THE YOGĀṄGAS
Now the assertion that these actions are the causes of the attainment of
salvation brings up the question of the exact natures of their operation
with regard to this supreme attainment. Bhāshyakara says with respect to
this that they are the causes of the separation of the impurities of the
mind just as an axe is the cause of the splitting of a piece of wood;
and again they are the causes of the attainment of the supreme knowledge
just as dhaṛma is the cause of happiness. It must be remembered that
according to the Yoga theory causation is viewed as mere transformation
of energy; the operation of concomitant causes only removes obstacles
impeding the progress of these transformations in a particular
direction; no cause can of itself produce any effect, and the only way
in which it can help the production of an effect into which the causal
state passes out of its own immanent energy by the principles of
conservation and transformation of energy, is by removing the
intervening obstacles. Thus just as the passage of citta into a happy
state is helped by dharma removing the intervening obstacles, so also
the passage of the citta into the state of attainment of true knowledge
is helped by the removal of obstructions due to the performance of the
yogāṅgas; the necessary obstructions being removed, the citta passes
naturally of itself into this infinite state of attainment of true
knowledge, in which all finitude is merged.
In connection with this, Vyāsa mentions nine kinds of operation of
causes: (1) cause of birth; (2) of preservation; (3) of manifestation;
(4) of modification; (5) knowledge of a premise leading to a deduction;
(6) of otherness; (7) of separation; (8) of attainment; (9) of upholding
(_Vyāsabhāshya_, II. 28.)
The principle of conservation of energy and transformation of energy
being the root idea of causation in this system, these different aspects
represent the different points of view in which the word causation is
generally used.
Thus, the first aspect as the cause of birth or production is seen when
knowledge springs from manas which renders indefinite cognition definite
so that mind is called the cause of the birth of knowledge. Here mind is
the material cause (_upādāna kāraṇa_) of the production of knowledge,
for knowledge is nothing but manas with its particular modifications as
states (_Yoga-vārttika_, II. 18). The difference of these positive cause
from _āptikāraṇa_, which operates only in a negative way and helps
production, in an indirect way by the removal of obstacles, is quite
manifest. The _sthitikāraṇa_ or cause through which things are preserved
as they are, is the end they serve; thus the serviceability of purusha
is the cause of the existence and preservation of the mind as it is, and
not only of mind but of all our phenomenal experiences.
The third cause of the _abhivyaktikāraṇa_ or manifestation which is
compared to a lamp which manifests things before our view is an
epistemological cause, and as such includes all sense activity in
connection with material objects which produce cognition.
Then come the fourth and the fifth causes, vikāra (change) and pratyaya
(inseparable connection); thus the cause of change (_vikāra_) is
exemplified as that which causes a change; thus the manas suffers a
change by the objects presented to it, just as bile changes and digests
the food that is eaten; the cause of pratyaya[41] is that in which from
inseparable connection, with the knowledge of the premise (e.g. there is
smoke in the hill) we can also have inferential knowledge of the other
(e.g. there is fire in the hill). The sixth cause as otherness
(_anyatva_) is that which effects changes of form as that brought about
by a goldsmith in gold when he makes a bangle from it, and then again a
necklace, is regarded as differing from the change spoken of as vikāra.
