34 With a comprehensive programme of practice based on a systematically set out Science of Mind, the
yogin reduces the modifications of the mind to a high degree. With this come the one-pointedness ekāgratā of the mind which, like a powerful searchlight is able to illumine the subtlest aspects of
one’s consciousness and with the practice of meditation, is able to attain absorption in the pure consciousness of
purușa .
c. Preparation for Samādhi: Pratyāhara, Dhārana and Dhyāna
As long as the mind is continually activated by inner samskāra-s, vāsan-s tendencies modifications
and agitations, it cannot attain a state inner purity and concentrated attention. In this state it flows towards asserting the identity and externalising its mental activities towards transactions with the
world. The means of Yoga result in a counterflow pratiprasava which internalises the attention of
the mind and brings clarity and purity. Thus Yoga counteracts the outward flow vyutthāna taking
the citta towards nirodha cessation of modifications. All the practices of Yoga prepare the ground
for the true identity of the ‘seer’ or purușa to arise through the development of the subtle insight.
This is done primarily through the application of the Science of Mind to the cognitive processes. Through Yoga praxis, the mind passes through five stages
bhumi-s, levels or qualities which are listed by
Vyāsa as 1. Ksipta: impulsive and restless; 2. Mudha: dull and stupefied; 3. Vikșepa: distracted and changeable; 4.
Ekāgra: one-pointed and concentrated and 5. Niruddha: unenslaved, mastered
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The mind is prepared for the last but one of these levels with sufficient practice of the first four of the eightfold limbs of a
ștanga yoga. With the fifth limb, pratyahāra, the senses become withdrawn from the objects and are freed of external stimuli, return to their source which is the mind and settle
there. The distraction caused in the mind by the external world through the senses is effectively removed.
Pratyahāra, derived from the root word hr, ‘to hold’ and the prefix prati, is defined in sūtra II.54 as ‘when separated from their corresponding objects, the organs follow, as it were, the
.
81
Hariharananda Aranya, Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali, I.1 p 1
35 nature of the mind’
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.This is a key term in the psychology of attention where there is a degree of sensory withdrawal or inhibition
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. When the focus of attention is narrowed in its locus, the awareness of the external world through the senses is gradually diminished. With practice and
proficiency, there is developed the ability for complete cessation of all sensory activity by the yogin.
Initially of course the arousal of the senses is still possible especially with strong stimuli, but the control and mastery of the afferent functions becomes established. Prat
yahāra thus forms ‘the bridge and is the cumulative result of the previous practices, and opens the door to one-pointed
concentration’
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The continual practice and cultivation of concentration, meditation and Samadhi together constitute what is called ‘
samyama’ constraint. It is the application samayama to any object that leads to the practitioner’s ‘direct perception of it thereby yielding suprasensuous knowledge or insight pra
a. The mind becomes like a clear jewel taking on the colour of the object that fuses with it
,
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d. Summary
