"But is it not the mind which is then intent upon the soul and not the senses, since these are only adapted for external objects, and therefore have no power for this supposed action? How, therefore, could they be accommodated to the nature of the mind?" What you say is quite true; and therefore the author of the aphorisms, having an eye to their want of power for this, introduced the words "as it were," to express "resemblance." "Restraint is, as it were, the accommodation of the senses to the nature of the mind in the absence of concernment with each one's own object" [ii. 54]. Their absence of concernment with their several objects for the sake of being accommodated to the nature of the mind is this "resemblance" which we mean. Since, when the mind is restrained, the eye, &c., are restrained, no fresh effort is to be expected from them, and they follow the mind as bees follow their king. This has been declared in the Vishṇu-puráṇa [vi. 7, 43, 44]-- "Let the devotee, restraining his organs of sense, which ever tend to pursue external objects, "Himself intent on restraint, make them conformable to the mind; "By this is effected the entire subjugation of the unsteady senses; "If they are not controlled, the _yogin_ will not accomplish his _yoga_."[454] "Attention" (_dháraṇá_) is the fixing the mind, by withdrawing it from all other objects, on some place, whether connected with the internal self, as the circle of the navel, the lotus of the heart, the top of the _sushumṇá_ artery, &c., or something external, as Prajápati, Vásava, Hiraṇyagarbha, &c. This is declared by the aphorism, "'Attention' is the fixing the mind on a place" [iii. 1]; and so, too, say the followers of the Puráṇas-- "By regulation of breath having controlled the air, and by restraint the senses, "Let him next make the perfect asylum the dwelling-place of his mind."[455] The continual flow of thought in this place, resting on the object to be contemplated, and avoiding all incongruous thoughts, is "contemplation" (_dhyána_); thus it is said, "A course of uniform thought there, is 'contemplation'" [iii. 2]. Others also have said-- "A continued succession of thoughts, intent on objects of that kind and desiring no other, "This is 'contemplation,'--it is thus effected by the first six of the ancillary things." We incidentally, in elucidating something else, discussed the remaining eighth ancillary thing, "meditation" (_samádhi_, see p. 243). By this practice of the ancillary means of _yoga_, pursued for a long time with uninterrupted earnestness, the "afflictions" which hinder meditation are abolished, and through "exercise" and "dispassion" the devotee attains to the perfections designated by the names Madhumatí and the rest.