Dharna, Dhyana and Samadhi

We have now reached the final stages of our Ashtanga Yoga journey, the last three limbs. The first one I will speak about is Dharna (/d̪ʰɑːrəɳɑː/), or concentration. It is the ability of the mind to stay fixed on one object. Yoga promotes the achievement of Samadhi through absolute concentration on one particular object, and this is the first step to it. At this stage, the mind is still not under your absolute control. So it may wander, or get distracted, but only occasionally. 

At the next stage, Dhyana (/d̪ʰjɑːnə/), the concentration is uninterrupted. That is when true meditation takes place. Think of it like an oil, flowing out of a pot. That consistency of the oil, is the same consistency of the concentration, where the mind is able to focus on an object without any distraction, for a very long time, much longer than it was able to in Dharna. And now, the mind is ready for Samadhi (/səmɑːd̪ʰi/), the only way to gain true knowledge.

What is Samadhi, really? Everyone Yoga teacher keeps yapping about it, I certainly have yapped about it enough in my previous posts. Well, it’s simple actually! (Well, simple to understand) Remember the object of our concentration before? It could be anything – it could be a tree, an idea, a pot, even God. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the absolute concentration. So, when the mind identifies itself with the object of its meditation, Samadhi happens. The word ‘Samadhi’ itself means ‘to bring together, to merge’. In Samadhi, the mind gains true knowledge of the object, and by extension, of itself and of the world. 

This stage is when one truly becomes a yogi, and achieves ‘Chitta Vritti Nirodha’, or the stoppage of all fluctuations of the mind. Most of us in the world are far away from that. But, that must not stop us from trying. Even knowing that something like this, that ultimate goal, is possible, should be enough for us to do as much as possible to reach there. It may not come now, it may not come ten years from now. But, we know that it will, someday. And it will only happen if we keep trying, if we keep working towards it. We may stray, we may fall, we may even lose faith at some point. But, we can always come back to it and start trying again. That is the beauty of Yoga, and that is the beauty of being human.

So, this is where I end the series on what is Yoga, and the limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. I will be back with some more insights into the world of Yoga. I hope that with this series I have been able to put forth the idea of Yoga as a way of life, and that anyone can do it with a little bit of practice and a little bit of faith.