Ashtavakra Gita 12.1 -

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 foetus (womb), unaided by any external factor. It is such senses, the born child begins to employ slowly and steadily. The resulting imprints are in the mind. Mind and intelligence thus grow and get enriched by their own inner effort. All growth and expressions are from inside to outside, not from outside to inside – a point none cares to know and benefit by.

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, cannot one withdraw from the world-objects, and live in himself? 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. 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 effect on inner personality, in proportion, is 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, having done all the 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!