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enhance physical and mental health. In the Indian traditions,
yoga is a holistic spiritual discipline which culminates in divine
union.]
The fifth limb of yoga is pratyahara, restraining of the mind (withdrawal of the senses). Pratyahara is followed by dharanadeep focus for short periods of time, which is then followed by dhyāna, state of concentration.
When we try to concentrate the mind in meditation and worship, we find it difficult to bring the mind to a focus. The mind wanders away. When we sit for prayer or for meditation, how long does the mind stay concentrated in this task? The mind continually moves. It wanders constantly. No one can even begin to count how many directions it may have gone during the meditation because the unstable mind runs hither and thither. We may lock our body up in a small meditation room but are we able to lock up the mind also? The mind roams from one place to another, from one country to another. Who can really even
remember where has it wandered?
Sant Sundar Das Ji says:
In one moment the mind can think of the immediacy of death, or the longevity of life, In one moment it considers being sold out in someone's hand.
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