agitations of the mind, requiring cessation of mental fluctuations through complete fixity of the mind. Fixity is achieved by making the mind one-pointed (ekagrata), which leads to the lack of fluctuations called yoga. Citta, translated as pure consciousness, encompasses manas, ahamkara, and buddhi. Yoga is an applied philosophy based on Samkhya, so understanding what "mind" means is essential for stilling it. Manas governs automatic bodily functions — breath, heart rate, digestion — controls growth and repair, and directs a child's growth. Ahamkara functions as ego, distinguishing the "I" from the "not I."
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