Dhyana - Meditation YS III - 2

Yoga Sutra III - 2 - TATRA PRATYAYAIKATANATA DHYANAM - Dhyana is the continuous flow of cognition toward that object.

Swami Satchidananda commences his commentary with "The Hindu scriptures give a beautiful example of this ' continuous flow'. They say it is like pouring oil from one pot into another. It is a continuous string; it doesn't break. The mind is fixed."

Swami Satchidananda tells us that dhyana is "Communication between meditator and object of meditation is steady. Normally, what we are doing when we say we are meditating is dharana." After long practice of dharana, gradually the 'flow of cognition' gets a little longer and it becomes dhyana."

Swami Satchidananda gives us some clues to know that we have really meditated like the following:

• If we set an alarm for an hour and then it goes off and we feel that the alarm went off too soon, then that was meditation. However, if five minutes feels like an hour, that was not meditation but concentration.
• No time or space constraints. Forgetting about the body. The mind transcends body consciousness. A comparison to deep sleep is given in the fact that you are not aware of the your body in deep sleep.
• "In the beginning you feel so light when you transcends the body."
• Sometimes you get beautiful visions
• Even with no visions, you might see beautiful lights
• Hearing beautiful sounds like the ocean, a flute, a gong

Swami Satchidananda says he doesn't usually like to mention the various signs as one might tend to imagine it them. These signs should just happen naturally.

We are reminded in "How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood that :

Patanjali's definition of dhyana does not correspond to our usual understanding of the word meditation. It's not like you think you are meditating on "Christ" and fixing your mind on his form, thinking of his teaching, miracles and disciples. This meditation in the Christ example " is only a mere preliminary to what may be properly called dharana and dhyana."