Verse 58
Yadaa samharate chaayam
Kurmo’ngaaneeva sarvashah;
Indriyaaneendriyaarthebhyas
Tasya prajnaa
pratishthitaa.
When, like the tortoise
which withdraws its limbs on all sides, he withdraws his senses from the
sense-objects, then his wisdom becomes steady.
Whenever a tortoise senses danger, he withdraws his limbs into
his shell. The shell is strong enough to withstand any adverse situation. And
once that situation passes, he brings his limbs back into the world.
Similarly, if we detect that an object, person or situation is
about to disturb our equanimity, Sri Krishna advises us to bring our intellect
into the picture, and completely withdraw our attention from that object,
person or situation.
In one commentary on this topic, we learn that most animals have
one sense organ as their weakness. The deer has sound, the elephant has touch,
the moth has sight (fire), the fish has taste, and the bee has smell as its
weakness. So, for example, if a moth sees fire, it loses all control and flies
straight into the fire.
However, human beings have all five senses as their weakness,
making this technique all the more important.
Swami Rama says,
“Very often, the senses create a serious disturbance, for it is
their inherent nature to jump from one object to another, compelled by the
charms and temptations of the external world. The mind is disturbed and
dissipated by such input and is unable to conceive of things as they are.
Furthermore, the perceived objects are a source of distraction
and dissipation; they create serious obstacles and obstructions for the sadhaka
in his attempts to fathom higher levels of consciousness.
Therefore, it is important to withdraw one’s senses from the
world of objects. This is not withdrawal from the world or from one’s duties.
It is learning to gather one’s scattered energy. Withdrawal of the senses is an
essential part of sadhana.
There is a systematic method that one can apply to purify the
mind so that there is clarity in his knowing.
One can focus the mind on one single object – it can be concrete
or abstract, large or small – so that the mind withdraws itself from the
senses. When the mind is voluntarily isolated and under perfect control, it
attains one-pointedness. And if that one-pointedness is turned inward, it
becomes a useful means on one’s inward journey to another way of knowing.
The human being is a miniature world, so by turning inward and
examining himself, one can examine the nature of the universe. The natural
tendency of the senses is to lead the mind to the objects of the world.
The method that we are explaining is a very beneficial and
useful voluntary effort that enables one to see, examine, and verify the nature
of the objects of the world.
And at the same time it makes one realize that the objects of
the world do not hold any quality to charm and tempt the mind, for temptations
and charms are created by the false input of the limited senses.”
Dear All,
Is it not exactly what we learnt in the Sadan talk while dealing
with single pointed devotion??
1. The whole world of objects are there before our eyes (senses)
and also Krishna/ Sai is there.
2. Both are objects in the initial stage in spiritual sadhana
3. We have to turn away from all other objects on the world and
focus exclusively on one Object- Krishna
4. It is only possible with such a single pointed focus on Krishna
that it as though all the world with its objects have come and merged into
Krishna and have lost their identity.
We went further on this process which the author leaves to the
readers, especially who attended the entire series of talk, to refresh their
contemplation on the subsequent process in this Sadhaka- Krishna process!!!
Swami
Chinmayananda says,
“This
capacity in an individual to withdraw his senses at will from the
fields-of-objects is called in Yoga Shastra as Pratyahara, which the Yogin
accomplishes through the control-of-breath (Pranayama). To a devotee this comes
naturally, because he has eyes and ears only for the form and stories of his
beloved Lord.
To
a Vedantin, again, this (Uparati) comes from his well-developed and sharpened
discriminative faculty, with which his intellect makes his mind understand the
futility, of licking the crumbs of joy and happiness in the wayside ditches of
sensuousness, while he, in his Real Nature, is the Lord of the very store of
Bliss Infinite.”
The
best thing to be noted in this tortoise example is that, when danger comes to
the tortoise, it does not think, it does not plan, it does not deliberate, the
withdrawal of its legs to the protective shell JUST HAPPENS.
Similarly
for a sadhaka, when the world with its noise and glittering temptation knocks
his door, the withdrawal of his senses should happen automatically and that is
why, further to the "uparati" that Chinmaya
has mentioned in the above para on, in Vedanta path, the attainment of
“UPARATI”, along with its other 5 virtues (sama, dama,
titiksha, shraddha, samadhana) , with its preceding 2
qualifications - Viveka and Vairagya, culminating
into the 4th qualification
- mumukshatva ARE PRE-REQUISITE for any spiritual
aspirant even before he approaches a realized master and surrenders himself to
that Master and requests the Master to teach him Brahma vidya.
These
6 virtuous qualities have been discussed in detail in the blog posts on the theme
Introduction to Vedas and Vedanta. Here are the links to those posts for your
reference:
Love
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