Avidya - The Nature of Maya in relation with jiva (M.G.) - Swami Sivananda

Avidya - The Nature of Maya in relation with jiva 
Chapter 4 from the book Moksha Gita by Swami Sivananda  , commetary of Swami Krishananda

 1. The Guru said: Avidya is Malina-Sattva. It is the Upadhi or limiting adjunct of Jiva. It is the Karana Sarira of the individual soul. Avidya is Anandamaya Kosha.

Avidya is the same as Maya, but only in relation to the individual (the jiva). Avidya is Malina-Sattva or Sattva polluted by Rajas and Tamas. There is a preponderance of distractive activity and stupor in Avidya. 

The individual is controlled by Avidya whereas Ishwara is not controlled by Maya. The force of Avidya limits the consciousness to such an extent that the individual is falsely made to believe that its body is the entire truth. Not only the body but even the objects and persons fictitiously connected with the interests of the body are also superimposed on the self (Atman) and their loss or pain is considered as a real loss to the self itself. 

There is a terrible degeneration of consciousness in the case of the individual earthly being.  

It first forgets the Reality; 

secondly it centres its consciousness in a localised body; 

thirdly it drags other external bodies also to its self and regards such of the few as are beneficial to its egoistic pleasures as its own self and consequently begins to hate those entities or individuals which are not connected with its interests or which are set in opposition to it. 

The grosser the form of consciousness, the greater the extent of superimposition, the greater the bondage, the lesser the light and purity, the intenser the passions, the thicker the nescience and the denser the delusion.

The seat of Avidya is the Karana Sarira or the causal body of the soul (the anandamaya kosha). There is a dense clouding of Self-awareness due to the agitative vibrations of the intense desire for self-materialisation. The power of the longing to externalise the Self-existence is an unthinkable monstrous agent that at once disturbs the peace of the Self and thrusts out its poisonous fangs of sense-functioning. This is the story of self-imprisonment and acute suffering created by the self-manifestation of egocentric consciousness. The storehouse of the power of illusion and torment is the Anandamaya Kosha or the bliss-sheath of the soul which keeps in stock all the seeds of Samskaras and the psychic effects of all mental actions done by the individual. This stock of impressions maintains the future embodiments of ignorance and agony as an individual in terrestrial life. Avidya is therefore the mother of misery and the cause of the prison-life of the egoistic personality as a distinct individual of the vast universe.

2. Avidya is a false perception by which the ignorant Jiva takes the body and intellect as pure, permanent and a source of pleasure.

"Avidya" is "that which does not exist." In fact, it is a conceit based on the belief that the objects perceived through externalisation and the organs of such perception are all absolutely real in their forms. The creations through intensified thought by the Self which does not actually create anything other than itself because of the non-existence of an entity second to the One Self, are imagined to be actually existing by themselves. A shadow is taken to be the substance, a phantom is mistaken for the reality, the mirage is believed to be a tank. The mountains appear to dance and the trees move when the mind is affected by madness or intoxication. The dreadful fever of life is the agitation of the One Consciousness which dreams itself to be many. The universe is the dream of the subjective Self, the object of the reverie of Self-hypnotisation. The world exists in the cosmic acceptance of what is really an illusory presentation.

The body, the mind the intellect and all the modifications of imagination are taken for granted as pure and perfect and a source of permanent happiness for the self. The self (Atman) is the blissful eternal being and it wishes to find bliss in what it has merely imagined and what really does not exist. This delusion is reinforced by continuous activity and struggle to maintain the state of the self-imposed individuality and the energy necessary for the keeping up of the illusion is supplied from the fund of the source of ignorance, the Anandamaya Kosha. Even in the death of the body, this centre of ignorance is not destroyed. It is carried to all bodies which are manifested by the self. 

This cycle of Samsara never comes to an end since the sheath of nescience adds to the old stock of Samskaras, the impressions of psychic actions performed in the daily life of the individual. 

Liberation from this cycle comes only through a snapping of the thread of thought through spiritual meditation.

3. Just as a king acts the part of a beggar, out of his own free will on the stage in a drama, so also the Sat-Chid-Ananda Brahman acts the part of a Jiva in this drama of the world out of his own free-will for sport.

The question why the drama of the world appears has not satisfactorily been answered. It can be understood as a self-imposition on absoluteness, a limitation of infinity, a disconnecting of the Unified Consciousness, a sport of manifoldness in undividedness. It is explained that even as a king in a drama puts on the garb of a beggar out of his own free will, so also the One appears as the many.

It is understandable that as long as the king is conscious of his kingship even in the state of his counterfeit beggarliness, he is in sport and enjoys the fun! But if the king is to forget his pristine nature in his pretended state of the beggar, then the sport is no more a sport but an imprisonment in the consciousness of what he is not. Protracted belief in and imagination of one's being something makes one as such, because the original imagining Self is all-powerful. The Satchidananda-Essence has put on the forms of the world as a play – we have to call it a play, for we cannot give any other reason for the appearance of the world – but the centres of subsequent imagination which were originally evolved out of the absolute mentation begin to play the part of the fool and due to continuous affirmation they become fools themselves, the individuals tied to earthliness.

The individual or the Jiva does not know that it is playing a sport, but thinks that it is actually what it appears to be in the imagined garb. Here lies the bondage of the individual in contradiction to the Essence of Satchidananda which consciously appears to itself as the manifold universe. The aspirants have to learn a lesson from this against feigning themselves to be something which is undesirable, even for the sake of mere fun. Fun later on turns into reality and the fun-maker is eventually bound by his own creation. 

Whatever one thinks, that he becomes, for the source of imagination is the omnipotent Self (Atman or Brahman). One who believes that he is Brahman becomes Brahman Itself. 

There is a story that a thief had by force of circumstances to pretend to be a saint and he later on actually became a saint. Even a Sattvic type of person, well established in religion and virtue, would turn to be Tamasic and brutal in course of time if he begins to act constantly the part of a demon in a drama. The emotions that are roused when acting have got a lasting effect and they affect the individual permanently. This theory is applied in the Bhramara-Kita-Nyaya of Vedantic Meditation where the meditator affirms his being Brahman and thus becomes Brahman actually.

4. Just as men with a defective vision behold a white thing as yellow, so does one perceive the Self as the body on account of Avidya or ignorance.

The man with a defective vision has got a perverted perception of things. The Consciousness with its vision infected by the urge for materialisation, objectification, diversification and self-multiplication conceives of the body as the Self and the Self as the body. 

The five sheaths are superimposed on the Atman and the Atman in turn is superimposed on the five sheaths which constitute the body. When the construction of the eyeballs is changed into that of another variety, the whole world will be seen of a different form. There are lenses which can make a square table appear oval and a round all full of corrugations. If one looks at his face in a broken mirror the face also will look broken. A straight rod appears bent like a bow when dipped in water. The born-blind man thinks that all are walking in darkness, and the disturbance on the surface of the water makes the sun in the sky appear shaky. The subjective defect makes the object also appear defective and thus the Eternal Brahman is seen to appear like the manifold cosmos sheerly on account of the clouding of consciousness and distraction of subjective awareness.

The ignorance of the Jiva is colossal. It has wrong notions about itself and its connection with the world and other individuals, because it disconnects itself from others and believes that its life as such is eternal. The faith pinned on untruth transforms untruth to appear like truth and Jiva is thus deceived by its own thought-constructions.

5. When one gets knowledge of the Self, this Avidya vanishes. It is the destruction of Avidya that is the Brahmic-seat.
Avidya no more appears when one acquires the wisdom of the Truth. It exists only until the melting away of egoism. When love for life is broken, when the will to live, the Abhinivesha or the clinging to personal endurance is frustrated by Vicharana and contemplation, when the powers of the mind are turned inward and utilised in building the counter-construction of the imagination of the reverse order, the vexation of existence in limited bodies comes to an end. 

The realization of the Self is the destruction of Avidya. The two acts are simultaneous. The act of realization is not a positive achieving but a negative destroying. It is not getting something but removing something. It is not an invention but a discovery.  

The Reality is flooding the very core of the being of all at all times without even a sense of breakage anywhere or in any condition. But the free flow of the flood of Brahman is blocked by the Jiva's psychic apparatus and the destruction of this protrusion of the force of the inner psychological organ is the process of Self-realisation. The unceasing overflow of Brahman is termed in various ways as the different powers and efforts of nature. That is why the Upanishads take recourse to negative processes of world-denial and Brahman-realization.

The spiritual aspirant, therefore, should remove the negative propensities hidden in the recesses of his consciousness and lead a life cut off from the bustle and din of the world. He should not engage himself in the work of carrying out the scheme of Pravritti-Marga or the way of worldly life. A person who has understood properly the mystery of this world illusion cannot live in the negative plane of earthly consciousness even for a second. 

Desire, anger, greed are the harbingers of the prison-life of Samsara and the ferocious life of the mind is kept up by giving food to it through the negative qualities of sensuality. The aspirant should therefore restrain his mental functions. Then only the glorious Truth of the Self will be revealed.  

