I.6 "[These five vrittis are] right knowledge, error, imagination, sleep, and memory"
I.7 "Right knowledge consists of sense perception {pratyaksa}, logic, and verbal testimony"
~The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, By Edwin Bryant
According to the Yoga Sutras, yoga is concerned with the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind (I.2: Yogas citta-vritti-nirodhah: Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind). These fluctuations, the vrittis, are are our thoughts, memories, experiences— the workings of the mind— and are recorded in the mind (the citta) as imprints, or samskaras.
How we experience the world is therefore dependent on these samsakras: they color our view. They are the glasses through which we view the world and compare our experience, giving us a frame of reference.
One type of vrittii mentioned in the sutras is right knowledge. Now what does Patanjali mean by that? Right knowledge would be considered a positive vritti, one that could lead us on the path towards samadhi (meditative absorption) in a more sattvic way. That is to say, while all vrittis eventually cease on the path to samadhi, these positive ones are more helpful on the path. Right knowledge would be something hat helps us see the truth of the nature of reality, instead of keeping us stuck in the old imprinting of our experience. Right knowledge can come from direct experience~ what we know to be true from experiencing it in our bodies. Patanjali is telling us to trust our experience in the world through our bodies, not just the mind (or citta).
These samskaras, this patterning, therefore frames our view of the world, and our experience of it. So if we change our samskaras, make them inactive or burn through them, release them, that frees us up to change our point of view. We can have a new way of being in the world, of walking our path, of living our experience.
And, if we consciously work toward replacing the negative mind chatter (vrittis) that keeps us locked into our habitual patterning, we can further move toward being free to experience the moment as it is, as opposed to experiencing it through filters of the past.
In essence, the path of yoga is unique in that it not only gives us tools to release samskaras (old patterning), but also ways to prevent forming new negative ones. This is why yoga helps us feel lighter and more awake and open to the present. Why we feel just a bit more free, just a bit more calm, with practice.
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