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mind on a point, called pratyâhâra, becomes easy with this practice. There are ten places in the body for mental concentration, viz., (i) the two eyes, (ii) the two ears, (iii) the foremost point of the nose, (iv) forehead, (v) mouth, (vi) navel, (vii) the upper part of the forehead, (viii) heart, (ix) palate, and (x) the place between the two eye-brows.
THE PRACTICAL PATII.
Pratyahara accompanied by meditation is called dhârna, which really means the establishing of the object of meditation in the mind. This being accomplished, dhyana becomes steady and may be kept up for any length of time undisturbed. Some kind of meditation, no doubt, is implied in every form of thinking, but the difference between the perfect dhyâna of the muni and the thought-activity of the ordinary man lies in the fact that while the former is master of his senses, body and mind, and may remain absorbed in meditation for as long a time as he pleases, the latter has never anything more than an unsteady, wavering and feeble current of thought at his command. The result is that while the yogi solves the riddle of the universe, and ultimately also establishes his soul in its natural, effulgent purity, the layman remains entangled in the meshes of his karmas, however much he might boast of taking a hand in the management of the world.
The instrument which enables the yogi to remove the jñâna-and darśana-obstructing impurities of matter from his system is the point of his highly concentrated manas (attention or mind), which derives its energy from an indomitable iron will bent upon the conquest
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