Vrtti's: Imagination or Vikalpa
In sutra 1.2 of the yoga sutras: yoga citta vrtti nirodah: we defined yoga as presence and citta as the space in which we get to live that presence. The vrtti’s are the movements in that space that block our ability to live in yoga or presence. There are five types of vrtti’s, correct and incorrect perception, imagination, sleep, and memory.
Today we are trying to understand the third, vikalpa, or imagination, which we could also say is a type of incorrect perception. The kindergarten teacher in me immediately shouts out, “objection!” How could imagination be a soul block? Isn’t imagination the cornerstone of building your own dream home vs. being jailed inside of some corporations prefabricated, indistinguishable, cardboard box of a home? In this case the judge must overrule my objection because vikalpa is not constructive, creative, visualization, vikalpa is more like uncontrolled, incessant, delusion, with Darth Vader shoving you into the passenger seat and driving you pedal to the metal to the dark side.
Vikalpa is when the what if’s, if what’s, should haves, and could haves, bully themselves into your brain and act like they belong. They are like maggots, leeching and breeding themselves into your every moment until all of your interactions are poisoned, and your intentional actions dissipate and morph into habitual, unhelpful reactions. Vikalpa vrtti’s are when your past hurts wreak havoc on your present moment powers. When our mind space is littered with scenarios that stock and supply the warehouse of guilt, shame, regret, fear, worry, and doubt, you can be sure that what will arrive at your doorstep faster than Amazon’s same day delivery will be defective relationships and dismembered dreams.
We cannot allow our hurts to haunt our happy. Every single thought is rocket fuel for one or the other. Imagination is not to be misused. Yoga is simply asking us to ask, am I fueling my horror or my hero? Think your thoughts, do not allow them to think you. What we ought to imagine is mastering our minds, so that we don’t actually mind anything at all. What if we could allow all of our minding to melt? When we allow the mind to melt, what actually matters has the opportunity to surface. “Mind over matter,” they say, nah, I disagree, let us make what matters rise above our misguided minds.
Muchas gracias brothers and sisters,
I am go grateful to you for making THIS matter. If we can see our imagination as our super power than we get to use it as such. But when we allow others words and beliefs to weave the web of our thoughts, we get totally lost in the imagination of translation. Let us use our hearts as our anchors today and every day.
Blessings,
Andrea Dawn
