Book 4 (Part I)

CHAPTER IV PRATYAHARA RATYAHARA is the first process in the mental part of our task. PThe previous practices, Asana, Pranayama, Yama, and Niyama, are all acts of the body, while the mantra is connected with speech: Praty- ahara1s purely mental. And what is Pratyahara? This word is used by different authors in different senses. The same word is employed to designate both the practice and the result. It means for our present purpose a process rather strategical than practical; it is introspection, a sort of general examination of the contents of the mind which we wish to control: Asana having been mastered, all immediate exciting causes have been removed, and we are free to think what we are thinking about. A very similar experience to that of Asana is in store for us. At first we shall very likely flatter ourselves that our minds are pretty calm; this is a defect of observation. Just as the European standing for the first time on the edge of the desert will see nothing there, while his 47