Verse 12

In plain words

'Whoever among people, reverend teacher, meditates on the syllable Om right up until the moment of death — what world does that win him?' (Praśna Upaniṣad 5.1). And the teacher answered: 'This, Satyakāma, is both the lower and the higher Brahman — it is Om' (Praśna Upaniṣad 5.2). And going on: 'whoever meditates on the Supreme Person through this same three-part syllable Om is lifted, through the power of the sacred chants, into the world of Brahmā' (Praśna Upaniṣad 5.5), and more like it. And elsewhere, beginning 'beyond both merit and demerit...' (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.14): 'That word which every Veda glorifies, which every act of discipline points toward, which seekers take up a whole life of celibate study just to know — I will tell it to you now, simply: it is Om' (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.15), and other passages like it. All of this has already established that meditating on Om — whether you take it as Brahman's own name, or, like a sacred image, as its symbol, a stepping-stone for those whose minds aren't yet sharp enough to grasp Brahman directly — leads, in time, to liberation. And that same truth holds here as well, for this very Brahman we have just met as 'the seer, the ancient one, the ruler' (Bhagavad Gītā 8.9) and 'that Imperishable the knowers of the Veda speak of' (Bhagavad Gītā 8.11): meditating on Om as the way to reach that Brahman, together with real yogic concentration, still needs to be laid out fully, along with whatever else naturally comes up alongside it. And that is exactly why the next part of the teaching now begins —

'All the doors' — every one of them, and doors here means the openings through which anything is perceived. Close them all: actually carry that closing out. Then shut the mind up 'in the heart', which means in the lotus of the heart — actually carry that confining out, until the mind has nowhere left to roam. Then, with the mind under your command, rise up from the heart along the channel that runs upward, set your own breath at the crown of the head, and stand there — that is, be under way — in order to hold the concentration of yoga.

Close to the Sanskrit

'He who, O reverend sir, among men, should meditate on the syllable Om extending to the moment of death — by that, which world does he win?' (Praśna Upaniṣad 5.1); '[The teacher] said to him: This, O Satyakāma, is indeed both the higher and the lower Brahman, namely Om' (Praśna Upaniṣad 5.2), thus beginning; 'But whoever meditates on the Supreme Person by this very syllable of three morae, Om — he is raised up by the Sāma hymns to the world of Brahmā' (Praśna Upaniṣad 5.5) and so on, by this statement; and, beginning 'Other than merit, other than demerit' (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.14), and 'All the Vedas proclaim that word; all austerities declare it; desiring which people practice brahmacarya — that word I tell you in brief: it is Om' (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.15) and by these and other such statements: meditation on the syllable Om, intended, for those of middling or lesser intellect, either as the verbal designation of the supreme Brahman, or, like an image, as its symbol, serving as a means for realizing that supreme Brahman, has been declared to yield liberation after an interval of time. That very teaching, here too, applies to this same Brahman already proposed as 'the seer, the ancient one, the ruler' (Bhagavad Gītā 8.9) and 'that Imperishable which the knowers of the Veda declare' (Bhagavad Gītā 8.11) — meditation on the syllable Om, which serves as the means of realizing that Brahman in the manner already stated, yielding liberation after an interval of time, together with yogic concentration, needs to be explained; and whatever incidental matters are connected with it as well — with this purpose the next section of the text now begins —

'sarvadvārāṇi' — all, and those doors: 'all the doors', that is, with respect to apprehension. Having restrained all of those — that is, having carried out the restraint — having confined the mind 'in the heart', in the lotus of the heart — that is, having carried out the confining, having brought it to a state without outward movement — then, with the mind brought under control, having ascended upward from the heart by the upward-going channel, having placed one's own breath in the head, 'established' — that is, engaged — in order to sustain the yoga-concentration.

In plain words

In the Gītā He did not say ‘these people, or those people’. ‘Whoever it may be, it is all right,’ Kṛṣṇa said. For this He laid down no distinctions of community or of sex. He did not say who is fit and who is unfit; but for dhyāna on Praṇava He did set out qualifications. Namely: merely remembering the Praṇava, “Om”, is of no use. He said, ‘Keeping all the senses under control and fixing the Manas on God, meditate on Praṇava.’ This is very necessary. When the Manas is wailing this way and that in all manner of ways, one cannot attain the Paramātma merely by saying ‘Om, Om’ with the mouth. For this reason, because one who practises sādhanas of sense-restraint during his lifetime can gain that fitness by that day, the Paramātma said to carry on the search for Satya from birth until death. Instead, could one not begin sādhana only on that day? Why from today, you ask? Surely only one who studies hard all the year can pass the examination at the year's end. If instead, thinking the examinations are a year away after all, one does not pick up a book, does not listen to what the teachers say, does not read what one has written down, and takes up the book only on the day of the examination, the very head itself will be addled. Then how can the examination be passed? Such a state is the learning of an utter sluggard.

In plain words

Here readers must above all note the words the Paramātma spoke. Speaking of the senses, He said to bring them under saṃyama; He did not say to subject them to nigraha. Saṃyama means keeping them under one's own control; nigraha means making them inactive, that is, binding them completely. Moreover, He said to bring all the gateways of the senses under saṃyama; He did not say to keep only some of them open and bring some under control. That is to say, all the senses should be kept under one's own control. Whatever task He has bestowed each sense for, each must be used only when the need arises. It is not that, because we have the power of the senses, we may use them as we please. The sense is: keep them within limits, and use them sparingly when there is need.