Pratyahara
Pratyahara is the 5th level or member of the eight levels of Ashtanga Yoga or Raja Yoga (eight-part yoga), as described by Patanjali in one of the oldest traditional works on yoga, the Yoga Sutra . It follows Pranayama (4th level, mastery of the breath) and leads to Dharana (6th level, concentration) and Dhyana ( 7th level, meditation ). It is about the disciplining of the senses (Indriya, "feeler"), such as taste, sight, hearing, smell, feeling and the mind by looking inward.
Through this internalization of consciousness , sensory impressions should generally become more conscious and controllable. Regular practice makes it easier to carry out further stages. However, it is not a question of restricting the senses; on the contrary, the mind is to be trained to perceive subtleties that would otherwise remain hidden from the senses.
At an advanced level, it is also taught how the activity of the involuntary muscles can be influenced. These techniques flow smoothly into pranayama. Another technique of Pratyahara is to focus on the point between the eyebrows, the Ajna chakra (third eye).
Interpretations
The Sanskrit term Pratyahara is derived from the verb root hr (to take) and modified to hãra. The two prefixes ã (towards, towards) and prati (back) are used in advance, which becomes praty with the following ã. Pratyahara literally means taking back or withdrawing (from something).
Different interpretations of Pratyahara can be found in the source texts of yoga. In the yoga sutras of Patanjali , this first deals with asana and pranayama . He explains that through pranayama the mind is gathered and aligned. It is to this gathering of the mind that he refers when he deals with Pratyahara at the end of the second chapter. It literally says: "Pratyahara is (the state) when the senses have no contact with their own objects and it is as if they take on their own form of mind." With Patanjali, Pratyahara is therefore not a voluntary activity of the practitioner, but the result ( siddhi ) of gathering the mind through pranayama. This point of view is expressly emphasized in some of the comments. Vyasa writes : “When the queen bee is blown up, the bees swarm afterwards; when the queen bee settles down, the bees settle down too. Likewise, when the mind is controlled, the senses are controlled. "Hariharananda Aranya becomes even clearer in his comment:" In other forms of the discipline of controlling the senses, the senses must be kept away from the objects or the mind must be fixed and calmed, or any other method must be used. But this is not necessary with Pratyahara; the resolve of the mind is sufficient. Whichever direction the mind is willingly brought, the senses follow it ... ”A similar interpretation of Pratyahara can be found in the Gherandasamhita from the 17th century. There it says in the fourth chapter on Pratyahara: "Wherever the wandering and unsteady mind goes, from there it should be taken back and brought under the control of the Atman ."
In contrast, the Vasistha Samhita , the Yogavajnavalkya Samhita, and the Sandilya Upanishad ( Upanishads ) interpret the Pratyahara as an active process. In the first two writings it is said in agreement: “The nature of the senses is to wander to the sense objects. The forceful withdrawal (balat aharana) from them is called pratyahara. ”So here it is assumed that the practitioner has to do something. However, precise instructions on what to do are not described. In the Hathapradipika , too, there is more talk of active doing. She describes Pratyahara as "the gradual withdrawal of the senses, such as eyes, etc., which are focused on their objects, this is called Pratyahara."
A third, completely different interpretation can be found in Gorakhnath , one of the founders of Hatha Yoga . With him, Pratyahara becomes a physical exercise ( asana ), namely the inversion of the Viparita Karani Mudra . This is where the idea comes into play that the head is a bowl that is filled with the nectar of life (Amrta). This drips steadily down to the navel and there we are consumed by the fire of the sun (solar plexus, solar plexus, manipura chakra ). In this sense, Gorakhnath describes Pratyahara as the withholding of this nectar. The Gorakshashataka says, “The sun draws the flow of nectar from the moon. Holding this back is called pratyahara .... The navel is up and the palate is down, the sun is up and the moon is down. This exercise is known as Viparitakarani .... "
literature
Uwe Bräutigam: "The story of Pratyahara" in VIVEKA, booklets for yoga, issue 37
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar : Light on Yoga. The basic textbook of hatha yoga. Nikol-Verlag, Hamburgh 2013, ISBN 978-3-86820-175-8 , pp. 39–41