Vrtti

Fluctuations or modifications of the mind. These are the constant movements of citta that create the ordinary experience of the world.

Patañjali identifies five types of vrttis: valid knowledge (pramana), erroneous knowledge (viparyaya), imagination (vikalpa), sleep (nidra), and memory (smriti). Each can be painful (klishta) or non-painful (aklishta).

Yoga doesn’t seek to eliminate vrttis — they’re a natural part of mental functioning — but to develop the capacity to still them at will (nirodha), allowing consciousness to remain in its own nature.