To Netnews Homepage     Previous     Next      Index      Table of Contents
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 3 - Union achieved and its Results
2. Sustained Concentration (dharana) is meditation (dhyana).

Meditation is but the extension of concentration and grows out of the facility a man achieves in "fixing the mind" at will on any particular object. It falls under the same rules and conditions as concentration and the only distinction between the two is in the time element.

Having achieved the capacity to focus the mind steadily upon an object, the next step is developing the power to hold the mind stuff or chitta unwaveringly occupied with that object or thought for a prolonged period. The Purana quoted above continues:

"An uninterrupted succession of presented ideas single in intent upon His form, without desire for anything else, that, 0 King, is contemplation. It is brought about by the first six aids of yoga."

The word contemplation here is synonymous with meditation. This meditation is still with seed or with an object.

Dvivedi says in his comment on this sutra:

"...Dhyana is the entire fixing of the mind on the object thought of (to the extent of making it one with it). In fact, the mind should, at the time, be conscious only of itself and the object." The man's attitude becomes pure fixed attention; his physical body, his emotions, surroundings, and all sounds and sights are lost sight of and the brain is conscious only of the object which is the topic or seed of meditation, and the thoughts which the mind is formulating in connection with that object. [248]
To Netnews Homepage     Previous     Next      Index      Table of Contents
Last updated Monday, February 2, 1998          © 1998 Netnews Association. All rights reserved.