Namaste.
Welcome to this meditation session with me,
Dhyansay,
Your path to inner peace,
Wisdom and awareness.
We are on the path of yoga as narrated by Patanjali as given in his Yoga Sutras.
And we are closing today the second phase,
The second part of this Yoga Sutras,
The Sadanapada.
Before we do that,
Let us understand what Patanjali has to offer for his last sutra.
This last sutra is the fifth pillar of Ashtanga Yoga which comes after the Yam,
The Niyam,
The Asana,
The Pranayama.
What is this fifth pillar?
Why is it important?
The spiritual path that we are on,
This becomes relevant,
This empowers in our life when we see that the physical world,
The world made of senses is not enough.
When you see that what you see is not enough,
When you hear what you hear is not enough,
When what you touch,
What you feel is not enough,
When what you smell is not enough,
When all the five senses,
The world that is created out of these five senses is not enough and you see through it,
Meaning you see through that this is some projection that you are enjoying,
That is created in front of you,
This is not the reality.
Then what is the reality?
Then where to go?
If not to go in the world,
Where to go?
Then really begins spirituality,
Then begins that inward turn from outside to inside.
So this turn is the beginning of spirituality.
Before that it is all a preparation for spirituality,
Before that it is all going through life and realizing that we have to turn inwards.
When all the five senses are whatever they offer to you,
The best of this world,
Whenever they offer the best of this world to you,
And even then you see that there is something more that you cannot achieve with those senses and the perception that is created by those senses,
Then you turn inwards.
That is true spirituality,
That is the moment of transformation,
That is the beginning of the journey.
While going through these Yoga Sutras,
All what has been said so far,
All what has been discussed,
Practiced so far,
Is all that preparation to turn inwards,
Is all a process to show you,
To make you experience in your own first-hand evaluation,
Understanding,
Realization,
That see all what is offered to you in the world.
No matter how good it is,
Still it is not enough.
If you do not reach to that point,
If what you see,
This world of illusion,
This world of perception,
If this still serves all your palates,
If it still serves all your tastes,
Then you have to wait.
Then you have to wait to get what spirituality has to offer.
Until that point,
Spirituality would just remain as a means to some relaxation,
As a means to some moments away from the world.
And this turning inwards is not renouncing the outside.
This turning inwards has been misunderstood as renouncing the outside.
It does not mean that the world created by senses has to be renounced.
It has to be lived as well,
As long as the body is there,
As long as the mind is there.
This physical body,
This mind,
Both this combination,
Body and mind,
They belong to these five senses,
They belong to the world,
But you have more to experience.
There is more to you just than the body and the mind,
Which makes you want to experience more,
Which is not possible,
Which is just not offered by the five senses.
And therefore,
You turn inwards.
So,
Please remember,
Turning inwards does not mean renouncing the world,
Does not mean that you give up all your materialistic possessions,
And tomorrow you don't want the best house or the best car or whatever your dreams,
Ambitions and so on are.
Turning inwards means you see that all that is not enough and there is something far more relevant,
Far more experiential that needs to be now moved towards,
And for that you turn inwards.
So,
This fifth sutra or the fifth pillar of the Ashtanga Yoga by Patanjali is exactly about that turning inwards.
Let us hear what he has to say.
In Patanjali's words,
Sva-vishya asamprayoga chitta-svarupa anukarna eva indrinim pratyahara Meaning,
When the senses withdraw themselves from the objects and imitate,
As it were,
The nature of mind-stuff,
This is pratyahara.
When the senses withdraw themselves from the objects,
What senses are we talking about?
The five sense of perceptions that we all know,
What you see,
What you hear,
What you taste,
What you smell,
What you touch,
Through these five senses,
Whatever you perceive,
Whatever object that you perceive.
And then there are five senses of action.
So,
In total there are ten senses,
Five senses of perception and five senses of action.
The five senses of perception we just said are seeing,
Hearing,
Smelling,
Touching and tasting.
And the five senses of action are the first senses of elimination from the physical body.
There is this sense of elimination which can be understood as that you want to throw something out into the world,
You want to contribute to the world in some or the other way,
This world of perception.
Then the second sense of action is the sense of procreation,
Which in biological terms is when you reproduce,
But in spiritual terms it can also be understood,
In psychological terms it can also be understood as you wanting more,
You wanting to grow.
That growth that you are looking for in the sensory world is what we are talking about that sense of growth.
Then third is the sense of grasping with your hands.
So,
This is in the physical sense,
You have the sense of grasping this and grasping that.
In psychological sense you want to hold on to things,
Whatever you have you want to grasp it,
You don't want to let that go.
And then letting go of things,
Letting go of people,
Letting go of anything in life becomes difficult if this sense of grasping is very very strong.
Then you have the sense of speaking,
This sense of contributing to this world of sounds,
The sensory worlds of sound by speaking,
By articulating,
By communicating and trying to outreach,
Trying to reach to the other,
Trying to communicate with the other,
This sense of action.
And the last sense of action is the sense of movement that you physically express with your body,
That you are moving with your body and as consciousness when you are in this world of perception,
You want to move things,
You want to change things because that gives you a sense of aliveness,
That gives you a validation that you are alive.
So,
If these ten senses are withdrawn,
If the five senses of perception and five senses of action,
If they are withdrawn,
What is left?