The Self is not to be caught from outside, it is the innermost being of man. Those who run away from their Self are led astray by the force of Avidya into the pit of births and deaths.

6. Just as the mirror is dimmed by dirt, so Brahman is veiled by Avidya. Therefore human beings are deluded by this Avidya.
Brahman is veiled by the force of Avidya just as a clean mirror is soiled by the blow of the air that man exhales. Avidya is the origin of selfish endeavour and narrow interests which try to make the ego live long. When the requirements of the ego are supplied life on earth is prolonged and the stream of Samsara never comes to an end. The Sadhaka therefore is required to root out selfishness by denying the individual interests through self-abnegation and refusal to abide by personal cravings.  

The lower appetites of the animal self drag the Jiva through the senses in all directions and it becomes hard for the afflicted soul to rest in peace. The covetous nature originated from the desire to live long on earth is strengthened by the activity directed towards the fulfilment of that end. A complete sacrifice of the self for the purpose of others' interests renders the Jiva fit to be alive to the higher knowledge. This is the method of Karma-Yoga which abstains from personal enjoyment of life and gives happiness to others.

Human beings are deluded by Avidya and they can be freed from its snares only through Sadhana for Perfection. Every way of spiritual effort is centred in the breaking open of the ego which is the root of the passion for living.  

Avidya is the progenitress of the succeeding afflictions of Asmita (egoism), Raga-Dvesha (Attraction and repulsion; like and dislike; love and hatred.) and Abhinivesha (Clinging to earthly life; will to live). These afflictions can be eradicated through a turning to the Source of Eternal Life through regulation of conduct and meditation on the spiritual Ideal. Whatever be the conviction of the worldly man regarding the reality of his life in the descension to error and perpetration, he cannot help seeing discord everywhere in the life of even small creatures. Yet, man runs after the possession of material gains and exerts to acquire a high name and wide fame. He does not realise the defects of phenomenal life and persists to pull himself on somehow or other in his present wretched state. This wide-spread deluded business of life is the effect of Avidya and man is saved only when he takes refuge in the Permanent Self, which is his own being and stops from all further new under-takings in his life.

7. Mind, senses, egoism, intellect and body are the effects of Avidya. If the cause is destroyed, the effects are destroyed by themselves.

The Hatha-yogins start from the outside body to the inward truth by disciplining the physical sheath at first, but the Vedantins directly start from the innermost intelligence and break down the whole super-structure of the world-phenomenon. The cause of the disease of life is in the inner sheaths of the self and mere external applications without heeding to the root of the infection will not bring lasting benefit. 

Though the actual cause of Samsara is the Anandamaya Kosha, spiritual Sadhana cannot be practised merely by resting in this sheath. When the Jiva rests in this sheath of ignorance it falls asleep being completely unconscious of itself as well as the external universe. It knows neither the inward nor the outward nature. Such a state of total inertia is unsuited for the activity of spiritual exertion, for exertion requires consciousness. Hence, in deep sleep, even if the Jiva is nearest to the Reality being unaffected by distraction, it cannot progress in its spiritual evolution since the state of darkness is static and admits no entrance of conscious exertion.

The Vedantic Meditator, therefore, starts with the Vijnanamaya Kosha, though it is affected by Rajasic dynamics; because the Supreme intelligence is reflected in this Kosha, he is able to continue his work of self-transcendence with the help of the intellectual faculty. When with the power of Viveka or discrimination the Absolute Self is asserted by the Vedantin, the mind is held standstill, the senses turn back to their psychic source, the ego is not allowed to make further arrogations and the Chitta or the store of Samskaras is held in check.

Freedom from Samskaras and vasanas leads to liberation / by Atman Nityananda

AMMA meditating

Freedom from Samskaras and vasanas leads to liberation

Bondage is due to accumulated vasanas and samskaras in the chitta (subconscious mind), and freedom is the dissolution of all samskaras and vasanas.

When the chitta is free from vasanas and samaskaras, the light of consciousness reflects unobstructed in our buddhi and we experience the bliss and peace eternal. We are free from suffering and birth and death.

The whole process of yoga is to free our chitta (subconscious mind) from all egoic tendencies (vasanas and samaskaras) and keep the mind focused in its source -the silence space within; a concentrated mind in its source is meditation.

But in order to free our chitta from the already accumulated in it vasanas and samaskaras is also necessary to stop create new vasanas and samskaras. If we continue to create new vasanas we will never be free from bondahe and delusion.

Thus one of the most important goals in yoga is to develop our capacity to stop the creation of new samskaras and vasanas.

Vasanas and samskaras are produced in the chitta due to identification, projection, imagination, superimposition. If we want to stop this perpetual process of creation of new vasanas then we must learn not to identify with thoughts, emotions and external objects. We must learn keep our mind introspected and aware of the silent space within. We must develop in the highest degree our capacity of discrimination (viveka) and dispassion (vairagya) viz. indifference for sense objects.

As long as we are thirsty to experience sense pleasures it is impossible not to identify with the objects, thoughts and emotions. As long as we identify with them new samskaras and vasanas are created and our bondage and delusion continue and thus profound meditation and self-realization are impossible.

Intense Dispassion can be cultivated only when we have cultivated discrimination in a high degree through, satsang, study of sacred texts, reflection, contemblation, self-enquiry, observation, Japa nama, purification, devotion, holy company, selfless service or work done without the expectation of fruits and without egoism.

It becomes obvious that we have developed discrimination highly when we see in sense pleasures only pain and suffering. The highest degree of discrimination is to see only Brahman or consciousness as real and all else as unreal. If we still believe that we can find happiness in external objects and that we can have pleasures without to experience suffering our Buddhi is still deluded by lust and desire.

With the aid of discrimination and dispassion, self-awareness and control of senses and mind we must stop identification and the production of new samskaras and vasanas. We must cultivate the witness attitude and remain always rooted in the silence within.

Then and only then gradually we can free ourselves from the clutches of the ego and experience the peace and Bliss of our true Self or Atman which nature is Satchitananda (Existence- consciousness-bliss absolute).

~ Atman Nityananda

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Effective Pratyahara Stops the Creation of New Samskaras and New Vasanas

by Swami Chidananda

When Pratyahara is practised in such a comprehensive way, then gradually the outer world starts to lose its hold upon the mind of the Yogi. Outer objects and their names and form appearances lose their power to influence and change the mind of the Yogi. 

The Yogi retains his spiritual consciousness and awareness in the midst of the objects and in spite of the objects. That is effective Pratyahara. That is success in Pratyahara. It results now in a great game when, thus established in proper Pratyahara, the Yogi reaches a stage where new Samskaras and new Vasanas are no longer created. Otherwise, the creation of new Samskaras and new Vasanas is a perpetual process. There is no end to it. Normally, as you move in the outer world, you go on creating newer and newer Samskaras and Vasanas. It poses a serious problem to the Yogi. He has difficulty enough in trying to deal with the Vasanas and Samskaras already brought over from his previous birth. And he cannot afford to add on to it a further difficulty of having to deal with fresh Samskaras and Vasanas. 

The point to note is that unless you live like a Yogi, it is impossible for you to avoid creating more and more, newer and newer, Samskaras and Vasanas. 

The Yogi is able to put a stop to this process of the creation of additional new Samskaras and Vasanas, precisely by the practice of successful and effective Pratyahara. In his case, the perceived objects do not impinge upon the consciousness any more. They pass off like shadows. They do not take root. They do not go and lodge themselves in his Chitta (subconsciousness). 

Pratyahara thus wards off the creation of new Vasanas and Samskaras, and through the help of Viveka, Vichara and Vairagya, turns the mind away, and the mind becomes gradually transformed into a Yogic mind, an indrawn mind, an Antarmukha Manas (introspective mind)..

The inveterate tendency of the previous mind to habitually always be running about hither and thither, that innate previous tendency gives place to this newly created nature and quality of remaining inward, of moving towards its own inner centre. That is a great achievement. That is a vast stride, much ground cover and it is this indrawn mind that is the hallmark of the Yogi. It is a specific quality of the Yogic mind to be at repose within and the ground is now prepared for taking advantage of this state of the mind and making use of this indrawn mind to concentrate and focus on the great Lakshya, the Dhyana Lakshya (the object of meditation), the object of Yoga. 

What is Yoga ultimately? Yoga is nothing but meditation and it is the indrawn mind that becomes the fit instrument for such meditation. 

One who has succeeded in practising Pratyahara becomes a person with Samahita (steady) Chitta, a person with his mind brought under control, a person with a subdued mind. And this subdued mind is a prerequisite for meditation. Where there is Asamahita(unsteady) Chitta, there cannot be any real Dhyana (meditation). This is what all the scriptures say.

PRATYAHARA - The step which inner yoga begins by Swami Chidannda

The step which inner yoga begins

PRATYAHARA (Withdrawal of senses an mind)

Pratyahara, is not possible unless it is supported by Vairagya(dispassion), Viveka(discrimination) and Vichara (Self-enquiry).

Unless you have self-control, self-restraint, you cannot have Pratyahara.

Without pratyahara concentration meditation and Samadhi are not possible

Withought meditation and Samadhi Self-realization or Liberation is not possible.

