Day 92 

They thin down the curtain around the light. You are the light, but you don't know this because there is a thick curtain around you, an iron curtain. Pranayama thins down that curtain, and makes you more transparent so that you are able to see that you are light. This is the benefits of pranayam.

And then there is another benefit, The mind develops this ability to stay at any one point in the body, to say on any one thing. It gains the ability to intend. Until then, there had been no intention. You were just like a moving cloud. 

You had no intention at all. Now with pranayama, there is clarity and you are able to have an intention and a direction. That is why you will notice, after a good pranayama, your mind is clearer, steadier and calmer. You are able to feel your body. You are able to even meditate. The mind is used to clinging to objects of the senses. 

Guided meditations give it something different to cling to. This is called pratyaahara - a substitute food for the mind. It is a substitution for the mind in order to coax it to come inside. You may have danced. It was a substitute for something that you normally do. 

And after the dance, you felt that is was wonderful. So, it is called pratyaahara, a substitute for the mind to dive into. This brings all our senses, our body and everything else together as one whole. 

You feel you are one whole. After a good meditation, you feel that you are whole, that you are total.

That is why Jesus said that He had come to make man whole, a complete person. That is what you feel when you do Kriya and when you sing in a Satsang. Your energy becomes full and you feel total. You become whole. 

Then all your senses listen to you. You don't have to listen to them, you will feel much contentment, much peace and much joy. You will feel such elevation, and such completeness. That is the effect of pratyaahara. And with this we complete the Patanjali Yoga Sutras.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji 

PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS