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
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