Indispensable aids to the practice of pratyahara

Pratyahara is roughly translated as “withdrawal”. Withdrawal, it has already been seen, is an indispensable prerequisite to concentration. If you want to centralise the mind, first of all, it has to be interiorised. Because, if the mind is completely externalised and scattered over many things in this outer world of names and forms and human affairs, how can the question of concentration arise in such a mind? It is totally unequipped for centralising or focussing. It is not even inside. It is scattered over the seen world which is hundred per cent Prakriti(Maya-illusion) as long as we perceive it through the senses. But the same outer world is seen by the illumined Brahma Jnani (Knower of Brahman-Self realized) as Parabrahman through his Sakshatkara Anubhava, and so he says, “Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma; Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagat”.

For him, there is no Prakriti (Maya) at all; there is Parabrahman only. The whole of the external universe is nothing but Parabrahman for him. “Sarvam Sivamayam” he says, “Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma”. And the scriptures go on to say that there is nothing else besides Brahman—Neha Nanasti Kinchana. But that is a question of Sakshatkara(Direct realisation; experience of Absoluteness). Whereas, our approach to this whole human situation of bondage and suffering is from the point of view of the Mumukshu (Seeker after liberation), a Jijnasu (One who aspires after knowledge; spiritual aspirant.) who is in ignorance (Ajnana).

A Word of Caution

The Mumukshu (seeker or aspirant after Truth or liberation) is not a liberated soul or a Jivanmukta Purusha. He is only a struggling soul, caught in the net of the bondage of Raga-Dvesha, of Asha-Trishna. So, we cannot apply the Sakshatkara principle to the actual situation of the Jivatma. And we cannot say that there is no Prakriti. We have to very much accept Prakriti. One little sight, one little sound upsets us, makes us completely forget our Self our real Svarupa, our Purushahood and makes us completely enslaved by passion, anger, greed, hatred, anxiety, fear, depression and dejection. We are subject to so many mental modifications, Chitta-Vrittis. So, in this situation, we cannot ride the high horse of Brahma-Jnana or Jivanmuktahood. We cannot truthfully say, “I am transcendental Purusha or Atman”. We may practise saying it for the purpose of ultimate realisation. Such practice is called Brahma-Abhyasa Brahma-Chintana. We may practise affirming our real nature and asserting it. But on the practical side, we have to behave with caution and commonsense. We cannot foolishly run into situations which will make us turn a somersault and have a terrible fall and weep. We have to be very, very careful in going about in our Vyavahara, because we are still very much in the grip of the original self-forgetfulness or non-awareness. We are very much in the grip of delusion, of Maya. So, Gurudev used to say, “It is all right to say that Brahman is beyond time, space and causation. There is no world for the Brahma-Jnanis. It is all right for them to say, ‘I am Brahman; I am Jnana-Svarupa’. But, so far as you are concerned, if someone calls you a fool, you are immediately thrown into a violent temper, you are ready to quarrel with him, you are ready to fight, even to raise your fist. Let alone that, supposing you go and stand before some person and he is occupied with some other work, and does not pay attention to you, you feel very humiliated. You feel insulted. You will begin to think, ‘Oh! This man is treating me like this’. So, let alone someone doing some harm to you, if someone fails to do something which you are expecting him to do, you feel very insulted. You salute someone and he does not return it, because he did not notice it perhaps, but you feel very bothered. Your whole mental mood changes. It is all fine for you to say that there is no world in the three periods of time, but if you find that someone has forgotten to put salt in your Dal, immediately you cannot eat your food; you become upset. You say, ‘What is this? You have not put salt’. Supposing someone gives you tea without sugar, your Brahmanhood is nowhere. You immediately become upset in the absence of sugar in your tea. You do not drink it as it is. You will demand sugar and ask for it and complain, ‘No sugar has been put in my tea, no salt has been put in my Dal’. So, do not imagine things. Try to know where you are and start your Sadhana from that place”. Gurudev used to say all this. You are surrounded by Prakriti; you are surrounded by various manifestations of Prakriti. And so the mind is externalised and scattered amongst the various names and forms and objects, and human situations and affairs, which constitute Prakriti. It is thus in a state of involvement with external Prakriti in all its various forms. And this situation is the very antithesis of the ultimate Yogic state that you are trying to reach.

Brahmacharya and Pratyahara

Brahmacharya means that pattern of conduct, that lifestyle, which leads to ultimate Brahma-Jnana (Realization of  Brahman). So, Brahmacharya is a comprehensive term. That is why Patanjali has laid it down in his Niyama. Brahmacharya means self-control. Tapasya includes self-control. Therefore arises the necessity of Tapasya in relation to Pratyahara, of Brahmacharya in relation to Pratyahara. Unless you have self-control, self-restraint, you cannot have Pratyahara. The mind will continue to be bothered by the uncontrolled and turbulent senses.

The senses have to be kept in check. The senses have to be disciplined. The senses have to be trained, have to be subdued; and therefore, Yama and Niyama are to be practised throughout the entire course of your Yogic ascent right up to the point of Samadhi. Otherwise, if you do not keep up Yama and Niyama always with you, even after attaining the state of Dhyana, you can have a downfall. Even a Yogi can have a great downfall. So, you can never underestimate the importance of Yama and Niyama. You can never understate the need to keep them along with you right up till the last stages of the Yogic ascent.

Vairagya and Pratyahara

Secondly, if Pratyahara is to be successful, you must have Vairagya. What is it that drives the mind outside seeking sense satisfaction and sensual enjoyment? What is it that drives the mind outside? It is desire. It is Asha and Trishna. It is the thirst for sense enjoyment. It is Raga. Unless you develop dispassion towards the external world, towards objective enjoyment and objective possessions, unless you say, “No, I do not want anything”, you cannot engage in successful Pratyahara. And unless you practise Pratyahara, you cannot get established in Vairagya or dispassion. So they are both interdependent. Pratyahara helps in becoming more and more well grounded in Vairagya. Vairagya helps in succeeding in the process of Pratyahara. Without Vairagya you cannot have Pratyahara and Pratyahara is necessary to become well established in Vairagya.

Now, ask yourself a question. Why is it that the Jivatma has so many desires, so many cravings? “I must enjoy this. I must possess this. I must come into contact with this.” Why all this craving? Vedanta tells you that it is due to a basic Avichara, a basic lack of proper philosophical enquiry. You do not keep up this enquiry continuously—this enquiry into the real nature of things, this enquiry into the real nature of the so-called sensual enjoyment. If you make a right enquiry, philosophy will tell you that this is not enjoyment, but this is suffering. What you think to be happiness is actually suffering. It is the cause of further suffering. Because, you go towards enjoyment and you become enslaved by it. You become addicted to it. If you do not find it you suffer. So, what you think to be enjoyment is actually suffering. These enjoyments that come due to the contact between the senses and the respective sense-objects—they are a source of sorrow, a source of suffering. Now a little bit of enjoyment, but afterwards suffering. “Ye Hi Samsparsaja Bhoga Duhkha Yonaya Eva Te” Who says this? Lord Krishna Himself. So, there is no real happiness here. Misery is mistaken for happiness, pain is mistaken for pleasure, because this happiness increases your craving. It makes it all the more. By satisfying your desire, you intensify your desire, and when you intensify your desire, it becomes a source of great agitation and mental restlessness. The more the desire, the more the restlessness. And where there is such restlessness in the mind, there cannot be happiness. When there is Ashanti in the Manas, in the Chitta, how can there be happiness? Ashantasya Kutah Sukham? There cannot be real happiness where there is constant agitation, constant restlessness in the mind due to countless desires and cravings. They are all together and you do not realise it, because you do not carry on Vichara. Where there is proper Vichara and Viveka, Vairagya is possible. Where there is no Vichara and Viveka, Vairagya is not sustained, Vairagya is not Pucca, it is not ripe, it is Kachcha. Sometimes it will help you, and at other times, at the time of need, it will abandon you. Vairagya will vanish, and you will be foolish, and to use an English expression, you will find yourself in a soup. You will get into hot waters. Why? Because of temporary abandonment of Vairagya. And you will commit some very foolish thing. Then, afterwards, Vairagya will come again. Afterwards, you will remember Vairagya. So they say that it is better to avoid getting into a wrong situation rather than get into a wrong situation, repent, open one’s eyes, and afterwards try to correct oneself. Be wise. Arise, awake. Be wise. Understand that discrimination and enquiry are very, very important in order to become established in Vairagya, by which alone successful and effective Pratyahara is possible.

Practice of Pratyahara—An Exercise as well as a Process

Pratyahara, it may be noted, is both an Abhyasa(practice) as well as a Prakriya (process). Abhyasa means a practice that you do at a given time, in a given place, in a particular Asana; and it is in the form of an exercise. And in the form of an exercise, it becomes a valuable precursor to starting your meditation, because when you sit for meditation, your senses begin going outside. And in their wake, the mind begins thinking of objects. So, you have to withdraw the mind away from the senses. In that sense, Pratyahara is an Abhyasa. But in a more vital sense, it is a process. Pratyahara is not only a practice or an exercise, but it is also a process—a process that has to be constantly kept going throughout your wakeful hours of Vyavahara(Worldly activity).

