Pratyahara - Retraction Of The Senses

Many spiritual leaders have suggested their own paths for their followers. One such path which is very methodical and logical is Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga. Patanjali, the great ancient exponent of Raja Yoga, wrote that the path to enlightenment embraces eight stages. This eight-limbed approach, known as Ashtanga Yoga is not to be mistaken as a step-by-step approach but a multidimensional approach in which all eight limbs are practiced simultaneously. 

The 8 fold path consist of the following:

1. Yama
2. Niyama
3. Asana
4. Pranayama
5. Pratyahara
6. Dharana
7. Dhyana
8. Samadhi

I have covered Yama, Niyama in earlier blogs and in this blog I will covere Pratyahara. I will leave it to the reader to refer the numerous documentation available on Asana and Pranayama. 

This limb of Ashtanga Yoga deals with the preparation to meditation. Pratyahara means drawing back or retreat. The word ahara means "nourishment"; pratyahara translates as "to withdraw oneself from that which nourishes the senses." In yoga, the term pratyahara implies withdrawal of the senses from attachment to external objects.

When we came into this world we came with a basic defect. Rather than being focused inward to understand our true purpose of this existence, we focused outward to enjoy the sense objects of this dream world. As I have covered earlier, desire for objects of this world is unending and is as much a cause for misery as it is for temporary happiness when acquired. Hence every scripture talks about the need to give up desires. But this is easier said than done. In this phase of Astanga Yoga we are asked to withdraw, the analogy being a tortoise withdrawing into its shell to protect itself. So, what is being said is that we should withdraw internally to protect us from the desires.

So, how do we withdraw? Does it help to withdraw from the world and go to a dark cave where the sense organs cannot find any sense object to desire? Just because I move away does not mean I have gone away from desires. Without a proper training of the mind, any attempt to withdraw can lead to serious withdrawal symptoms which may be worse than going after the object of desire. 

Can I be in this world and ensure my sense organs and action organs are prevented from reacting to objects of desire? We have read in The Adventures of Ulysses by Homer about a set of sirens singing so well that anyone listening would be suicidally prone to jump ship and go to them. Ulysses had himself tied with chains to the ship whereas his crew covered their ears when their ship passed by the sirens.  He heard them sing and was strongly tempted to jump, but was held back by the chains. Do you think such a solution will help us withdraw from the outside objects?

So, what is the way out? To understand the withdrawal process, we need to understand the out seeking process and trace backwards. When we see an object of desire like a flower, jewelry etc. with our sense organ, the eye, a signal is sent to the Mind. The mind is like a clearing house getting all these signals, but not knowing what to do. Should I pluck that flower or not? Should I buy that jewel or not? The mind goes to the Intellect for guidance. If the intellect is pure, it will make a well reasoned decision and tell the mind what to do and that in turn tells the action organs what to do. 

There is one missing element here still. Why is it that someone can get attracted to drinking by seeing an advertisement for liquor and it does not affect me in the least? Why is it that a new book attracts me whereas it does not have any impact on my friend? The question is why do we desire what we desire? The answer to that is our hidden desires accumulated over several births which have created a pattern in our Identity and since, out of ignorance of our true self, we have identified with the Ego which has dethroned the Soul, we as a separate entity are impacted by our accumulated desires. These give rise to related thoughts which create desire in the mind when sense organs sense those objects.

The intellect has for its guidance either of 2 entities. It can take the guidance of the pure effulgent Soul or the impure Ego which has dethroned the soul. So depending on what is guiding the intellect, the decision conveyed to the mind will differ.

Now that we have a model, let us come back to withdrawal. The sense organs need to move away from sense objects. The mind has to be guided by the intellect, which in turn should ensure it is not clouded by emotions of the mind, but by the effulgence of the Soul. The intellect also should sharpen its focus internally and realize that it has to unite with the Soul and not be swayed by the Ego. This completes the withdrawal process and leads a seeker on the path of Divinity. 

All the above is fine to read and admire.  But how is this put into practice? We will cover that in the subsequent step called Dhyana.

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Are we really contented ?

The second of the Niyamas is Santosha or Contentment. Though many of us use the term in our daily life, let us pause for a moment to know its meaning. Contented means, feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation.