Now the difference between the gold being turned into bangles or
necklaces and the raw rice being turned into soft rice is this, that in
the former case when bangles are made out of gold, the gold remains the
same in each case, whereas in the case of the production of cooked rice
from raw by fire, the case is different, for heat changes paddy in a far
more definite way; goldsmith and heat are both indeed efficient causes,
but the former only effects mechanical changes of shape and form,
whereas the latter is the cause of structural and chemical changes. Of
course these are only examples from the physical world, their causal
operations in the mental sphere varying in a corresponding manner; thus
the change produced in the mind by the presentation of different
objects, follows a law which is the same as is found in the physical
world, when the same object causes different kinds of feelings in
different persons; when ignorance causes forgetfulness in a thing, anger
makes it painful and desire makes it pleasurable, but knowledge of its
true reality produces indifference; there is thus the same kind of
causal change as is found in the external world. Next for consideration
is the cause of separation (_viyoga_) which is only a negative aspect of
the positive side of the causes of transformations, as in the gradual
extinction of impurities, consequent upon the transformation of the
citta towards the attainment of the supreme state of absolute
independence through discriminative knowledge. The last cause for
consideration is that of upholding (_dhṛti_); thus the body upholds the
senses and supports them for the actualisation of their activities in
the body, just as the five gross elements are the upholding causes of
organic bodies; the bodies of animals, men, etc., also employ one
another for mutual support. Thus the human body lives by eating the
bodies of many animals; the bodies of tigers, etc., live on the bodies
of men and other animals; many animals live on the bodies of plants,
etc. (_Tattvavaiśāradī_, II. 28). The four kinds of causes mentioned in
Śaṅkara’s works and grammatical commentaries like that of Susheṇa, viz.:
utpādya, vikāryya, āpya and saṃskāryya, are all included within the nine
causes contained mentioned by Vyāsa.
The yogāṅgas not only remove the impurities of the mind but help it
further by removing obstacles in the way of attaining the highest
perfection of discriminative knowledge. Thus they are the causes in a
double sense (1) of the dissociation of impurities (_viyogakāraṇa_); (2)
of removing obstacles which impede the course of the mind in attaining
the highest development (_āptikāraṇa_).
Coming now to the yogāṅgas, we enumerate them thus:—restraint,
observance, posture, regulation of breath, abstraction, concentration,
meditation and trance: these are the eight accessories of Yoga.
It must be remembered that abhyāsa and vairāgya and also the five means
of attaining Yoga, viz.: śraddhā, vīryya, etc., which are not different
from abhyāsa and vairāgya, are by their very nature included within the
yogāṅgas mentioned above, and are not to be considered as independent
means different from them. The parikarmas or embellishments of the mind
spoken of in the first chapter, with which we shall deal later on, are
also included under the three yogāṅgas dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. The
five means śraddhā, vīryya, smṛti, samādhi and prajñā are said to be
included under asceticism (_tapaḥ_) studies (_svādhyāya_) and devotion
to God of the niyamas and vairāgya in contentment.
In order to understand these better, we will first give the definitions
of the yogāṅgas and then discuss them and ascertain their relative
values for a man striving to attain the highest perfection of Yoga.
I. Yama (restraint). These yama restraints are: abstinence from injury
(ahiṃsā); veracity; abstinence from theft; continence; abstinence from
avarice.
II. Niyama (observances). These observances are cleanliness,
contentment, purificatory action, study and the making of God the motive
of all action.
III. Āsanas (posture). Steady posture and easy position are regarded as
an aid to breath control.
IV. Regulation of breath (prāṇāyāma) is the stoppage of the inspiratory
and expiratory movements (of breath) which may be practised when
steadiness of posture has been secured.
V. Pratyāhāra (abstraction). With the control of the mind all the senses
become controlled and the senses imitate as it were the vacant state of
the mind. Abstraction is that by which the senses do not come in contact
with their objects and follow as it were the nature of the mind.
VI. Dhāraṇā (concentration). Concentration is the steadfastness of the
mind applied to a particular object.
VII. Dhyāna (mediation). The continuation there of the mental effort by
continually repeating the object is meditation (dhyāna).
VIII. Samādhi (trance contemplation). The same as above when shining
with the light of the object alone, and devoid as it were of itself, is
trance. In this state the mind becomes one with its object and there is
no difference between the knower and the known.
These are the eight yogāṅgas which a Yogin must adopt for his higher
realisation. Of these again we see that some have the mental side more
predominant, while others are mostly to be actualised in exterior
action. Dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi, which are purely of the samprajñāta
type, and also the prāṇāyāma and pratyāhāra, which are accessories to
them, serve to cleanse the mind of impurities and make it steady, and
can therefore be assimilated with the parikarmas mentioned in Book I.
Sūtras 34–39. These samādhis of the samprajñāta type, of course, only
serve to steady the mind and to assist attaining discriminative
knowledge.
In this connection, it will be well to mention the remaining aids for
cleansing the mind as mentioned in _Yoga-sūtra_ I., viz. the cultivation
of the habits of friendliness, compassion, complacency and indifference
towards happiness, misery, virtue and vice.