Because, if you are trying to centre yourself in the inner Reality, in the Dhyana Lakshya (object of meditation), that effort is confined only to your hours of actual practice. And the rest of the time you allow the mind and the senses to go in the opposite direction towards the external things, towards the many things (Aneka), towards the perception and enjoyment of sense-objects. So, what happens? Your Yoga practice will never succeed. Your inner Yoga practice can never succeed. It can succeed only if it has the full cooperation and support of the remaining part of your life, that is, your life outside the meditating hours, because your Yoga Abhyasa has to be done within the broad framework of your normal life. Your normal life you cannot ignore. You cannot make it disappear. There is no magic wand to do that. Your normal life is there, very much there. Day after day, the Yogi has got to cope with a certain pattern of external life.

Here we are talking of the vast majority of Yogis in the workaday world. We are not talking of the microscopic minority, the few who may have succeeded in completely isolating themselves from the rest of the world and who may be staying in a cave in Gomukh or Gangotri (Places on the Himalaya mountains in India). Such Yogis are only a microscopic minority and their pattern of living has no relevance to reality, has no relevance to the rest of the people who are all striving upon the same path. Leaving aside this minority, the vast majority of Yogis and practitioners have got a certain pattern of external life to deal with. They have got to cope up with it, and at the same time, they are authentic Yogis. They are as much genuine Yogis as the Yogis isolated in some remote seclusion, because their aspiration is as much real. Their desire for God and liberation is genuine. While the cave Yogi is trying to pursue his Sadhana in an extreme fashion, the generality of Yogis pursue their Sadhana as best as they can. Nevertheless, people belonging to either category are hundred per cent genuine, authentic Yogis.

Now, in the context of the majority type of Yogis, Pratyahara cannot be an unhampered and undisturbed process of Abhyasa, completely cut off from the objective universe and all its distractions. In the case of the Yogi in isolation, there is not much of the objective universe there except his own body and the mountain and the rocks and Gangaji( River Ganga) and the sky.

But the majority of the Yogis striving to lead a life of Yoga may be in a city-surrounding or a town-surrounding or in any normal surrounding with their own families to look after, business to attend to, or service to be done. In their case, the special Abhyasa or exercise will be a small part of Pratyahara. They have to do their Yogabhyasa in the context of their social life, in the context of their professional activities, their home and family surroundings and environment. Each one of them has his preoccupations with his family, with his children, with his wife, with his profession, business or service, with his social engagements. For Yogis of this group, then, Pratyahara will be very important in its aspect as a continuing process throughout their waking hours, throughout their active hours, rather than in its aspect as a special exercise in the meditation chamber. For them, Pratyahara has to become a way of life. They have to live a life of Pratyahara. They have to practise Pratyahara in the midst of their daily activities at home, in society, in their specific field of professional life, in their specific field of service or business.

And this is precisely one of the salient features of the Gita Yoga. “To be in the world and yet not to be in it”. And, long, long ago, when in his early days Mahatma Gandhi made a Gujarati translation of Srimad Bhagavad Gita, he gave that translation the name “Anasakti Yoga”. “Asakti” means attachment. “Anasakti” means detachment.

Gandhiji called his Gita translation “Anasakti Yoga” or “The Yoga of Detachment”; and he said that this was the message of the Gita. In the midst of the world, be detached from the world, like the lotus in the lake, unaffected and uncontaminated by water. The lotus is in the water, but it does not become wet. Likewise, one should be in the world, but be unaffected by the world. In this way one should live. And this is the process of living a life established in Pratyahara. You have to practise this type of Pratyahara in the midst of activity so that outer perceptions do not have an ultimate impact upon you. You are in a crowd and yet you are alone. You are involved and occupied in various activities. Why? Because it is your duty (your Kartavya Karma), it happens to be part of your Dharma. May be, you have to involve yourself in many things on account of your children, on account of your wife, on account of the marriage of your daughter, on account of trying to fix up your son in some job, on account of some litigation which has been forced upon you by your relatives or neighbours. There is no going out of all this. Yet, in the midst of it all, you know that you have nothing to do with it all. It is not because of your personal desire that you are involved in these things, it is not that all this Vyavahara (Worldly activity) has got some fascination or some attraction for you, but because they happen to be the immediate duties brought before you. You have no desire in the matter, but it happens to be your Kartavya Karma (duty), it happens to be your Dharma as the head of the family. Wherever you may be placed, you have a certain duty to fulfil, a certain Dharma to discharge. In a particular location, in a particular context, you have a certain Dharma to fulfil. This is precisely what Krishna was trying to make Arjuna aware of on the battle field of Kurukshetra.

The Different Phases in the Process of Pratyahara

For the vast majority of people who are in the outer context, Pratyahara becomes an indispensable requisite for entering into still deeper realms of the Yogic process, namely, concentration and meditation.

First  phase

In the lives of those who have isolated themselves, the question of further impact does not come, because they have no sense-objects around them. But, for those who have sense-objects around them, the first disengagement, namely, the withdrawal of the senses from the sense-objects is not possible. In their case, the senses are very much involved in the sense-objects and the withdrawal of the senses from the sense-objects is possible only at the time of their meditation. They go into their meditation room and close the door and then there are no sense-objects around then except the picture of their Ishta Devata, the picture of their Guru and their Japa Mala and Svadhyaya book. But, for the rest of the time, they are very much involved in the sense-objects and the first withdrawal is not possible.

Second phase

The second withdrawal is the withdrawal of the sense centre or the perceiving centre in the brain from the actual sense. Let the eye look, let the eye see, but you do not involve yourself in this process of seeing. It is with reference to this withdrawal that both in the Upanishads and in the Gospel of Christ it is said that the ultimate realisation is possible only for that seeker who, even though having ears, does not hear, who even though having eyes, does not see. Such a seeker is blind even though having eyes. He is deaf even though having ears. That is the nature of the person who, even though he lives in the world, yet makes himself dead to the world, by refusing to allow his inner perception centres to cooperate with the outer organs of the senses. He succeeds in detaching the inner perceiving centres from the outer sense organs.

Third phase

But then, if this is not possible, or if somehow or the other an impression is made on the inner perceiving centre, then even as you are perceiving the object, let your mind say, “Yes, I see this, but I have nothing to do with it”. This last withdrawal involves detachment of the mind; it involves the severing of the mind’s link with the process of perception, with the act of perception.

Forth phase

In the beginning stages of Sadhana, the moment perception takes place, the mind becomes involved, because the mind is still in a state of desire and craving, in a state of Asha-Trishna( internal craving for sense-objects). In that case, the “I” of the Sadhak (one who practices seriously) which identifies itself with the awakened intellect, the Suddha Buddhi (pure intellect) or the Jagrat Buddhi (awaking intellect)—which is now his best friend because it is Vichara-Yukta and Vivekatmaka—comes to his rescue (capacity to enquire and discern). His Buddhi is now combined with active enquiry, combined with Viveka or discrimination. So, the ego-consciousness identifies itself with the awakened, discriminating and enquiring intellect and says, “I refuse to involve myself even in the mind. I refuse to identify myself with this state of the mind, with this condition of the mind, when it is perceiving this sense-object, when it is involved in this sense-object. I refuse to associate myself with this condition of the mind”. So, the Sadhak who is endowed with this discriminating intellect now steps back and becomes only the detached witnessing consciousness. This is the withdrawal of the ego or the “I”, the awakened “I”, the discriminating “I”, from the mental involvement in perception.

So, one or the other of these phases of Pratyahara should always be present in your Antahkarana (inner oragan: manas, buddhi, ego, chitta). The first one is not possible for the people who are involved in the world. The second, third and fourth phases should be actively exercised; they should be dynamically present in your Antahkarana at any time. Thus, Pratyahara is a continuous process. And for this withdrawal, constant exercise of enquiry and discrimination are indispensable. They are also part of it.

The Indispensability of Vichara (enquiry) and Viveka (discrimination) for Successful Pratyahara Practice

Now, the moment you move towards the external scene, you are surrounded by external objects, and each external object has got its own fascination for you. Each external object has got its own attraction for your mind due to long association. And naturally, the moment you are amidst those objects, this attraction starts pulling you out, because the mind is constituted that way. Every object is found to be desirable for some purpose or the other. The fascination of Nama-Rupa (name-form) to the Chitta is part of the function of Prakriti, because the whole of Prakriti is nothing but Maya, and Maya is full of this power of tremendous attraction to delude the Jiva. Therefore, if you have to keep up the process of Pratyahara during the hours of normal daily activity, you have to have the process of philosophical enquiry and discrimination constantly active. You must constantly exercise your faculty of discrimination to distinguish between what is real and what is unreal. This is what is known as Nitya-Anitya-Vastu-Viveka or Sat-Asat-Vastu-Viveka or Atma-Anatma-Vastu-Viveka.