Being students of spirituality, let us try to explore contentment from three different perspectives, the physical layer, the mental layer and the intellectual layer. At the physical layer, most of us have ever increasing needs for flashy products and gadgets. We want the latest smart phone, the latest car model, the best designer shoes and what not. Are we ever contented with what we have? At the mental layer, comes the emotions of love, affection etc. Can anyone truthfully say, they are fully content with the love and affection they receive ? Can I say with all gratitude that I am content with the attention and love given to me my by own spouse, child etc? At the intellectual level, am I contented with the title I have at work? If we reflect on the three layers truthfully, it is obvious that our life is full of discontent. 

Let us also understand what are the different types of contentment. Let us say I am a lazy person who just likes to curl up in bed and be happy with the morsels of food given to be my some kind soul. If someone comes and tells me that there are some boxes I need to move and I will get paid in the form of a sumptuous meal, I may say that I am very contented with the morsels of food I get and do not want the sumptuous meal. Is this real contentment? I am only saying I am contented because I am lazy and do not want to work. I would call this as lazy contentment or Tamasic contentment. Next, take the case of a sales person who is going all out to win an order. He is trying very hard. But, unfortunately the order goes to someone else. He claims he is contented with whatever business he has, by telling that the order was not worth it. It was a loss making proposition or that the client was bad etc. In this case, the sales person is using " the grapes are sour" explanation for his contentment. I would label this as the "sour grapes" contentment or Rajasic contentment. 

Are the above real contentment? Obviously, they are not. If contentment is driven by sloth or laziness as in the first case or by just giving a rational explanation for not getting the order as in the second case, it is not contentment. In both cases, the burning is there in the individual to get the object, either the sumptuous food or the order. However, they are telling the world that they are contented. 

One may ask, if contentment is good, would an individual or society progress? If I join a job as a clerk and say I am contented and not work hard to progress up the corporate ladder, is that not a bad thing? If a scientist were to say, he is contented with the progress he has made with new drugs and does not want to do anything more, is that right? The obvious answer is no. 

As students of  spirituality, we know that we are not the body, mind and intellect. Since discontent impacts at the physical, mental and intellectual level, when I realize I am above these three levels, there cannot be any discontentment at all. Again, we know that for each of us, action is a must. Any action done with a motive of self aggrandizement , by assuming that we are the body/mind/intellect complex is bound to cause discontentment. So, how do we achieve the goal of ensuring societal progress and at the same time remain contented? The only way is to act with the principle of Karmayoga. When I do any act focusing only on the act and not its results, whatever be the result, there will be contentment. As an individual, if I work hard keeping in mind that is my duty at office, I may or may not get rewarded with more money/promotions etc. But since my focus is on my duty alone, there is no discontent. Similarly, any societal activity done with the aim of doing good, but just focusing on the activity and not on the fruits like a recognition, a Nobel prize etc, there will never be discontentment.

This ability to be in this world, do activities and still stay contented is what is essential for spiritual progress.

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The Truth About Truth

I have briefly introduced readers to the 8 fold path in my earlier blog. Today I will briefly touch on the first of those and specifically focus on one of the key requirements underlying the first step.

The first limb, yama, deals with one's ethical standards and sense of integrity, focusing on our behavior and how we conduct ourselves in life. Yamas are universal practices that relate best to what we know as the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

The five yamas are:

1. Ahimsa : nonviolence
2. Satya: truthfulness
3. Asteya: nonstealing
4. Brahmacharya: continence
5. Aparigraha: noncovetousness

In this blog I want to focus on the aspect of Satya or Truthfulness. Every religion talks of being truthful. The questions related to truth are whether one should tell the truth all the time or is it acceptable to lie at some times? Is there something called a transactional  truth and an absolute truth? To analyze the first question I would like to try and build a model to help in analyzing. As covered in detail in earlier blogs, we as a living entity are composed of  (i) Gross body consisting of the 5 action and 5 sense organs; (ii) Subtle body consisting of the Mind, which houses emotions, gets signals from the sense organs and directs the action of the action organs and the Intellect which is able to conceptualize and decide; (iii) Causal body consisting of our innate desires which causes us to take a particular body to fulfill our desires.

