Many argue about how discipline (as described in the scriptures) can result in the dawn of knowledge. Aren’t these mere bodily limitations, they ask. Knowledge can arise only by the realisation of the principle that guarantees self-realisation, they argue. But this line of thought is based on a big mistake. Through these physical regulations, traits (vasanas) are destroyed and concentration is established. One-pointedness is essential to establish spiritual wisdom firmly in the heart, and this one-pointedness can easily be gained by bodily disciplines and austerities (tapas) prescribed in the Upanishads. External control helps internal control in many ways. To succeed in external controls indeed is more difficult than to achieve success in controlling the internal! In a working car, the wheels will always follow the direction of the steering. A turn of the steering wheel in one’s hand in any direction makes the wheels of the car, which are not in your hand, move in the same direction of the steering wheel – isn’t it?

- Prema Vahini, Ch 53.