This means that we are to cultivate the habit of friendliness towards
those who are happy, which will remove all jealous feelings and purify
the mind. We must cultivate the habit of compassion towards those who
are suffering pain; when the mind shows compassion (which means that it
wishes to remove the miseries of others as if they were his own) it
becomes cleansed of the stain of desire to do injury to others, for
compassion is only another name for sympathy which naturally identifies
the compassionate one with the objects of his sympathy. Next comes the
habit of complacency, which one should diligently cultivate, for it
leads to pleasure in virtuous deeds. This removes the stain of envy from
the mind. Next comes the habit of indifference, which we should acquire
towards vice in vicious persons. We should acquire the habit of
remaining indifferent where we cannot sympathise; we should not on any
account get angry with the wicked or with those with whom sympathy is
not possible. This will remove the stain of anger. It will be clearly
seen here that maītrī, karuṇā, muditā and upekshā are only different
aspects of universal sympathy, which should remove all perversities in
our nature and unite us with our fellow-beings. This is the positive
aspect of the mind with reference to abstinence from injuring ahiṃsā
(mentioned under yamas), which will cleanse the mind and make it fit for
the application of means of śraddhā, etc. For unless the mind is pure,
there is no scope for the application of the means of making it steady.
These are the mental endeavours to cleanse the mind and to make it fit
for the proper manifestation of śraddhā, etc., and for steadying it with
a view to attaining true discriminative knowledge.
Again of the parikarmas by dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and saṃprajñāta samādhi and
the habit of sympathy as manifested in maitrī, karuṇā, etc., the former
is a more advanced state of the extinction of impurities than the
latter.
But it is easy to see that ordinary minds can never commence with these
practices. They are naturally so impure that the positive universal
sympathy as manifested in maitrī, etc., by which turbidity of mind is
removed, is too difficult. It is also difficult for them to keep the
mind steady on an object as in dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi, for only
those in advanced stages can succeed in this. For ordinary people,
therefore, some course of conduct must be discovered by which they can
purify their minds and elevate them to such an extent that they may be
in a position to avail themselves of the mental parikarmas or
purifications just mentioned. Our minds become steady in proportion as
their impurities are cleansed. The cleansing of impurities only
represents the negative aspect of the positive side of making the mind
steady. The grosser impurities being removed, finer ones remain, and
these are removed by the mental parikarmas, supplemented by abhyāsa or
by śraddhā, etc. As the impurities are gradually more and more
attenuated, the last germs of impurity are destroyed by the force of
dhyāna or the habit of nirodha samādhi, and kaivalya is attained.
We now deal with yamas, by which the gross impurities of ordinary minds
are removed. They are, as we have said before, non-injury, truthfulness,
non-stealing, continence, and non-covetousness; of these non-injury is
given such a high place that it is regarded as the root of the other
yamas; truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, non-covetousness and the
other niyamas mentioned previously only serve to make the non-injury
perfect. We have seen before that maitrī, karuṇa, muditā and upekshā
serve to strengthen the non-injury since they are only its positive
aspects, but we see now that not only they but other yamas and also the
other niyamas, purity, contentment, asceticism, studies and devotion to
God, only serve to make non-injury more and more perfect. This
non-injury when it is performed without being limited or restricted in
any way by caste, country, time and circumstances, and is always adhered
to, is called mahāvrata or the great duty of abstinence from injury. It
is sometimes limited to castes, as for example injury inflicted by a
fisherman, and in this case it is called anuvrata or restricted ahiṃsā
of ordinary men as opposed to universal ahiṃsā of the Yogins called
mahāvrata; the same non-injury is limited by locality, as in the case of
a man who says to himself, “I shall not cause injury at a sacred place”;
or by time, when a person says to himself, “I shall not cause injury on
the sacred day of Caturdaśī”; or by circumstances, as when a man says to
himself, “I shall cause injury for the sake of gods and Brahmans only”;
or when injury is caused by warriors in the battle-field alone and
nowhere else. This restricted ahiṃsā is only for ordinary men who cannot
follow the Yogin’s universal law of ahiṃsā.
