A fluctuating mind

Aphorisms have never really been my thing, but here I am reading the Yoga Sutra... twists of fate...

Yoga citta vritti nirodhah [YS 1.2]

Sooner or later, most of us will run into this "thread" somewhere.

I am not a Sanskritist, so I had to rely on some online and offline (paper-based) investigations I carried out to grasp the intended sense. Which means that the following is not entirely my own thinking - I am in part borrowing someone else's mule 😉

The key to all the possible interpretations I was able to locate, lies in the word "nirodhah" which indicates the action to be carried out and which unfortunately has several semantic equivalents with different meanings: suppression (a definitive stop), interruption (a non-definitive halt), control (whirling and fluctuating state continues, although under control), or suspension (a refreshing pause during our practice?).

So, in English this sutra should read: "Yoga is the ... of the fluctuations of the mind."

Through the choice of the term, the meaning of a fundamental point ends up being interpreted one way or another.

Thus, it might be better to allow each individual to interpret what is ultimately their (way of) life, based on their own experience of the discipline and practice.