Dharana - Concentration YS III - 1

Yoga Sutra III - 1 - DESABANDHAS CITTASYA DHARANA - Dharana is the binding of the mind to one place, object or idea.

Swami Satchidananda - "When the chittam, or sum-total of the mind, is being bound by one thing or bound in one place, it is in dharana. In other words, in dharana you are training the mind. It is the beginning of meditation. Concentration is the beginning of meditation, meditation is the culmination of concentration."

We are reminded that our mind is always running and that within a fraction of a second it goes to something else. To start to practice dharana, concentration, it is easier to concentrate on physical objects, symbols or idols as opposed to abstract. While looking at an object, tradak, or gazing comes in handy.

"Tradak is actually gazing at something, sometimes without even blinking. Don't strain the eyes. Just look at your object as long as you can. You'll be able to look longer if you put your mind on the idea behind the object (like a rose): how beautiful it is, what a great gift has come from a thorny bush, etc. Like that, associated ideas will come in. " Eventually the gazing will be forgotten, although you would still be gazing without blinking. When you do close your eyes, attempt to bring a mental picture of what you were focusing on. You might see it and then lose it. With practice you will be developing that impression in your mind. Swami Satchidananda uses the example of photography for us to understand the picture, the film and how it is developed.

"As you think, so you become." Swami Satchidananda is telling us that as we perform an action physically, we can sit back and try to remember the whole thing in our mind in proper sequence. Once it becomes easy, we don't even need to do the physical action anymore. He also explains the nature of the mind wandering. He tells us not to get frustrated, and never give up. "And never think, 'Oh, I am unfit for meditation.' That is the biggest mistake many people make." He reminds us of Book I, Sutra 14: "Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended for a long time, without break and in all earnestness." "This very practice itself is called concentration: The mind running, your bringing it back; its running, your bringing it back."

"Training your mind to meditate is what is called dharana."

See related posts:

• Dharana - YS II - 53
• Distractions and Dharana
• Practice Concentration YS I - 32
• Are you Aware of Your Senses?
• Concentrate on a Pure Soul YS I - 37
  

Dharana - YS II - 53

Yoga Sutra II- 53 - DHARANASU CA YOGYATA MANASAH - And the mind becomes fit for concentration.

"If the prakasa avarana is removed, although the mind is not completely annihilated, its density is reduced and it becomes more capable of practicing dharana" - Swami Satchidananda
"The mind gains the power of concentration (dharana)." - "How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood Patanjali defines dharana in more detail in the first sutra of the third chapter (YS III - 1).

See related posts:

• Distractions and Dharana
• Practice Concentration YS I - 32
• Are you Aware of Your Senses?
• Concentrate on a Pure Soul YS I - 37

Mastery in Concentration YS I - 40

Pantanjali's Yoga Sutra I- 40- PARAMANU PARAMAMAHATTVANTO'SYA VASIKARAH- Gradually, one's mastery in concentration extends from the primal atom to the greatest magnitude.

"Once you have established yourself in deep meditation, using any one of the foregoing methods or anything selected by you, and have gained mastery over the mind, nothing is difficult for you to meditate on. It is simply for you to choose on what to meditate-- from an atom to the entire universe" - Swami Satchidananda

As one attempts to meditate in the beginning, one may find many many thoughts and may give up the practice. You can view this as cleaning process, a process that even makes you aware that you have so many thoughts and then bring your attention back to the process you were using like:

• the breath,
• blissful Light within
• a dream or deep sleep
• a great being or pure soul
• subtle sense perceptions
• anything you choose that is elevating

Remember as the sutra says mastery of concentration will expand from a primal atom - the most minute to greater magnitudes or dimensions. So start practicing now! This is a great way to end a year and start a new year.

Practice Concentration YS I - 32

In order to meditate one has to first be able to have sustained dharana or concentration. Dharana is the Sanskrit word for concentration. Look at the picture of this post. The man is sitting in a meditative posture with many pictures around his head. This is a great illustration of how it is when we attempt to sit and still the mind. The pictures are representative of the many thoughts, distractions which become obstacles. Thus many of us give up attempting to meditate.

Yoga Sutras I-32 TAT PRATISEDHARTHAM EKA TATTVABHYASAH - The practice of concentration on a single subject [or the use of technique] is the best way to prevent the obstacles and their accompaniments.

