The Slow Withdrawal of the Gaze (Verse 120)¶
1. Exercise Title & Verse¶
The Slow Withdrawal of the Gaze (Dhāraṇā 97)
2. Sanskrit (IAST)¶
kvacid vastuni vinyasya śanair dṛṣṭiṁ nivartayet / taj jñānaṁ cittasahitaṁ devi śūnyālayo bhavet // 120 //
3. English (Literal)¶
O Goddess, having fixed the gaze upon some object, one should slowly withdraw it. Withdrawing the knowledge of that object along with the mind itself, one becomes the receptacle of the void.
4. Main Commentary (Bhāṣya)¶
Padārtha - kvacid vastuni: upon any object; on some particular thing. - vinyasya: having fixed; having cast. - śanair: slowly (śanaiḥ śanaiḥ). - dṛṣṭiṁ: the gaze; sight; perception. - nivartayet: one should withdraw; turn back. - taj jñānaṁ: the knowledge or cognition of that object. - cittasahitaṁ: along with the mind; together with the subjective apparatus of thought. - śūnyālayo: the abode of the void; absorption in the emptiness of pure consciousness.
Anvaya O Goddess (devi), having fixed the gaze (dṛṣṭiṁ vinyasya) upon any object (kvacid vastuni), one should slowly withdraw it (śanair nivartayet). As the knowledge of that object (taj jñānaṁ) is withdrawn along with the mind itself (cittasahitaṁ), one becomes absorbed in the void of pure consciousness (śūnyālayo bhavet).
Tatparya The core teaching of this verse is the deliberate collapse of the subject-object structure through the physical gateway of sight. Ordinarily, the mind takes the shape of whatever it looks upon. Here, the practitioner uses a physical object as a temporary anchor, establishing a clear link of perception. By intentionally and slowly retracting the gaze from the object, the practitioner does not simply look elsewhere; they withdraw the very mechanism of knowing that object. When the object falls away from attention, the mind—having been wholly identified with the object—has nothing left to hold. Without an object to define it, the mind dissolves along with the perception, leaving only the pure, objectless luminosity of consciousness.
Sādhana Select an ordinary, physical object in your environment. Look at it fully, allowing your gaze and your attention to rest there without strain. Establish the connection of seeing. Then, very slowly, begin to withdraw your visual focus. Do not shift your eyes to another object, and do not abruptly shut them; instead, slowly pull the energy of seeing back into yourself. As the physical form blurs or fades from attention, actively release the mental concept (the jñāna) of what the object is, along with the grasping motion of the mind (citta). Rest in the sudden, expansive emptiness that remains when the object is gone but the perceiving awareness is fully awake.
5. Jaideva Singh — The Logical¶
This is a deliberate arrest of the outward flow of attention, severing the mind's reliance on external supports. The practice eliminates the knowledge of the object along with its mental trace. It is traditionally supported either by śūnyabhāvanā, the imaginative contemplation that all phenomena are insubstantial, or by bhairavī mudrā, the pose in which the physical eyes remain open without blinking while internal attention is completely introverted toward the essential Self. Through this withdrawal, the external world completely loses its hold on awareness.
6. Swami Lakshmanjoo — The Lineage¶
This is an exercise of śāktopāya because it uses an external object and the act of seeing as the support for the inward turn. The mechanical secret lies in the pacing: the gaze must be retracted "slowly, slowly, slowly" (śanaiḥ śanaiḥ). Do not suddenly look away. Withdraw the perception of the object back into yourself so that the knowledge of the object, together with the mind attached to it, subsides into the voidness of God consciousness.
7. Mark Dyczkowski & Christopher Wallis — Context & Philology¶
N/A — Neither Mark Dyczkowski nor Christopher Wallis provides specific commentary on this verse in the available sources.
8. Daniel Odier — The Somatic Grounding¶
Let the eyes rest on one object, then withdraw them slowly rather than snapping away. Let the thought of the object recede together with the gaze. Odier's appendix rendering stays very close to that simple bodily cue and ends not in blankness but in plenitude.
9. Paul Reps — The "Sudden Hit"¶
Look upon some object, then slowly withdraw your sight from it, then slowly withdraw your thought from it. Then.
10. Upāya Type¶
Śāktopāya (classified by Lakshmanjoo and Singh).
11. Resonance Check (Adhikāra)¶
Somatic and attentional. It requires the capacity to observe one's own mechanism of perception and slowly decouple visual focus from mental grasping without falling asleep or losing awareness.
12. The "What Else?" — The Pitfall¶
The most common pitfall is simply shifting the gaze from the chosen object to another object, or forcefully closing the eyes. This merely changes the scenery rather than dismantling the structure of perception. The withdrawal must be a slow, internal decoupling where the object is forgotten while the intensity of awareness remains entirely intact.
13. Verse-Specific Glossary¶
- bhairavī mudrā: The physical gesture of keeping the eyes open externally without blinking while the attention is entirely introverted. The visual field remains, but the mind no longer reaches out to construct objects from it.
- śūnyabhāvanā: The contemplative cultivation (bhāvanā) of emptiness (śūnya), recognizing that the external objects upon which the mind fixates lack absolute substantiality.