Uparati in Advaita Vedanta ( Pulling Back )

Restraining a restless dog can be challenging, but considerably more challenging than that is to get hold of the dog when he manages to free himself from the leash. That is the difference between restraining the mind and the senses (śama and dama) and pulling them back when they break free. The practice of pulling back (uparati) is the third of the “six treasures” (ṣaṭ-sampatti).

Every thought we think and every action we do leaves a subtle impression (saṁskāra) on the mind. These impressions reside in the mental basement, so to speak. That is why we are not conscious of them all the time, except when they rise up in the form of desires (vāsanā) in order to replicate the experience of the original thought or action. When we act upon those desires, we create more impressions, which later produce even more desires. It is a loop that gets progressively more vicious. In a talk given in New York on December 18, 1895, Swami Vivekananda said:

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“Most of our time is spent in thinking about sense objects, things which we have seen, or we have heard, which we shall see or shall hear, things which we have eaten, or are eating, or shall eat, places where we have lived, and so on. We think of them or talk of them most of our time. One who wishes to be a Vedanta student must give up this habit.” (CW, 1. 406)

 

The practice of detachment (vairāgya) follows discernment (viveka) and helps the subsequent practices of restraining the mind and the senses. The power of all of these practices is considerable, but it sometimes fails to keep the mind and the senses in check, such is the force of the impressions gathered through God-knows-how-many lives. When we are not attentive, the mind and the senses manage to slip away and run toward everything they find attractive.

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Left on their own, the senses are programmed to engage with the world. The work of the senses can be useful and productive when done intentionally and with a specific purpose. After all, without the mind and the senses we would know nothing about the world. But the mind and the senses are at their best only when they are monitored and controlled. Uparati consists in pulling the mind back whenever it breaks free from its restraints and pulling the senses back every time they run any which way. Always remaining alert, never allowing our thinking and doing to be mechanical, is the key to understanding and knowledge (see Kena Upaniṣad, 2. 4). When we are mindful, everything is just as it should be. When we are not, unexpected and unwanted stuff happens.

There is one thing we all living beings share in common, and that is—we don’t want to suffer. We don’t like being miserable. We don’t want to put ourselves in situations that will bring us pain. Can we use this simple fact to make it easier to pull the mind and the senses back? That is what the sage Patañjali seems to suggest in his Yoga Sūtra (2. 33):

वितर्कबाधने प्रतिपक्षभावनम् ।

Vitarka-bādhane pratipakṣa-bhāvanam.

“To obstruct inimical thoughts, contrary thoughts should be raised.”

How do we do this? One way is to remind ourselves of the suffering our “inimical thoughts” and consequent actions might bring upon us. Whatever takes us away from the spiritual ideal can only result in greater sorrow and suffering sooner or later. Raising this “contrary thought” and remaining vigilant always, the mind and the senses learn to avoid what is harmful and to embrace what is healthy. If certain things, places or people evoke feelings of hatred, anger or such other negativities, I must keep away from them as far as possible, reminding myself of the harm such feelings do to my spiritual life.

Swami Vivekananda suggests an alternative way to raise “contrary thoughts”:

 

“For instance, when a big wave of anger has come into the mind, how are we to control that? Just by raising an opposing wave. Think of love. Sometimes a mother is very angry with her husband, and while in that state, the baby comes in, and she kisses the baby; the old wave dies out and a new wave arises, love for the child. That suppresses the other one. Love is opposite to anger.” (CW, 1. 261)

 

It may not be easy to raise the thought of love when we are in a fit of anger, but making an effort can be rewarding. One practice that works like magic is to force ourselves to smile whenever overcome by negative feelings, even boredom. The relaxed muscles of a smiling face make it virtually impossible to frown at the same time. The expression on the face of the Buddha in meditation or of Ramakrishna in samādhi can be ours through practice. Granted, we may not be able to wear it as naturally as Buddha or Ramakrishna did, but even then it works! If we practice it often and consistently, it may even become our default expression, which will also help when we sit down to meditate.

Setting boundaries and making rules for ourselves is a good practice. When we are mindful, we generally stick by our rules. When we lose focus, the instinctive part of our personality takes over. If we have, for instance, decided to curb our screen time and stay away from the phone, computer, television, or games console at certain hours of the day, we need to use all of our will-power to abide by that discipline. If and when we mechanically reach out to pick up our devices when we shouldn’t, the practice of pulling back comes into play. Maintaining discipline in one’s personal life is essential for efficiency in everything we do.

The practice of pulling back looks a lot similar to the practice of detachment. How do we distinguish between the two? One important distinction is that pulling back occurs only from things that are tangible, those within the reach of the senses, whereas the practice of detachment also includes things that are not immediately visible, such as the intense but ephemeral pleasures of heaven. Another distinction is that detachment is the natural result of discernment and is, as it were, the first line of defense, whereas the practice of pulling back is a kind of backup when the practices of restraining the mind and the senses fail for whatever reason.

The following are among the things we can do to practice pulling back when necessary:

1. To minimize the need for pulling back, we have to remain mindful of what we think, what we say, what we do—and not allow our thoughts, words and actions to become mechanical. The key is self-discipline.

2. When restraint fails, we must try to remind ourselves of the harm or pain and sorrow our thinking or doing at the time will cause us (and possibly others), which is something none of us wants.

3. Another things we can do in difficult situations is to consciously neutralize harmful thought and actions by intentionally raising healthy thoughts in the mind, so hatred can be conquered through love, enmity through friendship, violence through peace and harmony.

Next among the “six treasures” is the practice forbearance (titikṣā), to which we will turn next time.

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