The seeker is one who seeks to know the Supreme Truth. This means not to give undue place and dominance to our senses. The whole body, including the senses, is shaped in the womb, unaided by any external factor. It is these senses that the child begins to employ slowly and steadily. The resulting imprints are in the mind. The mind and intelligence thus grow and are enriched by their own inner effort. All growth and expression are from inside to outside, not from outside to inside—a point that none cares to understand or benefit from.

You are living in the world your senses alone perceive. Perceiving and its outcome are solely an inner subjective process, not an outer one, as is assumed to be. Suppose one loses his vision, he will still live, but there will be no sights and colours for him. So too a deaf person will be bereft of sounds.

Thus, are not sound and hearing dependent upon one’s own senses, and not on the world-objects? If so, can one not withdraw from external objects and live within oneself? The trouble is that none tries for it. Try discreetly and you will find your life quite inner, subjective and even fuller in every way. This is what Janaka expresses after hearing the Sage Teacher. The Mithila king is a very faithful, intelligent, and astute disciple. See how he explains his responses and insights:

“I have become indifferent to my bodily activity, equally so, to my speech, also to my thought indulgences. So far I was indulging in them alone, considering them to be real. Now, after hearing you, I find the world perception itself is a handiwork of my own inner Consciousness. So, I must be able to withdraw from it. As I was all along grossly active and vibrant, now I shall exclude all bodily, oral and mental activities.”

Human activity and expression are fourfold: physical, sensory, mental, and intellectual. Their effects on the inner personality, in proportion, are 1-, 10-, 100-, and 1000-fold.

As you employ your senses and perceive objects, you can also stop the process and eliminate sensory perceptions. Equally so, the entire articulation can be left. The same applies to the mind and its thought-processes as well. They can also be stopped. Once this is done, what connection will you have with the world? Janaka says that, having done all three, he is blissfully restful in himself, in his Consciousness.

Remember how the great King Pareekshit took to prāyopaveśa, fast unto death. That is how he was able to exclusively hear Śuka Muni’s Śrīmad Bhāgavata narration for seven days without break. What is there not possible for the human?

Here, it is not an external effort or conquest, instead a withdrawal from all gross involvement and resorting to inner spiritual immersion, with no interference from anything rendering benefit and benediction to others around.

How graceful is such a benevolent and fulfilling life!