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The ancient Indian concept of Yoga is geared to achieve the best degree of peace of mind and body. For thousands of years, it has been researched upon and perfected so as to become one of the best combination of mind and body exercises that are known to mankind today. It has been utilized as the mainstay of meditation, a proven way to achieve peace of mind.
One of the basic things in this direction has been understanding the various stages and conditions of mind. The best information that can be found about the various states of human mind is from Yoga Sutra by the ancient Hindu saint and yoga expert, Patanjali as well as by another important Hindu saint Vyasa, in his commentary on the work of Patanjali in Yoga Sutra. According to these yoga experts, there are five stages of human mind.
Kshipta or the disturbed mind: Kshipta is the lowest state of human mind. A person who is in this state of mind tends to be highly agitated. This agitation is to the degree where he is unable to think clearly, listen properly or keep quiet. Such a mind is not ready to accept the benefits of yoga and meditation.
Mudha or the dull mind: Mudha is the second lowest state of human mind. In this state, the mind is dull and the person is easily distracted, so much so to confuse, even what is obvious. Such a mind is not considered ready for benefits of yoga and meditation either because of the possibility that it will be easily distracted and its attention will float away to other things. Absentmindedness can be the perfect word for this state.
Vikshipta or the distracted mind: This is a degree of mind which can concentrate to some extent and would not be distracted extremely easily but can be distracted nonetheless. It is like a condition where the human mind does receive information but is not really able to process it. This can be considered as state of mind with a problem of choice, there is so much that the person wants to do and is unable to prioritize what he wants to do.
Ekagra or the single pointed mind: This is the second highest state of mind that can be achieved. It is a mind which is concentrated on one point and is therefore ready for the benefits of yoga and meditation. It is a relaxed state of mind where the person can easily pay attention to the information being communicated to him.
Niruddha or the master mind: This is the highest state of mind that can be achieved by the yoga tech-niques. A mind in this state is fully concentrated on the topic needing his attention and cannot be dis-tracted away from it.
Thus, knowing these five states of mind would surely help you understand as well as practice yoga better.
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