compel it to contemplate an external object, in which case the mind is something like
a slave of the senses; the master has himself come under the subjection of the
servants. But in pratyahara, this is not what is happening. The master is
recognised—and his worth is known. The senses return. They do not return of their
own accord. If the gas in the engine is completely removed, the vehicle will not move.
The gas is the motive force, and that motive force is the consciousness that is
attending upon the activity of the senses. If the supply of energy behind the
movement of a vehicle is withdrawn, the vehicle cannot move. And, as long as the
supply is there, the vehicle cannot be stopped. The vehicle may be said to be the
senses which are running towards some objective. They cannot be stopped in their
activities unless the energy is withdrawn. That energy is the consciousness.
Therefore, first and foremost, what is required is a severance of the attention of
consciousness in respect of the movement of the senses towards objects. The
attention is diverted. That is why sometimes, when we are deeply thinking over some
important matter, even if we may be looking at some object, we may not see it. Our
eyes may be open; it may appear that we are gazing at something, but we are seeing
nothing at all on account of the fact that the energy that is necessary for the cognition
of an object is withdrawn. There cannot be perception when the attention is diverted
in some other way. Thus, in pratyahara there is first a diversion of attention from
one place to another place. We have to find out what that place is, which is the object
of meditation.
In this withdrawal of the consciousness from its movement along the lines of the
senses, what happens is, it returns to the source from where it started. It will be
difficult for one to distinguish between the senses and the mind at this moment. The
senses and the mind become one. Here, the mind becomes powerful because when
we turn off all the lights, turn off all the fans, and all the expenditure of electric
energy is cut off on account of the turning off of all the switches, we see that the
power station feels the surge immediately. The energy returns to the power station
because we have turned off all the switches; there is no expenditure of energy. All the
sources of the external movement of energy are severed on account of the turning off
of the switches; naturally, the energy has to increase at the source, and we will see
the indication of the increase in kilowatts recorded in the meters of the power
station. The engineer in the power station will find out that people have turned off all
the switches, because consumption of energy has gone down.
So is the case with pratyahara. It is the turning off of all the switches of action
through the senses by which there has been expenditure of energy. The senses
coming in contact with objects is like turning on the switch—the fan is working, the
light is working, the fridge is working—everything is working, and so all the energy is
spent. Sometimes it may be impossible for the power station to supply the requisite
energy on account of the intense activity of the senses. When this happens, the
connection is severed. What happens to that energy which was being spent through
sense-activity, which was being utilised for perception, cognition of things, and
enjoyment of objects? What happens to that energy? It goes back. It goes back to the
source from where it was generated, from where it was conducted outward through
the media of the senses. Then there is a rise or a swell of energy within—suddenly
coming up and overflowing, as it were. The mind will feel a new type of health within
itself on account of the exuberance of energy that it has due to the reversion of the
energies through the channels of the senses from the points of objects towards which