22
Beyond Birth and Death
yad akṣaraṁ veda-vido vadanti 
    viśanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ 
    yad icchanto brahmacaryaṁ caranti 
    tat te padaṁ saṅgraheṇa pravakṣye 
    sarva-dvārāṇi saṁyamya 
    mano hṛdi-nirudhya ca 
    mūrdhny ādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam 
    āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām
“Persons learned in the  Vedas , who utter  omkāra  and who are great sages in the renounced order, enter into Brahman. Desiring such perfection, one practices celibacy. I shall now explain to you this process by which one may attain salvation. The yogic situation is that of detachment from all sensual engagements. Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind on the heart and the life air at the top of the head, one establishes himself in  yoga .” (Bg. 8.11-12)
In the  yoga  system this process is called  pratya-hara , which means, “just the opposite.” Although during life the eyes are engaged in seeing worldly beauty, at death one has to retract the senses from their objects and see the beauty within. Similarly, the ears are accustomed to hearing so many sounds in the world, but at the moment of death one has to hear the transcendental  omkāra  from within.
om ity ekākṣaraṁ brahma- 
    vyāharan mām anusmaran 
    yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṁ 
    sa yāti paramāṁ gatim