Patanjali lists five classes of chitta vritti, which create pleasure and pain. They are:
1. Pramina - by which things or values are measured by the mind or known
2. Viparyaya - a mistaken view which is observed to be such after study
3. Vikalpa - fancy, imagination resting merely on verbal expansion without any factual basis
4. Nidra - where there is the absence of ideas and experiences
5. Smriti -memory, holding fast to the impressions of objects that one has experienced

Five causes of chitta vritti are
1. Avidya - ignorance or nescience
2. Asmita - the feeling of individuality which limits a person and distinguishes from a group
3. Raga - attachment or passion
4. Dvesa - aversion or revulsion
5. Abhinivesa - love of or thrust for life

Yama consists of five abstentions
1. (Ahimsa) abstention from harming others
2. (Satya) to abstain from falsehood
3. (Astheya) to abstain from theft
4. (Brahmacharya) to abstain from incontinence
5. (Aparigraha) to abstain from Greed

Niyama or observances pertains to
1. Priority in thought or action (Soucha)
2. Contentment (Santesha)
3. Austerity (Tapasya)
4. Introspection and study (swadhyaya)
5. Devotion to God (Iswara pranidhana)

The above steps are part of the preliminary training. The next three steps, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara are methods of cultivation of self-discipline.
             Asana for right posture - practice of balance sitting with the spine straight and body relaxed with regulated breathing and senses restrained help concentration of the mind and holding it within a centre of spiritual consciousness. This is Dharana.
            The final steps of yoga are the advanced once. They are Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi, the state of deepest concentration. Patanjali declares that the last three stages represent what is known as Samyama and by the practice of Samyama carries the light of knowledge.


            Attaining the state of Samadhi is not an easy task. We have to train the mind to concentrate and the practice of concentration must be accompanied by non-attachment. The simplest way to acquire non-attachment is to cultivate attachment to the highest object or ideal we can conceive of, to God himself. It is not that we should become indifferent to other people or to our own work and duties. But our love for others is included in our love of God - it ceases to be exclusive and possessive, and our work, because it is now done as service to that Ideal, takes on a new meaning and we feel more enthusiasm for it than ever before. The man who is well established in this consciousness is said to be illumined.
           It would be seen from what we have understood so far that what has been taught by Maharishi Patanjali has nothing to do with the postures and practices mistakenly associated with the word Yoga
           In Hata Yoga which is radically different from Patanjali system greater importance is given to physical exercises, practice of Asanas or postures, physical health being its principal objective And this can hardly be correlated to with systems, the purpose of which is the attainment of Spiritual freedom.
           The mantras from the Mundakopanishad refer to the centre of our heart, which houses the Divine light. One should meditate on the Lord, within the lotus of the heart where the nerves meet like the spokes of a wheel. Meditate upon him as OM, and one can easily cross the ocean of darkness. In the effulgent lotus of the heart dwells, Brahman, passionless and indivisible. He is pure. He is the light of all lights. The knowers of Brahman attain him.