Citta — The Deep Mind and Its Saṃskāras
Citta ('that which has thought, the thought-repository'; from cit = 'to think, to perceive') is one of the four functions or aspects of the antaḥkaraṇa ('inner instrument' — the composite internal faculty of mind): manas (the deliberating, wavering mind), buddhi (the determining intellect), ahaṃkāra (the ego, self-identification faculty), and citta (the deep mind, memory-storehouse).
The citta's primary function is to store saṃskāras — the deep impressional residues left by every experience, thought, and action. These saṃskāras act as the substrate from which future thoughts, tendencies, and karmic inclinations arise. The Yogasūtras and Vedāntic traditions both analyze citta as the repository of vāsanās (latent tendencies) — the accumulated conditioning from beginningless (anādi) past lives that gives each soul its particular character, preferences, and habitual orientations.
In Viśiṣṭādvaita's framework, the antaḥkaraṇa including citta belongs to the acetana (insentient) order when considered as mere matter — it is part of the material apparatus that the cit (conscious soul) inhabits and uses. The soul is not the citta; rather, the soul employs the citta as an instrument of cognition and memory. Liberation involves, among other things, the transcendence of the citta's conditioning — the saṃskāras lose their binding power when the soul fully recognizes its true identity as Bhagavān's śeṣa.
In practical Śrī Vaiṣṇava terms, the purification of citta (citta-śuddhi) is understood as a key prerequisite for and result of devotional practice — particularly śravaṇam (hearing), kīrtanam (singing), and smaraṇam (remembrance). As the citta is filled with Bhagavān's qualities and glories, the old saṃskāras of viṣayāntaram (worldly objects) gradually weaken and the natural orientation of the soul toward Bhagavān is restored.