The world stops for you.
There is no world left with the five senses are put to rest,
The senses of perception and the five senses of action.
And this is where the energies flip from the outside to the inside.
Then this inward turn happens where the energy starts pointing at the source,
It starts pointing at your inner space,
It starts pointing at the more real.
I call it the more real because also to reach to the truth you will have to go through a lot of inner perceptions as well which appear as reality.
Just like the outside world,
The perceptions that you see,
They appear as reality but when you see through them,
You know they are the illusion,
They are not the reality.
Similarly,
When you turn inwards,
When the energies turn inward towards the source and you start that journey and you move on to that path,
You also pass through a lot which looks like reality,
Which appears to give you the sense of that you have arrived.
But you have to keep moving in your inner depths because this inner space is even more intangible,
It's even more immeasurable,
It's still even more unknown and fuzzy.
So you have to move in with a lot of awareness,
You have to move in with a lot of patience.
So Patanjali here says,
When the senses withdraw themselves from the objects,
So in this pratyahara,
The energy is turning inwards,
You withdraw away from the objects,
From all the five senses of perception and the five senses of action and imitate as it were the nature of mind stuff.
That is pratyahara.
Here what Patanjali is giving as a technique,
He is saying when you withdraw the energy,
What to do with that energy?
Then you imitate as if it were the nature of mind stuff.
What is this mind stuff?
Chitta,
The silent lake of consciousness,
The awareness which is completely silent.
You can understand this as silent awareness.
That is the nature of mind stuff.
To have this absolute silence inside and awareness that is undisturbed,
That is not fixed on a particular object.
When the withdrawn energy from all these different directions,
From all the senses and all these senses of action and perception,
When they are turned inwards and allow them to imitate,
Meaning allow them to follow this silent awareness of your inner space,
That is pratyahara.
That is the path which Patanjali sets you on so that when you move into the inner world,
You move towards the source,
You move towards the truth without also getting distracted with this or that.
And lastly,
He says,
Tatha Pramana Vashtata Indranam,
Then follows supreme mastery over the senses.
Once you have these energies inside settled,
Inside silent and aware,
So all this energy that goes outside,
That is wasted outside,
If it flows inwards and if it learns to convert itself into this silent awareness,
This lake of chitta where there is no movement and only pure consciousness,
That is the beginning and that is true pratyahara,
That is true control of also your senses.
Then whatever happens into the world,
It doesn't bother you.
Then whatever is offered to you through the senses,
You will have a choice.
Right now there are compulsions.
These senses bring compulsions.
There is no real choice.
When something that you would like to see is put in front of you,
You are compulsively seeing that.
There is no choice.
And when you attain to this pratyahara,
When you practice pratyahara,
Then there is a choice.
Then you may attend what you see as an object,
What you see as a perception or you may choose not to do that.
And that becomes so relevant in the digital age where you are constantly pushed into the addictions of what you see,
Of what you hear and all this input that is becoming compulsive day in day out.
If you practice pratyahara,
You are given a choice.
A gap is built between you and what is offered to you through the senses.
Let us practice this as the last step of sadhana pad and we will begin the vibhuti pad in a few days from now.
And for today let us sit in silence and practice pratyahara.
Please close your eyes.
Take a posture that is comfortable for you,
Where the body is stable,
Comfortable in balance.
Balance of right and left,
Of forward and backwards,
Of top and bottom.
Allowing the body to rest at its own weight,
Yet alert,
Yet light.
For pratyahara,
You will go through each of the senses one by one and withdraw the energy,
Turn it towards your inner space.
Bring your awareness to what you see in front of your closed eyes.
And slowly withdraw yourself from the eyes,
Letting this sense of seeing at rest.
Awareness towards what you hear.
The ambient noises,
The noise of your breath.
Allow this sense of hearing to be at rest.
Withdrawing energy from the ambient noises and turning inwards.
Awareness on your tongue,
What you taste in your mouth.
And allowing this sense of taste to be at rest.
And the energy to turn inwards,
To withdraw away from the sense of taste.
Awareness on your nose,
A subtle smell,
Fragrance in this moment.
And allowing this sense of smell to be at rest.
The energy turning inwards towards silence and awareness.
Awareness on your skin,
What you feel on your skin.
That sense of touch in the outside world through your body.
Let this sense of touch be at rest.
And energy turning from all different directions towards yourself,
Towards your inner space,
Towards silence and awareness.
Let this sense of touch be at rest.
Also dropping all senses of action.
No more movement,
No more speech,
No sense of growth.
Simply staying in silent awareness,
All your energy turned inwards.
Let this sense of touch be at rest.
Let this sense of touch be at rest.
No movement is enough,
No sense is enough.
Let it be at rest.
Turn towards silence and awareness.
Let this sense of touch be at rest.
No effort,
No movement,
No sensation.
Only pure awareness.
Only pure awareness.
Consciousness.
Silence.
And very gently and slowly you may open your eyes,
Allowing the energies to once again move outwards towards what you see,
What you hear,
What you taste,
What you smell.
What you touch.
With this ability of pratyahara,
Practice as you move along in your day.
I will see you in a few days from now to begin the next Gurbuti Pada of Patanjali.
Namaste.
