Patanjali’s Citta-Vrtti-Nirodha
This stays in the same philosophical cluster but shifts to Yoga’s mechanism of mental cessation, a neighboring idea that explains how consciousness is handled rather than rehashing purusha itself.
Patanjali’s citta-vrtti-nirodha names yoga as the stilling of the mind’s fluctuations: citta is the mental field, vrtti are its waves of thought, memory, doubt, and imagination, and nirodha means restraint or cessation.
In the Yoga Sutras, this is not blankness but disciplined quiet, achieved through practice (abhyasa) and detachment (vairagya), so that awareness is no longer pulled outward by restless mental activity.
The idea sits at the center of classical Yoga’s psychology, where suffering is tied to misidentifying the self with changing mental states.
Once the movements of citta subside, purusha is said to rest in its own nature, free from confusion.
The formula became one of the most influential statements in Indian philosophy, shaping later Yoga traditions, meditation practices, and modern global ideas of mindfulness and inner control.