You must also reason thus: “This object is attracting me; my mind is being pulled towards it. The senses are bounding towards it. Is it going to bring me any good? Out of this, can I achieve my welfare? Is it going to be conducive to my peace of mind? Will I get real happiness out of it? What is it going to give me?” This is enquiry (Vichara). This is enquiry. You must tell your mind: “This object will give me only more confusion, more craving (Trishna), more restlessness and agitation.

Where there is desire, there is agitation, restlessness of the mind. The more I give in to it, the more the desire will intensify and multiply. This is the Law.

A desire that is around in the mind never subsides with the satisfaction of the same. On the contrary, satisfying the desire only makes the desire-fire to blaze up with renewed vigour, with redoubled vigour. Desire is like a fire being fed with oblation—Ghee or oil. It will not receive the oblation and subside; on the contrary, it will blaze forth with redoubled vigour. Fulfilling the desire, surely, is not the way to overcome it. So I must renounce the desire, give up the desire. Rushing towards sense-objects will bring only ruin upon me. It will bring about greater restlessness, greater intensification of desire, more agitation. No, I will not allow my mind to be dragged away by the senses towards these sense-objects”. Such enquiry (Vichara) should be there, active Vichara or philosophical enquiry.

Upon the basis of what you have learnt from the scriptures, upon the basis of what your Guru has told you, upon the basis of what saints and sages have taught you as a result of their own experience of this world, this world is hollow, this world is only, a mirage in the desert -a Mriga-Marichika. You will run towards it and you will perish. Nothing will come; there is no water there. Therefore, do not be deluded by the sense-objects. Move away from them; be a Master. In the light of your own life in this world, you yourself know what bitter experiences you have by rushing towards objects. “Once bitten, twice shy” they say. Once you have known the real nature of fire, will you again go towards fire? Like that, upon the basis of your vivid recollection of your own previous experiences, upon the basis of whatever knowledge you have gleaned from your study of the scriptures, upon the basis of what your Guru has told you, upon the basis of the teachings of the saints and sages, you must be ever alert and vigilant and keep your discrimination constantly active.

You must always do Vyavahara (worldly activities) as a Viveki; then only you will be able to have Pratyahara in the midst of Vyavahara. If you want withdrawal and a state of detachment in the midst of active involvement in the objective universe, then this withdrawal is possible only if you constantly have this active philosophical enquiry into the illusory nature and the defective nature and the painful nature of sense-enjoyment.

Where there is Vichara and Viveka, where there is such enquiry and such discrimination, then Pratyahara becomes progressive and successful. You can maintain Pratyahara in the midst of your activity. Then what happens? You come into contact with sense-objects, but they are never able to have their impact upon your inner consciousness. In your inner consciousness, you are always detached. The sense-objects may go only as far as the senses, they may go even as far as the inner centres of sense perception, but they will not be able to affect the mind, they will not be able to put the mind in a turmoil. They will not disturb your mind, much less your inner consciousness. Thus do you effectively succeed in preventing the external perceptions from making any impact upon your consciousness.

What does that mean again? It means that you no longer create any new impressions (Samskaras). You no longer create any new Vasanas (subtle desires) for yourself. Otherwise, the whole life is nothing but the almost continuous loading of your Chitta (subconscious mind) with more Samskaras and more Vasanas. If you go and involve yourself completely with external activities and objects, due to desires, due to attractions which make you succumb because of a lack of enquiry and discrimination, every sense perception, every experience, every sense contact that you engage in creates a new Samskara and a new Vasana. This is an unending process and you will never be able to liberate yourself. Already, a load of previous Samskaras and Vasanas are playing enough havoc by raising Chitta Vrittis (thoughts, mental modifications) within the mind, and the moment you sit for meditation these buried Samskaras and Vasanas are constantly coming to the surface and creating Vrittis and various ideas in the mind. That is enough. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Why should you make a bad situation worse by acquiring new Samskaras and Vasanas?

You may ask: “How can I prevent doing it?” Because, the moment you go into the external world, new Samskaras and Vasanas are created. The way of preventing new Samskaras and Vasanas is to see that no ultimate impact is made upon the consciousness even though hundreds of perceptions and sense contacts take place. Pratyahara effects this. Pratyahara succeeds in checking the sense perceptions from affecting the mind and touching the consciousness. The mind just refuses to take them in. They come to the outer sense organ or sense instrument; they come to the sense centre in the brain; but when they try to get to the mind, the mind says, “No. I do not want these. I shall not take these things”.

More About Pratyahara

We tried to bring out in the last chapter how the fifth Anga of Raja Yoga, namely, Pratyahara, is not possible unless it is supported by Vairagya, Viveka and Vichara. We tried to bring out the connection between Svadhyaya(study) and Vichara(enquiry) and Viveka (discrimination). Vichara and Viveka are supported by Satsanga, Svadhyaya and Sravana(Hearing of the Srutis or scriptures). Just as Svadhyaya provides material for contemplation and concentration, material for a permanent spiritual background of thought, even so, it provides right inspiration and right guidance for the Sadhak’s Vichara and Viveka.

It provides an insight into the real nature of this world and exposes the hollowness of sensual objects and sensual enjoyments. When the Sadhaka’s eyes are opened thus by Svadhyaya, by his recognising the hollowness of things, the Raga (worldly attachment) which he had formerly changes into Vairagya. The false notion or Viparita Jnana (contrary or perverted knowledge) which he had, that objects are desirable, that objective enjoyments are pleasurable, now yields place to the recognition, to the realisation, that objects are sources of pain. They are, on the contrary, the source of restlessness in the mind which destroys one’s happiness. The more the desires, the greater the restlessness in the mind. The more you satisfy the desires, the more do they intensify and the greater the agitation in the Chitta. Where the Chitta is thus always agitated and full of Ashanti (Restlessness; absence of peace of mind; distraction), there cannot be any happiness (Sukha).

Svadhyaya and Pratyahara

Also understand the relevance of Svadhyaya to Pratyahara, because it is through Svadhyaya that the Yogi is able to keep his Vichara and Viveka fresh and alive or active. With daily Svadhyaya, you begin to get a deeper and deeper understanding into the real nature of the world and things. Svadhyaya brings you wisdom. Svadhyaya brings you awakening. Svadhyaya keeps your Vichara and Viveka keen and sharp. That is the value of Svadhyaya and that is the connection between Svadhyaya and Pratyahara. And thus, with the help of Brahmacharya, with the help of Tapascharya, with the help of Svadhyaya, if you have your senses under control, and if you keep your Viveka and Vichara keen and active, then gradually, becoming an Avruta-Chakshu Jijnasu, becoming endowed with an internalised gaze, with the mind turned away from the external outside, you are able to gradually prepare yourself for the higher stage of Dharana or concentration. This withdrawal of Pratyahara should be supported by Brahmacharya, supported by Tapasya, supported by Svadhyaya, and supported by the Vichara and Viveka developed through Svadhyaya, and it should be always bolstered by Vairagya. Vairagya is very, very important if you must successfully practise Pratyahara. And in this process of Pratyahara, gradually you begin to progress and advance in keeping your mind always internalised, not moving towards the senses but moving towards the Self, the inner focal point within. And as you progress in this practice of Pratyahara, a stage comes when the senses gradually begin to change their nature, begin to give up their Vishayonmukha Svabhava, their innate tendency of always going towards the external objects, of always going towards their respective sense-objects. That nature they gradually begin to give up, having understood through Viveka, through Vichara, through Svadhyaya, through Satsanga, the foolishness of moving towards the external objects, having understood that the external world is an empty chimera, that there is no pleasure there, that there is no happiness there, that there is only pain there. By going towards fire, you will only get burnt. A child is attracted towards the brightness, the brilliance, of fire. And if it touches the fire, it will get burnt. In the same way, the moth goes towards its destruction by plunging towards a bright flame. The Sadhaka begins to understand that, likewise, in the glittering external world, there lies only harm or injury, unhappiness, sorrow, lamentation.

Once this idea is firmly implanted in the mind, the senses come under the influence of this new knowledge. Formerly there was a situation when the mind was constantly being influenced by the senses, powered by the senses, dragged by the senses. And now, a certain change has come over the mind. The whole situation is now reversed. Now, the senses, instead of influencing the mind, become influenced by the mind, because the mind has become established in Vichara and Viveka and Vairagya, and has become well-grounded in its new attitude to the external world. So it says, “No, my welfare does not lie there. My happiness lies inside”. The mind becomes well established in this conviction and determines not to go outside but to go inside. What happens then? This new determination of the mind has its impact upon the senses, and in this new situation the mind begins to influence the senses. And the senses now decide: “No, we will not drag the leader. We will follow the leader. The mind is our leader. We will do as he says”. So the senses stay put; they no longer bound towards the sense-objects, but they acquire a state of repose. They consent to stay where they are and they give up their old habitual, innate tendency of going outward. So, the senses attain a state of Dama. The senses become subdued, they become docile, and they decide to follow the mind. So, they also become internalised. They stay in their centres. They do not bother the Yogi any more. They no longer present themselves as factors which distract the mind and agitate the mind. So, the problem gets overcome. Instead of the mind being dragged out by the senses, the senses now consent to be brought inside by the mind. They follow the new tendencies of the awakened mind dominated by Vichara and Viveka, dominated by Vairagya, dominated by a higher discrimination. Such a situation becomes most suitable and helpful for the Yoga practitioner to take up the actual process of concentration or Dharana.

