वृत्तयः पञ्चतय्यः क्लिष्टाक्लिष्टाः।।

वृत्ति / vritti : The Interplay / "consciousness".

Between :

विषयी / the subject and विषय / the object. 

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The last post was in Hindi, but this one is in English, for those who may not know Hindi. Let me narrate a brief account of the last post again :

For those, who are instinctively inclined to follow the way of कर्म-योग; The Yoga of Action (Desireless Action), may find difficulty in following the way of knowledge, or the way of the Wisdom / सांख्य योग . But we can't ignore the fact that the two ways go hand in hand, and one could not exist without the other.

Shrimadbhagvad-gita 12/12 suggests :

श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्-ध्यानं विशिष्यते।।

ध्यानात्कर्मफलस्त्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनन्तरम्।।१२।।

So we can see that it is not the Action that is to be renounced, but rather the desire that causes the bondage. Ignorance of this fact leads to Action prompted by desire, while the Action with the awareness about this, -- to freedom from the bondage.

The importance and the need for the Right Action is evident from the following verse from Vivekachudamani / विवेकचूडामणि :

चित्तस्य शुद्धये कर्म न तु वस्तूपलब्धये।।

वस्तुसिद्धिर्विचारेण न किञ्चित्कर्मकोटिभिः।।११।।

The Right Action performed with choiceless awareness leads to purification of the mind, but because the proper understanding The Reality is ever so independent of Action, the Action alone could not help in attaing this Reality.

Accordingly, if the Yoga of Action कर्म-योग is compared with the Yoga of Wisdom (सांख्य-योग), the Yoga of Wisdom is superior than the other. As has been pointed out :

दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय।।

बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः।।४९।।

(Shrimadbhagvad-gita Chapter 2)

But as soon as the Yoga of Action (कर्म-योग) is accompanied by Desirelessness, the two are at par with one-another.

Now the Aphorism :

वृत्तयः पञ्चतय्यः क्लिष्टाक्लिष्टाः।।५।।

This needs to be read with the Aphorisms :

तपः स्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः।।१।।

समाधिभावनार्थः क्लेशतनूकरणार्थश्च।।२।।

अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्लेशाः।।३।।

(From Sadhanapada / साधनपाद) 

A vritti / वृत्ति therefore may be associated or not with the above-referred attributes that are :

अविद्या (inherent ignorance), अस्मिता (the ego conceit), राग (attachment), द्वेष (hatred), and अभिनिवेश (fear of death) as the following :

अविद्या क्षेत्रमुत्तरेषां प्रसुप्ततनुविच्छिन्नोदाराणाम्।।४।।

अनित्याशुचिदुःखानात्मसु नित्यशुचिसुखात्मख्यातिरविद्या।।५।।

दृग्दर्शनशक्तयोरेकात्मतैवास्मिता।।६।।

सुखानुशयी रागः।।७।।

दुःखानुशयी द्वेषः।।८।।

स्वरसवाही विदुषोऽपि तथाऽऽरूढोऽभिनिवेशः।।९।।

Here our focus is on vritti / वृत्ति, the above reference is just to understand better how a vritti / वृत्ति  is either associated with any of these attributes or may be a plain and simple one like thirst, hunger, sleep or likewise.

In the next post we could conveniently move onto the Aphorisms of the Chapter समाधिपाद / Samadhipad.

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