117. The Art of Restraint
T he Brain is an amazing organ for many reasons. One of its attributes is that it doesn’t feel pain as its tissue doesn’t have pain transmitting nociceptors. Neurosurgeons use this attribute to perform surgeries while the patient is awake. Physical pain and pleasure are the results of the comparison with the brain’s neutral state. Similarly, our feelings of mental agony or ecstasy arise from comparison with this neutral state of the brain. This background will help us to understand when Krishna says, “When the mind, restrained ( niruddha ) by the practice of yoga , comes to rest and in which he sees the self by the self and is thus self-satisfied” (6.20). Coming to rest is the key. It is bringing the ever-wavering mind to rest. To achieve it, Krishna suggests restraint which doesn’t mean the suppression of feelings nor their expression. Restraint means that we should not identify ourselves with the process of expression or suppression of anger or any other feeling. It’s...