5 mental states

In traditional Indian psychology [1], the mind is considered to be in one of these five states at any time:

1. kṣipta - jumpy, agitated, disturbed, unsettled on any object for an extended time (rajasic),

2. mūḍha - torpid, dull, stuporous, disinclined to think (like a TV addict!) (tamasic),

3. vikṣipta - a better or special kind of kṣipta - still unsettled and distracted, but can think about objects for a longer time or do self-reflection, (rajasic+sāttvic),

4. ekāgra - settled state, on any object, for an extended period, but subject to distraction without conscious control. A surface calm, with turbulence/distraction at deeper levels, (sāttvic),

5. niruddha - effortless settled state, with calmness at deeper levels as well due to removal of impurities and complexities that cause distractions, (greatest level of sattva).

The Vyāsa Bhāṣya [3] says that the esoteric state called samādhi is characteristic of *all* the states of citta or consciousness. Traditionally though, only the fourth and fifth states are considered conducive to, or examples of, samādhi.

NOTES

[1] Vyāsa talks about them in his very first comment on Pātañjala Yoga Sutras [2] sutra 1.1

[2] Some 2000 years ago, a systematic compilation of yoga tenets known at the time was made. It was called Pātañjala Yoga Sūtras (PYS) after its compiler, Patañjali who put them into sūtra (thread/suture) form.

[3] The PYS are not easy to grasp as, e.g., many terms are not defined before their first use. So, as with the other famous Sūtras, contextual information, or explanation, was given as a bhāṣya, or commentary, on each sutra. Traditionally, the first bhāṣya on the PYS is called the Vyāsa bhāṣya because, again traditionally, it was done by Vyāsa. Now, one meaning of vyāsa is "compiler". And so there is a theory that both the Yoga Sūtras and the first and most important bhāṣya upon it came from Patañjali!