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Yoga Sutra 1.10
अभावप्रत्ययालम्बना वृत्तिर्निद्रा ॥१०॥
Abhāva-pratyayālambanā vṛttirnidrā ॥10॥
- Abhāva: absence
- pratyaya: content of mind
- ālambana: support
- vṛttih: modification
- nidrā: sleep
- Sleep is the vritti of absence of mental contents for its support.
- OR
- Sleep is a Vritti which embraces the feeling of voidness.
Nidra - state of sleep can not be compared with awareness, consciousness, and unconsciousness unlike other vrittis. This state of mind hides away the knowledge of the external world. According to Patanjali, while in sleep there is no object before the mind; it does not see, hear, touch or feel anything.
A mental experience of an object is known as pratyaya or content of mind. It can be experienced with or without the senses coming in contact with an object. For example we can see an object inside our mind in the form of a vision, a dream or an ideal. The very content of mind in all these states is pratyaya. When these contents of mind are removed, the mind becomes void. So Sleep is a vritti in which the content of mind is absent.
References
- Four Chapters on Freedom by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, published in 1976.
- Nidra 1.10
