The Aim of Self-Restraint, of Pratyahara in Yoga
Divine Life
Society Publication: Peace of Mind and Self-Control – The Yoga
System by Swami Krishnananda
To enable self-control, we can
effectively take help from the symbol given in the Kathopanishad, wherein
the senses are compared to horses, the body to the vehicle which they drag, the
sense-objects to the roads along which the vehicle moves, the intellect to the
driver, the mind to the reins controlling the horses and the individual soul to
the rider in the vehicle. The driver directs the horses by means of the reins,
the leather-strap or rope which he holds in his hands. This body of ours is the
vehicle pulled by the horses of senses. The significance of the symbol is how
we have to conduct ourselves in order to be successful in life. The entire life
of a human being has to be one of pratyahara in
varying degrees. The driver is always cautious that the horses do not hurl the
chariot into a ditch, and cannot afford to lose hold of the reins at any time.
Vigilance is life, and life is yoga.
A good life is one of
perpetual effort in the control of the senses, the passions of the appetitive
self. The restive horses run amuck if they are not properly directed, and the
vehicle may not reach its destination. They are usually wild and bent upon
going their own way. When they tend to go out of direction, hither and thither,
the driver tries to bring them back by pulling the reins. Even so has one to
bring the senses to the point of control.
The Upanishad exhorts that the
senses are extrovert in their activity and can never look within. Rare indeed
is that person who, in the midst of the ravaging senses, finds time to behold
the light inside. The senses live in a world of objects, of samsara or
earthly existence, and the need for pratyahara therefore
is on account of the necessity to rise from the mortal to the immortal. The
Upanishad prayer is: 'Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to
light, from mortality to immortality.' This is the aim of self-restraint, of pratyahara in
yoga.
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