The Concept of Aadhi or Mental Illness According to Yoga Darshan

Abstract

While we find numerous descriptions of aadhi or mental illness throughout Indian scriptures, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, also known as the Yoga Darshan, considered as the central text of the philosophical school of yoga, makes scarce reference to given condition. In the present article I analyse the relationship between the yog’antarayas, also known as obstacles in yoga, described in Patanjali’s work, and the development and experience of aadhi. These antarayas, in posterior commentaries of the Yoga Sutras written by authorities like sage Vyasa and Vachaspati Mishra, are classified into two categories, one of the nature of chitta bhumi and the other of the nature of vrtti. In consequence, aadhi can be considered as the manifest expression of given dysfunctional or detrimental forms of chitta bhumi -mudha and kshipta- and vrtti -viparyaya and klishtah-.