In Light on Pranayama, B.K.S. Iyengar says:
Human nature has three characteristics or qualitites (gunas). They are illumination (sattva), action (rajas) and inertia (tamas). Set on the wheel of time (kalachakra), like a pot on the potter's wheel, man is moulded and remoulded in accordance with the predominating order of theses three fundamental intermingling characteristics.
Man is endowed with mind (manas), intellect (buddhi) and ego (ahamkara), collectively known as consciousness (chitta), which is a source of thinking, understanding and acting. As the wheel of life turns, consciousness experiences the five miseries of ignorance (avidya), selfishness (asmita), attachment (raga), aversion (dvesa) and love of life (abhinivesa). These in turn leave the chitta in five different states which may be dull (mudha), wavering (ksipta), partially stable (viksipta), one-pointed attention (ekagra) and controlled (niruddha). Chitta is like fire, fuelled by desires (vasanas), without which the fire dies out. Chitta in that pures state becomes a source of enlightenment.
So through the 8 limbs of yoga we are trying to purify the chitta (consciousness) and bring stability to the mind. The energy becomes focused and restrained to reach the state of samadhi or enlightenment.
Namaste.
Pamela Nelson
http://www.plnyoga.vpweb.com/
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