This sutra is telling us in order to prevent the obstacles/distractions we need to develop one pointedness . Swami Satchidananda states that we should not keep changing our object of concentration. It's like if one digging for a well, instead of digging many shallow ones, decide to stick to one and dig deep. If you have to use dynamite when encountering a rock, do it and continue to keep going down. So with the goal to make the mind steady, it does not matter what technique or object you use. It is not the symbol we use, like our ideas, objects or mantrams but the holding on to the symbol to take us to the goal. 'There are different strokes for different folks' thus different symbols for different people. Swami Satchidananda concludes with saying we want this one-pointed concentration to make the mind clear so we can transcend it.

Pramana - Right Knowledge YS I - 6

This post is a continuation of yesterday's post in which I stated "In YS I-6 Pramana Viparyaya Vikalpa Nidra Smrtayah Patanjali lists the five types of vrittis (mental modifications) as right knowledge, misconception, verbal delusion, sleep and memory."

Today I will address Pramana which is translated as Right Knowledge. Pramana is a Sankrit word used in the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali. Pramana forms one part of a tripuţi (trio) concerning Pramā (the correct knowledge of any object arrived at by thorough reasoning, Sanskrit), namely:
1. Pramāta, the subject, the knower
2. Pramāņa, the means of obtaining the knowledge
3. Prameya, the object, the knowable

Knowledge can be defined as information we know through study, experience, education, perception, reasoning etc.

In Swami Satchidananda's commentary of this sutra, he states "Pantanjali calls valid knowledge is what you understand by seeing something yourself-direct perception. If you see something face-to-face you don't have any doubt. That is one way to get valid knowledge." Then he states another way is through inference (i.e. how humans draw conclusions) as if one saw smoke, one knows there cannot be smoke without fire. Or if " you see a cow giving milk, you infer the cows gives milk." A third way Satchidananda refers to is "a reliable authority or person who has really understood something tells you." And here he refers to holy scriptures. Here explains that "The words of prophets given through holy scriptures are finalized. They can't be modified."

So in regard to your thoughts of knowing the right or valid knowledge, we have to become more focused on the kinds or thoughts we have on a daily basis. Are we living our lives through right or valid knowledge? Especially with all the bombardment of other people's thoughts of their knowledge through media, associations, what we learn in school, in the work place, how are we affected? Dharana which is concentration and Dhyana which is meditation are great tools to see where we are at. See what methods works for you. Eventually, by being fully present we will have to leave all the thoughts and knowledge behind at some point if we are to have peace.

Attention and Concentration

Do I have your attention? Attention can be defined as the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things.
William James, in his monumental Principles of Psychology (1890), remarked:“Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatterbrained state which in French is called distraction, and Zerstreutheit in German.[2]”

I am sure you have noticed the word concentration in attention's definition. And if you look up concentration as a noun, attention is one of the words used in its description as well. Paying attention and concentration is a very important part of life. If one does no concentrate one cannot accomplish even the simplest daily tasks. These days we multitask on a daily basis. There are so many distractions coming at us and it affects our relationships as well as our studies and our work. We can't achieve what we want with our minds scattered in so many directions.

In regard to yoga, if you look at book II -32 in the Yoga Sutras it is stated "Tat Pratisedhartham Eka Tattvabhyasah". The translation is "The practice of concentration on a single subject [or the use of one technique] is the best way to prevent the obstacles and their accompaniments." Swami Satchidananda's commentary on this sutra asks "Why do you want to have this one-pointed concentration? To make the mind clear so you can transcend it." And so if we can make the mind clear the internal dialogue disappears and we can focus on what we are doing. Thus making life less hectic and more peaceful. So starting with some yoga postures and meditation we can practice concentration.

Distractions and Dharana

There are so many distractions today in our lives. Cell phones, ipods, the television, the internet, loud sounds from the airplanes, buses and trains. Especially living in the city. If you happen to live in the surburbs and the country, it might be a little quieter outside, but there still all the gadgets we have to keep us distracted. Distractions can be defined as inattentiveness, misdirection, confusedness.

Many people are stressed out due to the many distractions on a daily basis. This is why we do not experience constantly being present or at peace with ourselves. It becomes too much when there is no mindfulness. So this is where a tool comes into play here. In order to survive the many distractions we need dharana. Dharana is a sanskrit word, which basically means concentration or focus in one direction. Dharana is the sixth limb of yoga as defined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali I will delve into this work periodically in future posts.

So getting back to the tools we have, concentration on specific tasks and or object can help us with the many distractions in our modern life. And the best way to deal with distractions is to begin to practice meditation or dhyana. Dhyana is an essential part of practicing asanas (yogic postures). Dhyana is essential to every day life.

To be continued...