Let me use the structure above to build the model to analyze Truth. Let's say I am a lone bystander waiting to cross a road. In front of me i notice a car pulling back and as it does, it knocks down a 2 wheeler and speeds off. Soon a man comes and asks me me if I saw what happened. Since I had seen what happened I tell him the details. Let us see the above using the model. My eyes saw something and conveyed the signals to my mind. My eyes, by themselves do not know what happened. The mind gets the signal and the mind also does not know what has happened or who is wrong. It checks with the Intellect. The intellect, through past experience and/or training knows it is an accident and who is responsible and tells the Mind accordingly. The mind then tells the mouth to tell what happened. All these happen so fast, we do not realize the interaction of sense organs (eyes), the mind, the intellect and the action organs (mouth) in the whole process. 

Now let me change the situation slightly. Instead of the car driver being an unknown person, assume it is my best friend who knocks down the two wheeler and speeds off. Now, if i am asked what happened, would I as easily blurt out the truth or say, I do not know, which is a lie? Let us use the same model as above. In this case, though the intellect has told the Mind what has happened, the mind because of its emotion of love towards my best friend, instructed the mouth to tell a lie. So, an act of the mouth where the mind has overpowered the intellect has resulted in a lie.

Let me take another situation. I am walking on a lonely street and suddenly I notice a lady running towards me and in the distance, i notice couple of men running towards me. The lady tells me that they are trying to snatch her jewelry and goes and hides behind a wall. The men come up to me and ask if I have seen a woman and describe her. Should I be truthful and tell them where she is hiding or should i tell a lie and say, I dont know. Now it depends on whether I believe the woman told me the truth. If the woman had told me a lie and had really stolen the jewels from a shop, truthfully I will have to reveal where she is. Else, if she was telling the truth, i will have to tell a lie and protect her. Now, the sense organs cannot determine the truth/false of the situation and neither can the mind. It is up to the Intellect to make its best guess and based on that it will tell the mind and the mind will instruct the mouth accordingly. So, even if I do not reveal the woman, but later on it turns out she was really a thief, I have not told a lie because my mind was fully under the control of the Intellect  and Intellect is the final arbiter.

Now comes a question, is the Intellect always right? This is like asking if the mirror always reflects? The mirror reflects perfectly when it is clean. If there is a bit of dust on it, a mere wiping with a wet cloth will clean it and it will reflect perfectly. If it has got stained,  a more rigorous cleaning is needed to make it reflect properly. But none of this takes away from the fact that the very nature of a mirror is to reflect and it is only extraneous things that may have caused it to cease to reflect and with right effort at removing the dirt, will cause it to reflect properly again. In exactly, the same way, the very nature of the Intellect is purity, truthfulness, ability to discriminate, make proper judgement etc. Similar to a mirror, the Intellect may appear to be failing in its function due to accumulated dirt of emotions, greed, anger, attachments etc. In the same way as the mirror could be cleaned, the intellect can be sharpened and cleaned through study of scriptures, being in company of saintly people etc. When the mind is under the control of such an intellect, it will always ensures that the action organ tells the Truth.

The above discussion pertains to transaction based truth where the concept of a relative truth comes into discussion. But then what is absolute truth? That which was true yesterday, is true today and will be true tomorrow is absolute truth. That which is true in waking state, dream state and in deep sleep taste is absolute truth. The absolute truth is something that is subtler than the Intellect too and hence Intellect cannot sit in judgement of this truth. This absolute truth is nothing but the fact that we in reality are nothing but the Brahman or Consciousness or Truth or Divine Light. Due to a massive ignorance, we believe that we are measly human beings and that is the biggest "lie " we are telling ourselves.

In conclusion as part of being Truthful in the context of Yama, the first step of Astanga principle,  is to ensure that any action of the action organs be done as directed by the mind which is under the control of a well developed Intellect. Secondly it is critical to remain focused on the Absolute Truth and work towards achieving it, which is finally the aim of the Astanga process.


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Arising From The Depth Of Pain

Shri Bhagavaan uvaacha

kutastvaa kashmalamidam vishame samupasthitam |
anaaryajusthamasvargyamakeertikaramarjuna  (2)
klaibyam maa sma gamah paartha naitattvayyupapadyate |
kshudram hridayadaurbalyam tyaktvotishtha parantapa

Bhagavan (Supreme Lord) said:

“From where has this weakness arisen, at this crisis time? It is not noble, nether it will take you to a better state, nor it  will earn you name or fame, ” [2,2]
“Don't yield to this effeminate behavior, it is not worthy of you. Cast off this petty weakness of heart and arise, O scorcher of foes!, ” [2,3]

Let us briefly summarize the situation. In the midst of the great Mahabharatha war, Arjuna the great warrior, has become totally emotional seeing that he has to fight his relatives. The great warrior who had defeated mightiest of enemies is now totally helpless and weeping and refusing to fight.