The Role of Svadhyaya in Arousing Viveka

How does this recognition come? How does the Sadhaka come to be aware of this aspect of the world, of this real nature of the sense-objects, the sense contacts, and the sense enjoyments born out of the sense contacts? Through Svadhyaya, through Sravana, through Satsanga. Thus, Svadhyaya plays its further role of helping Viveka and Vichara and inducing Vairagya, all of which are indispensable for effective and successful Pratyahara. Otherwise, you may draw the mind away from the objective universe a hundred times or even a thousand times, and yet, it will go back again to the Vishayas like a street dog always strolling in the lanes and bylanes after castaway food, no matter how impure, how Uchhishtha or Jhuta it may be. Even if the dog is kicked out or stoned or shooed away, even then it will come again. It will return to the same place; it is never tired. It is only when the conviction is laid deep in the mind as a result of repeated intake of the right type of instruction and knowledge that the Sadhak’s way of thinking gradually changes. It is only then that the Sadhak’s ways of looking at things and appraising them changes. What he once thought desirable, he now knows to be undesirable. What he once thought was the surest way of getting happiness, he now knows is all folly. That way lies misery; that way lies entanglement. In this manner, the Sadhak’s approach, his view of things, changes. His evaluation of experiences takes on a new quality and he begins to see things with the eye of discrimination. He comes to realise the truth of the saying, “Sarvam Duhkham Vivekinah”. To a Viveki, to one in whom discrimination has been aroused, everything is pain only. The Viveki sees no pleasure. He sees only pain. And this gradually growing conviction in the mind fortifies and supports his Pratyahara.

However, right from the very start, we have to see how Pratyahara is not just some technique only, but rather more a way of moving about in the world. Pratyahara is a continuing state of our mind even in the midst of varied occupations in the outer world in different fields of human activity—a state of mind in which discrimination is always active, in which philosophical enquiry is always present, in which the mind is always awake and alert, in which it does not want to go out, jump towards objects, but wishes to remain within always. Pratyahara is a state of mind in which there is awareness—psychological, moral and metaphysical awareness. There is psychological awareness; the Sadhak is aware of the state in which his mind is, whether it is hankering after outer things or whether it is staying put. There is moral and ethical awareness—the Sadhak is aware that he has taken the vows of Ahimsa, Satyam, Brahmacharya, Asteya and Aparigraha and that he is to abide by these vows as a Sadhaka, as a Raja Yogi. So he is aware that he must not budge from these vows, that he must strictly adhere to these vows, and therefore he cannot allow his mind to behave as the mind of an ordinary person in this world whose entire approach in this world is enjoyment-oriented, sense-oriented, indulgence-oriented. The Sadhak tells himself, “No, I am in the very opposite. I am risen into a very different plane of living and behaving”. This moral and ethical awareness is there in the mind. It helps Pratyahara. And metaphysical and philosophical awareness also is there. The Sadhak feels: “My real identity is that of the Purusha, divine, independent, ever-free, liberated from the clutches of Prakriti, liberated from all afflictions. And the environment in which I am moving, this outer surrounding, is Prakriti and my great mission is to see that I maintain my Purushahood. I should not get caught or entangled in Prakriti. Therefore I should move through these objects as an Anasakta Purusha, as a Nirlipta Anasakta Purusha, as an unattached spiritual being, as a spiritual entity. My mission is to free myself and liberate myself from Prakriti which is the outer universe with its various names and forms. So, while I am in the midst of these names and forms, I should not be of them. I must be detached. I must live in this world like the lotus lives in the pond untouched by water”. This constant awareness in the Sadhak is part of the picture of successful Pratyahara, is part of the picture of effective Pratyahara. So, if Pratyahara is to be practised successfully, the inner contents of your mind should be characterised by this threefold awareness.

Effective Pratyahara Stops the Creation of New Samskaras and New Vasanas

When Pratyahara is practised in such a comprehensive way, then gradually the outer world starts to lose its hold upon the mind of the Yogi. Outer objects and their names and form appearances lose their power to influence and change the mind of the Yogi. The Yogi retains his spiritual consciousness and awareness in the midst of the objects and in spite of the objects. That is effective Pratyahara. That is success in Pratyahara. It results now in a great game when, thus established in proper Pratyahara, the Yogi reaches a stage where new Samskaras and new Vasanas are no longer created. Otherwise, the creation of new Samskaras and new Vasanas is a perpetual process. There is no end to it. Normally, as you move in the outer world, you go on creating newer and newer Samskaras and Vasanas. It poses a serious problem to the Yogi. He has difficulty enough in trying to deal with the Vasanas and Samskaras already brought over from his previous birth. And he cannot afford to add on to it a further difficulty of having to deal with fresh Samskaras and Vasanas. The point to note is that unless you live like a Yogi, it is impossible for you to avoid creating more and more, newer and newer, Samskaras and Vasanas. The Yogi is able to put a stop to this process of the creation of additional new Samskaras and Vasanas, precisely by the practice of successful and effective Pratyahara. In his case, the perceived objects do not impinge upon the consciousness any more. They pass off like shadows. They do not take root. They do not go and lodge themselves in his Chitta. Pratyahara thus wards off the creation of new Vasanas and Samskaras, and through the help of Viveka, Vichara and Vairagya, turns the mind away, and the mind becomes gradually transformed into a Yogic mind, an indrawn mind, an Antarmukha Manas.

The inveterate tendency of the previous mind to habitually always be running about hither and thither, that innate previous tendency gives place to this newly created nature and quality of remaining inward, of moving towards its own inner centre. That is a great achievement. That is a vast stride, much ground cover and it is this indrawn mind that is the hallmark of the Yogi. It is a specific quality of the Yogic mind to be at repose within and the ground is now prepared for taking advantage of this state of the mind and making use of this indrawn mind to concentrate and focus on the great Lakshya, the Dhyana Lakshya, the object of meditation, the object of Yoga. What is Yoga

ultimately? Yoga is nothing but meditation and it is the indrawn mind that becomes the fit instrument for such meditation. 

One who has succeeded in practising Pratyahara becomes a person with Samahita Chitta, a person with his mind brought under control, a person with a subdued mind. And this subdued mind is a prerequisite for meditation. Where there is Asamahita Chitta, there cannot be any real Dhyana. This is what all the scriptures say.

Pratyahara (abstraction or withdrawal of the senses) By Sri Swami Sivananda

Pratyahara 

(abstraction or withdrawal of the senses)

By Sri Swami Sivananda  

Pratyahara is abstraction or withdrawal of the senses from their objects. The senses are held in check by this practice.

Sri Swami Sivananda  

Real inner life begins when the aspirant is established in this practice. That Yogic student who jumps at once to the practice of meditation without practising abstraction is a deluded soul. He will have no success in contemplation. 

Pratyahara checks the outgoing tendencies of the senses. It puts a break, as it were, on the senses. Pratyahara follows automatically the practice of Pranayama. When the life-force is controlled by the regulation or restraint of breath, the senses become thinned out. They are starved to death. They get emaciated. They cannot hiss now when they come in contact with the objects.

Pratyahara is a trying discipline. It is disgusting in the beginning but later on it becomes very interesting. You will feel immense inner strength. It demands considerable patience and perseverance. It will give you tremendous power. You will develop immense will-power. 

During the course of practice, the senses will run again and again like a wild bull towards objects. You will have to withdraw them again and again and fix the mind on the Lakshaya (point of concentration). 

That Yogi who is well established in the practice of Pratyahara can meditate quite calmly even in the battlefield when countless machine-guns are fired.

In the practice of Pratyahara you will have to drag the outgoing senses again and again from the sensual objects and fix the mind on your Lakshya point of concentration), just as the cart-driver drags the impetuous bulls and fixes them to the yoke. 

You must take particular care to drag the senses gently. Some aspirants draw them vehemently. That is the reason why they experience a little headache sometimes.

You should practise withdrawal of the senses one by one. dealing with the most turbulent senses in order. If you try to manipulate all the senses at one time, you will fail.

Mind is the commander-in-chief. The senses are the soldiers. The senses cannot do anything without the co-operation of the mind. If you can disconnect the mind from the senses, there will be abstraction of the senses automatically.

If one has intense Vairagya (dispassion indiferrense for enjoyment of objects), practice of Pratyahara will be easy. Dispassion is the enemy of the senses. Some Yogic students practise Pratyahara for 2 or 3 years and yet do not attain success, the simple reason being that they have not yet fully annihilated the cravings and lurking desires. They get themselves attached to some sensual objects.

Discrimination (viveka) helps a great deal in attaining success in Pratyahara.

A Raja Yogi practises Pratyahara deliberately. 

A Bhakta (a devotee of God) does not practise Pratyahara. He tries to get himself drowned in the Prem of the Lord. He attempts to fix his mind either at His lotus feet or charming face. Consequently he gets established in Pratyahara. 

NOTES

Pratyahara is abstraction. It is the withdrawal of the Indriyas from the objects. The senses are assimilated in the mind which is rendered pure through the practice of Yama, Niyama and Pranayama. The mind becomes more calm now. The nature of the Indriyas is to have always connection with the objects. Where the vision is turned outward (Bahirmukha Vritti), the rush of fleeting events engages the mind. The outgoing energies of the mind begin to play. When they are obstructed by the practice of Pratyahara, the other course for them is to mix with the mind and to be absorbed in the mind. The mind will not assume any form of any object. Hitherto, the Indriyas were following the mind like the other bees which follow the queen bee. Just as the bees fly as the queen bee flies, and sit as it sits down, so also, the Indriyas become restrained as the mind is restrained.

READ ABOUT THE EIGHT LIMBS OF YOGA

Pratyahara itself is termed as Yoga, as it is the most important Anga in Yoga Sadhana. This is the fifth rung in the Yogic ladder. The first four rungs deal with ethical training and purification of body, mind and Nadis. Now with Pratyahara, proper Yoga begins which eventually culminates in Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. 

Hence in Kathopanishad also in Part VI, Sloka 11, you will find: That firm control of the senses, they regard as Yoga. Again in the same Upanishad it is stated in Part IV, Sloka 1: The Self-existent created the senses outgoing, therefore, one sees outside and not the Atman within. Some intelligent man, with his senses turned away from their object, desirous of immortality, sees the Atman within.

Control of Indriyas (senses)

Indriyas, A Prolongation Of The Mind

Indriyas are objectified desires. Will to see is the eye. Will to hear is the ear. The Indriyas (senses) have two states, static and dynamic. When the desire begins to operate, the Indriyas are put in motion. This is the dynamic state. As soon as the desire is gratified, the Indriyas shrink through Tripti (satisfaction). This is the static or passive state.

Mind and Indriyas are one. Indriya is a prolongation of the mind. The sea is fed by the rivers; the sea cannot exist without the rivers. Even so, mind is fed by Indriyas and cannot exist without Indriyas. If you have controlled the Indriyas, you have already controlled the mind. Indriya is another name for mind.

Mind is a mass of Indriyas. Mind is a higher power than the Indriyas. Mind is a consolidated Indriya. Indriya is mind in manifestation. Just as a minister obeys the king, so also, the five Jnana-Indriyas act in accordance with the dictates of the mind. Indriyas represent backwaters. The desire in the mind to eat has manifested as tongue, teeth and stomach. The desire in the mind to walk has manifested itself as legs and feet. If you can control mind, you can control the Indriyas.

Eyes can only see. Ears can only hear. Tongue can only taste. Skin can only touch. Nose can only smell. But, the mind can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. Mind is the common sensory. The five senses are blended there. It can directly see, hear, smell, taste and feel independent of the senses. It is an aggregate of the five senses. All the sense-faculties are blended in the mind. You can see and hear directly through the mind by Yogic practice (clairvoyance and clairaudience). This blows out the Western psychological theory of perception.

Mind is termed the sixth sense: "Manah shashthanindri-yani-the senses of which mind is the sixth" (Gita, XV-7). The five senses are the five Jnana-Indriyas (organs of knowledge, sensation or perception).

Ayatana means mind (Chhandogya Upanishad, IV-vii) which is the substratum of the experiences of all other organs. Senses cannot do anything, if the mind is not connected with them. When you are wholly absorbed in the study of an interesting newspaper, you do not hear when your friend loudly calls you. You are not aware that the clock has struck five. It is everybody's daily experience. The mind was away at that time. It was not then connected with the sense of hearing. The eyes may be wide open during sleep. They do not see anything, because the mind is not there.

Sister Indriyas

Nose and anus are sister Indriyas. They are born of the same Prithvi-Tanmatra, nose from the Sattvic portion, anus from the Rajasic portion. These two Indriyas are the least mischievous. The olfactory sense and the olfactory nerve do not trouble you much. They can be controlled very easily.

Tongue and genitals are born of Jala-Tanmatra, the former from the Sattvic portion and the latter from the Rajasic portion. They are sister Indriyas. Eating strengthens the reproductive Indriyas.

Eye and feet are of Agni-Tanmatra, eye from the Sattvic Amsa (portion), feet from the Rajasic Amsa. They are sister Indriyas. Eye likes to see 'sights'. Her sisters, feet, say, "We are ready to take you to the Kumbha Fair at Allahabad. Be ready."

Skin and hands are born of Vayu-Tanmatra, skin from the Sattvic Amsa and hands from the Rajasic Amsa. They are sister organs. Skin says, "I want silk and other smooth articles for my enjoyment." Her sister, hand, says, "I can feel through my tactile corpuscles. I shall get for you fine soft silk. Do not be afraid, my dear sister."

Speech and ear are born of the same Akasa-Tanmatra, ear from the Sattvic Amsa and speech from the Rajasic Amsa. They are sister Indriyas. They help each other in the economy of Nature.

In a bungalow you will find two gates, one for entrance, another for exit. Our body is also a nice bungalow for the Lord. Eyes and ears are entrance gates for the reception of forms and sounds. These are avenues of sense-knowledge (sight and hearing). Upastha Indriya (organ of reproduction) and Guda (anus, organ of excretion) are exit gates. They throw out urine and faeces.

Tongue, The Most Difficult To Control

The most mischievous and troublesome Indriya is the generative organ. Then comes tonque. Then comes speech. Then comes ear. Then comes eye. Control of the organ of taste is far more difficult than control of the genitals, because you have been enjoying delicious articles of food even from your very birth. Lust manifests itself just before eighteen. You indulge in sexual pleasure only for a short period in every birth. But, you have to take food even in advanced senility. Control of tongue means control of all Indriyas.

Music, cinema, sight-seeing are enjoyed in human births only. Ants and rats do not enjoy cinema-show. The Indriya of sight is not so powerful as the tongue.

The organ of sight serves as a loving comrade to the organ of taste. The mind is at once tickled at the sight of a yellow colour of the mango. The eyes see a beautiful mango and the different dishes that are served on the table. At once, the glosso-pharyngeal nerves are stimulated. You get good appetite and relish. The food is rendered more palatable. A blind man may not have as good a relish as a man with sharp sight has.

Object Of Sadhana; to Prevent Externalisation By The Indriyas

The three organs of eye, ear and tongue externalise the mind and make a man altogether worldly. Eyes and ears are the avenues of sense-knowledge or Vritti-Jnana. Close the eyes. Shut the ears either with balls of cotton or balls of cotton beaten with yellow bee's wax or with the two thumbs making Yoni-Mudra. Now you have destroyed two-fifths of the world. Do not allow anything to enter the mind through these two doors of sense-knowledge.

The object of Sadhana is to internalise the mind by introspection or Antarmukha Vritti and to realise the Truth within yourself. Control the three organs of eye, ear and tongue. Then you can bring the mind under discipline and prevent the mental energy from flowing externally. These organs are the main causes of making the mind restive. Control over them helps the purpose of concentrating the energy internally.

He is a real Kshatriya (warrior) who wages internal war with the mind, who fights with the Indriyas, the Svabhava, through Viveka and will-force and obtains absolute mastery over the mind. He is a real Kshatriya who fights with the host of evil Samskaras and evil thoughts, the Rajasic and Tamasic, by awakening and increasing the Sattva Guna. He is a real Kshatriya whose Sastra is Will, and Astra is Viveka, whose battle-field is within, whose band is chanting of Pranava and Udgitha of the Chhandogya Upanishad and whose coat-of-arms is the three qualifications, viz., Viveka, Vairagya and Mumukshutva.

How To Control The Indriyas

There are six ways of controlling the Indriyas:
 (i) through Vichara (Self-enquiry), 
(ii) by will-force, 
(iii) by Kumbhaka (retention of breath in Pranayama), (iv) by Sama and Dama (restraint), 
(v) by Pratyahara (restraint or withdrawal of senses),
(vi) by Vairagya (dispassion) and Tyaga (Renunciation). 
Perfect control can be made only through Vichara.(Self-enquiry).

Sama and dama

Calmness of mind comes through the practice of Sama and Dama. 

You must first develop Viveka  (discrimination between the real and the unreal) and Vairagya (dispassion for the enjoyment of objects) herein and hereafter. 

Then only you will have success in the practice of Sama. Vairagya born of Viveka only will be of a lasting nature. Such a Vairagya only will be helpful to you in your spiritual practices. Karana Vairagya due to loss of property of death of wife or son will be temporary. It will be of no use to you. It is volatile like ammonia.

Dama is the control of the external organs, i.e., the organs of action or the five Karma-Indriyas, viz., organ of speech, hands, feet, genitals and the anus. 

Sama is serenity of mind produced by the constant eradication of Vasanas or desires.

Sama

Sama is serenity of mind produced by the constant eradication of Vasanas or desires. Whenever desires crop up in your mind do not try to fulfil them. Reject them through discrimination, right enquiry and dispassion. You will get tranquillity of mind and mental strength by constant practice. The mind is thinned out. The mind is checked directly from wandering. Its out-going tendencies are curbed. If the desires are eradicated, the thoughts also will die by themselves. The mind is detached from the manifold sense objects by continually observing their defects and is fixed on Brahma.

Sama is calmness of mind induced by the eradication of Vasanas. Vasana-tyaga (renunciation of desires) through discrimination constitutes the practice of Sama, one of the sixfold virtues (Shadsampatti). If a desire arises in your mind, do not give way to it. This will become the practice of Sama. Sama is keeping the mind in the heart by Sadhana. Sama is restraint of the mind by not allowing it to externalise or objectify. The restraint of the external activities and the Indriyas is the practice of Dama (Bahyavritti-nirodha).

If you renounce the desire for eating mangoes, it is Sama. If you do not allow the feet to carry you to the bazaar to purchase the mangoes, if you do not allow the eyes to see the mangoes and if you do not allow the tongue to taste them, it is Dama.

A desire arises to eat sweets. You do not allow the feet to move to the bazaar to purchase the sweets. You do not allow the tongue to eat the sweets. You do not allow the eyes to see the sweets also. This kind of restraint of the Indriyas is termed Dama.

It is termed Sama when you do not allow any thought to arise in the mind concerning sweets by eradication of Vasanas (Vasana-tyaga). This eradication of the Vasanas can be accomplished through Vichara, Brahma-chintana, Japa, Dhyana, Pranayama, etc.

Sama is an internal restraint. Dama is a restraint of the Indriyas. Though the practice of Sama includes the practice of Dama, as the Indriyas will not move and work without the help of the mind, yet the practice of Dama is necessary. The practice of Dama should go hand in hand with Sama. Sama alone will not suffice. You must attack the enemy, desire, from within and without. Then alone you can control the mind quite easily. Then alone the mind will be in perfect control.

In the practice of Sama, the five Jnana-Indriyas or organs of knowledge, viz., ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose are also controlled.

Dama 

Dama is rational control of the senses. Dama is the control of the five organs of  knowledge (eyes, nose, ears, tonque, touch) and the five organs of action or the five Karma-Indriyas, viz., organ of speech, hands, feet, genitals and the anus and the external instruments, the organs are withdrawn and fixed in their respective centres.

The eyes run outside to see a beautiful object. If you at once withdraw the eyes from that object, it is called Dama. You should restrain the other Indriyas also by the practice of Dama.

Some say, Practice of Dama is not necessary. It is included in Sama. The Indriyas cannot work independently. They can work only in conjunction with the mind. If the mind is checked, the Indriyas will come under control automatically.

The mind will come under control very easily if Dama also is practised. It is a double attack on the enemy from within and without. He is crushed or subdued soon. If the front and back doors are closed simultaneously, the enemy is caught quite readily. There is no escape for him on any side. by practice of Dama you do not allow either the Indriyas or the mind to come in contact with the objects. You do not allow the mind to come through the external instrument, viz., the eye, to assume the form of the object. 

In neophytes the mind never remains self-centred despite rigorous practice of Sama. It tries to run outside towards external objects. If Dama is also practised, it will be of immense help to curb the mind efficiently. If you tie the hands of a mischievous boy, he tries to do mischief with the feet. If his feet, also are tied he keeps quiet. Sama corresponds to the tying of the hands and Dama to the tying of the feet. Therefore the practice of Dama is also necessary.

Dama is a practice of a student of Jnana Yoga. Pratyahara corresponds to the practice of Dama. Pratyahara is the practice of a Raja Yogi. In the former it follows the practice of Sama; in the latter it follows the practice of Pranayama. In the former the Indriyas are withdrawn by calming or restraining the mind; in the latter the Indriyas are withdrawn by restraining the Prana. The Indriyas can be withdrawn more effectively by the process of double withdrawal, by withdrawing the mind and the Prana at the same time. It is the mind that moves the Indriyas. It is the Prana that vivifies or energises or galvanises the Indriyas. Sama and Dama are strictly speaking Raja Yogic practicDama

More about Dama

Dama is restraint of the Indriyas. Dama blunts the Indriyas. Perfect control of the senses is not possible through Dama alone. If the senses are very sharp and acute, they carry away the minds of even good Sadhakas impetuously, just as the gale carries away the ship in stormy weather (Gita, II-67). They can be controlled perfectly through the help of the mind, through Vichara.

When you walk along Mount Road, Madras, each Indriya tries its level best to get hold of its objects of enjoyment and revelry. The Indriyas revolt vehemently if you do not procure them these objects. Tongue drags you to the coffee hotel or Hotel de Angelis. Tvak (skin) says, "Let me go to the Bombay Sait's shop and have a piece of fine China silk." Ear says, "Let me have a gramophone or harmonium." Nose says, "Let me have a bottle of Otto de Rose." The mind is at the bottom of these Indriyas to instigate. A tumultuous internal fight goes on between the five organs of knowledge, each trying to have a lion's share of enjoyment. Use Viveka, power of discrimination, always. Indriyas tempt and deceive you. Indriyas are the jugglers. Maya spreads her Moha-Jala through mind and Indriyas. Be on the alert.

 Practise Dama through Vairagya and Vasana-Tyaga. Happiness comes through calmness of Indriyas, through calmness of mind (Uparati). Go to the sweets' bazaar with plenty of money in hand. Walk hither and thither for fifteen minutes. Look with a greedy eye at the various sweets. Do not purchase anything. Return home. Even if dainties are served that day at home, reject them. Have a plain diet. By so doing, you will control the tongue which is at the root of all troubles. You will eventually control the mind also. You will develop will-power.

Give up all luxurious food and all articles of sensuous enjoyment. Practise rigid penance. Tapas thins out the Indriyas and eventually leads to control of mind. If you give up tea, you have really controlled a small portion of the mind; control of tongue really means control of mind.

Pratyahara

When the Indriyas give up the objects, they take up the form of the mind-stuff. They are drawn into the mind. This is termed Pratyahara or abstraction. When the Indriyas are withdrawn from their respective objects, it is Indriya-Pratyahara. Mental abstraction takes place when the mind is disconnected with the Indriyas. Pratyahara is a general, broad term which includes Dama also. The effect of Dama (restraint of Indriyas) is Pratyahara.

If you can do consciously Pratyahara at will, consciously attaching and detaching the mind to and from the senses, you have gained really a great control over the mind. You can check at any time the outgoing tendencies or outgoing forces of the mind. 

Pratyahara is the stepping-stone to inner spiritual life. He who has succeeded in Pratyahara can concentrate his mind quite readily for a very long time. Dharana (concentration) and Dhyana (meditation) come automatically if Pratyahara is perfect. 

An aspirant has to struggle hard to have mastery over Pratyahara. Perfect Vairagya (dispassion) is indispensable for success in Pratyahara. You can succeed after strenuous and incessant struggle for some years. "Tatah parama vasyatendriyanam-Thence arises the supreme control of the organs" (Patanjali Yoga Sutras, II-55). If Pratyahara is perfect, all the organs are under perfect control.

During the period of Sadhana, do not mix much; do not talk much; do not walk much; do not eat much; do not sleep much. Observe carefully the five 'do-nots'. Mixing will cause disturbances in the mind. Talking much will cause distraction of the mind. Walking much causes exhaustion and weakness. Eating much induces Alasya and Tandri (laziness and sleepiness).

Control of Thought-A Great Desideratum

If you have the reins of the horses under your control, you can have a safe journey. The Indriyas are the horses. If you have the senses under your efficient control, you can have a safe journey in the path of Moksha. Indriyas cannot do anything without the help of the mind, their master and commander. Control of the Indriyas means control of the mind only. Control of thoughts leads to the control of mind and Indriyas also. It leads to the attainment of infinite bliss and eternal life. Control of thought is indispensable-a great desideratum for all.

Remember Your Original Home

O Mind! Do not ruin yourself by keeping company with the senses and their objects. Enough. Enough. Now get yourself concentrated on Brahma-Svarupa. That is your original home. That is your real, happy home. Remember this constantly when you chant OM. Brahmakara or Akhandakara Vritti will arise thereby. Svarupa is your original home. I have to repeat this again and again, as you always forget your real nature. You have taken your birth from Svarupa. Now, go back to your original home or birth-place through the help of Brahmakara Vritti generated by constant Nididhyasana (profound and constant meditation), through Mahavakya-Anusandhana or Chintana (enquiry into or thinking on the deep and real significance of the great sentence "Tat Tvam Asi" or "Aham Brahmasmi"). Then the Avidya (nescience) will be destroyed and you will be free from all kinds of miseries and pain and will attain the Paramananda state (highest knowledge coupled with infinite bliss). When the Svarupakara Vritti arises, all your vain Sankalpas will vanish. You will reach the Turiya state with Sahajananda (bliss which is your very nature). Then, O mind, you will be free from birth and death. You will no longer have to enter again this filthy house of physical body. You will not be clothed again by flesh and bone. You will be merged in Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman, your Adhishthana or repository!

SOURCES: 
 Lectures on Yoga and Vedanta.

http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=895