The Purification of Chitta — Stages of Mental Refinement
Patanjali describes five stages of the chitta (mind-field) from most disturbed to perfectly purified — mapping the progressive refinement of consciousness through sustained yoga practice.
Sutra 1.2 identifies five states or levels of the chitta (mind-field): Mudha (dull, deluded — governed by Tamas; unable to receive or retain spiritual knowledge), Kshipta (distracted, scattered — governed by Rajas; restless and reactive), Vikshipta (occasionally steady — alternating between Sattva and Rajas; capable of concentration but not sustained), Ekagra (one-pointed — predominantly Sattvic; capable of sustained concentration, the state in which samadhi becomes accessible), and Niruddha (fully restrained, stilled — the state in which chitta vrittis are completely stilled and pure consciousness recognizes itself). Yoga practice as Patanjali describes it is fundamentally a progressive movement from the more disturbed to the more refined states: asana and pranayama work to settle Kshipta; ethical practice and Tapas work to overcome Mudha; concentration practice cultivates Ekagra; and the grace of Ishvara Pranidhana opens the door to Niruddha.
The mind-field passes through five stages on the path from distraction to complete stillness.
Psychologist Daniel Siegel's Mindsight documents a similar progression in interpersonal neurobiology: from dysregulated emotional reactivity through modulated, regulated states to the 'integration' of limbic and cortical processes — describing the same trajectory toward psychological freedom that Patanjali maps as the five states of chitta.
Yoga Bhashya