In the previous verse we had discussed about stress and the four stages of stress:

• Relaxed State  
• Normal Stress 
• Hyper stressed 
• Break down

It is obvious that Arjuna is in the last stage of stress. 

Well, we may say, we will not get into such situations as Arjuna's. So, why bother about all this? But are we being honest with ourselves? Most of us have at one point or other in life reached that ultimate stage of breakdown stress. If we see the increasing cases of suicide or drugs, it is obvious that more and more of us are slowly but surely descending on the self destructing path towards breakdown.

There are any number of reasons to get into this desperate stage:

1. Total loss of wealth when the stock market crashes
2. Loss of a high paying job
3. Death of a near and dear one
4. Massive loss of face/prestige

 The triggers for any person reaching this final stage of stress come primarily from 3 sources:

a. Nature: This could be natural events like floods, famines, drought etc. This is something not within a person's control and are "acts of God". But they can have a devastating impact on the emotional stability of an individual.

b. Environment: Stress trigger also could be caused by the environment in which an individual functions. It could be the family environment, office, stock market etc. A severe fight with the spouse can lead a person to emotional instability. A stock market collapse can create mental turmoil. Several people committed suicide after the stock market crash during the great Depression period in USA.

c. Internal : Stress trigger may arise from one's own thoughts. I may imagine the worst in every situation and get stressed. Have we not heard of people who are afraid of their own shadows, literally? At the extreme, this progresses into situations where people here voices that don’t exist, see people and situations that don’t exist.

What happens once a person reaches this level of stress? It causes the following:

• Desperation  
• Extreme Misery  
• illusion

A person in this situation will not be able to demonstrate the character of an upright man. Imagine being in the throes of a terrible emotional crisis and being asked to think rationally. It just is not possible. When one is in such a situation, can it add to good name or fame? When the mighty Arjuna refused to fight and was weeping, did it add to his fame? When I am on the brink of emotional failure and shout at my colleagues, does it add to my good reputation? Thsi emotional distress will not lead to a good future state. I can keep on blaming myself and the world for all the bad things which have led me to this emotional state. But will it make me better?

None of these characteristics will help us in:

•  Growing as an individual
•  Gaining peace and happiness
•  Being efficient in our activities
•  Supporting other members of the society
•  Resolving the cause of the pain or struggle

This is a not good state  to be in for a human being But how do we get out of this distress? Can I go the market and buy something? Well drinks and drugs may give short term relief. But once their effect is gone, the turmoil is doubled. What is the state we need to be in before we degrade ourselves more?

• Whatever is the situation, we should never get in to  Hyper Stress / Distress state
• We have to face the situation  with appropriate positive stress level and get back to relaxed state quickly
• We have to avoid, unwanted / unnecessary stress arousals

But all this is easier said than done. Krishna is asking Arjuna to arise and get over this weakness. But Krishna cannot make Arjuna arise. He can only impart enough knowledge to think and then Arjuna must use his own intellect to overcome his weakness.

What follows in the Gita are words of wisdom which if we can inculcate, will enable us in the first place not to reach that breakdown stage and even if we reach, will enable us to bootstrap ourselves  back to normalcy.


Conclusion : Lesson from Swami Vivekananda’s Life

“Once when I was in Varanasi, I was passing through a place where there was a large tank of water on one side and a high wall on the other. It was in the grounds where there were many monkeys. The monkeys of Varanasi are huge brutes and are sometimes surly. They now took it into their heads not to allow me to pass through their street, so they howled and shrieked and clutched at my feet as I passed. As they pressed closer, I began to run, but the faster I ran, the faster came the monkeys and they began to bite at me. It seemed impossible to escape, but just then I met a stranger who called out to me, "Face the brutes." I turned and faced the monkeys, and they fell back and finally fled. That is a lesson for all life — face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them. If we are ever to gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before  you”


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1. Glimpses Of Indian Spirituality

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2. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

3. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

4. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality