Patanjali Yoga Sutra - III - V

Tajjayath Pragnyallokaha

With practice of Samyama i.e. Dharana - concentration, Dhyana - meditation and Samadhi - the culmination of the mind in state of cosmic consciousness, the person attains to a steady wisdom with certainty. I narrate here a dream that I had this morning of Thursday, January 12. I was preparing to write an exam in Tamil grammar (may be because the previous night I read about the Sage Agastya and his writing a text on Tamil Grammar!). Till after an hour of the examination, I was filling ink in my pen and the ink was mushy. I spent one hour writing nothing. When I saw the first question for the exam I hadn't prepared much for, it said - "Explain the grammatical expression for the word Siva." I began writing - Va is for Vasanas and Si is for Chit. The moment I wrote Chit, I woke up from the dream. I knew it was a dream! Same way I thought, when you are surrounded by thoughts of self-realisation and realised beings, there is the awakening of Chit or consciousness in you. That awakening shows to you that this world is a dream. After I knew that the dream was a dream, it made it meaningless to continue writing the exam. Likewise, when you know this world you live in is a dream, life becomes meaningless, but yet you play on as it is not a dream for the other players in the game! - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - III - 4

Three in one

Thrayamekatra Samyamaha||

When the threesome of Dharana or concentration, Dhyana or meditation which is a gradual entry into a merging of concentration and its confluence with the object meditated upon and eventually a complete merger of the subject, object and the meditation in Samadhi. The combination of the three makes it Samyama or a complete restraint of the mind that's absorbed in consciousness.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - III - 3

Contemplating well to merge

Tadevarthamathra Nirbhasam Swaroopa Shunyamiva Samadhihi||

When the object of focus, concentration and meditation begins to merge, then the state of Samadhi is said to be reached. Take an example of climbing a flight of stairs to reach the terrace. At first you get accustomed to the steps and focus on it as you climb. That is Dharana. Then as you climb, you have achieved a state of ease and a mind that can afford to be within and contemplate - i.e. Dhyana. Once you begin to contemplate on a statement of truth or the Pranava Mantra, you feel as if you have lost your own name and form and only the contemplation remains. That is arriving at the terrace of Samadhi. The yogi and a Shaivaite saint Sadasiva Brahmendra Saraswati has written a commentary on the Patanjali Yoga Sutra explains Samadhi as Samyak Aadheeyate Ekagrikriyate Yat Manaha Saha Samadhi - That mind which delves well and deeply after becoming completely integrated is Samadhi. - Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - III - 2

A continuous flow

Tatra Pratyaya Ekatanata Dhyanam||

Once the mind is sufficiently settled in a point of concentration, which is dharana, there follows a stage when the thoughts begin to flow uninterruptedly into one field of consciousness, just as an estuary merges into the ocean. This is called Dhyanam.

(Quiet flows the lamp on the Ganga at Triveni Ghat, Rishikesh. Text and Pix. Swahilya Shambhavi.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II -

Putting the mind in place!

Desha Bandhaha Chittasya Dharanam||

Dharana means concentration. The concentration of the mind on a point, an image, person, place or object holds the mind in a place towards which it is directed. It binds it to the space on which it concentrates, instead of following its own natural way of flitting about here and there into a million memory routes of the past and the anxiety routes of the future. Dharana is a tool to put the mind in its place i.e. the present moment! - Swahilya Shambhavi.