Ahiṃsā is a great universal duty which a man should impose on himself in
all conditions of life, everywhere, and at all times without restricting
or qualifying it with any limitation whatsoever. In _Mahābhārata
Mokshadharmādhyāya_ it is said that the Sāṃkhya lays stress upon
non-injury, whereas the Yoga lays stress upon samādhi; but here we see
that Yoga also holds that ahiṃsā should be the greatest ethical motive
for all our conduct. It is by ahiṃsā alone that we can make ourselves
fit for the higher type of samādhi. All other virtues of truthfulness,
non-stealing only serve to make non-injury more and more perfect. It is
not, however, easy to say whether the Sāṃkhyists attached so much
importance to non-injury that they believed it to lead to samādhi
directly without the intermediate stages of samādhi. We see, however,
that the Yoga also attaches great importance to it and holds that a man
should refrain from all external acts; for however good they may be they
cannot be such as not to lead to some kind of injury or hiṃsā towards
beings, for external actions can never be performed without doing some
harm to others. We have seen that from this point of view Yoga holds
that the only pure works (śuklakarma) are those mental works of good
thoughts in which perfection of ahiṃsā is attained. With the growth of
good works (śuklakarma) and the perfect realisation of non-injury the
mind naturally passes into the state in which its actions are neither
good (śukla) nor bad (aśukla); and this state is immediately followed by
that of kaivalya.
Veracity consists in word and thought being in accordance with facts.
Speech and mind correspond to what has been seen, heard and inferred.
Speech is for the purpose of transferring knowledge to another. It is
always to be employed for the good of others and not for their injury;
for it should not be defective as in the case of Yudhishṭhira, where his
motive was bad.[42] If it prove to be injurious to living beings, even
though uttered as truth, it is not truth; it is sin only. Though
outwardly such a truthful course may be considered virtuous, yet since
by his truth he has caused injury to another person, he has in reality
violated the true standard of non-injury (_ahiṃsā_). Therefore let
everyone first examine well and then utter truth for the benefit of all
living beings. All truths should be tested by the canon of non-injury
(_ahiṃsā_).
Asteya is the virtue of abstaining from stealing. Theft is making one’s
own unlawfully things that belong to others. Abstinence from theft
consists in the absence of the desire thereof.
Brahmacaryya (continence) is the restraint of the generative organ and
the thorough control of sexual tendencies.
Aparigraha is want of avariciousness, the non-appropriation of things
not one’s own; this is attained on seeing the defects of attachment and
of the injury caused by the obtaining, preservation and destruction of
objects of sense.
If, in performing the great duty of non-injury and the other virtues
auxiliary to it, a man be troubled by thoughts of sin, he should try to
remove sinful ideas by habituating himself to those which are contrary
to them. Thus if the old habit of sins opposed to virtues tend to drive
him along the wrong path, he should in order to banish them entertain
ideas such as the following:—“Being burnt up as I am in the fires of the
world, I have taken refuge in the practice of Yoga which gives
protection to all living beings. Were I to resume the sins which I have
abandoned, I should certainly be behaving like a dog, which eats its own
vomit. As the dog takes up his own vomit, so should I be acting if I
were to take up again what I have once given up.” This is called the
practice of _pratipaksha bhāvān_, meditating on the opposites of the
temptations.
A classification of sins of non-injury, etc., may be made according as
they are actually done, or caused to be done, or permitted to be done;
and these again may be further divided according as they are preceded by
desire, anger or ignorance; these are again mild, middling or intense.
Thus we see that there may be twenty-seven kinds of such sins. Mild,
middling and intense are each again threefold, mild-mild, mild-middling
and mild-intense; middling-mild, middling-middling and middling-intense;
also intense-mild, intense-middling and intense-intense. Thus there are
eighty-one kinds of sins. But they become infinite on account of rules
of restriction, option and conjunction.
The contrary tendency consists in the notion that these immoral
tendencies cause an infinity of pains and untrue knowledge. Pain and
unwisdom are the unending fruits of these immoral tendencies, and in
this idea lies the power which produces the habit of giving a contrary
trend to our thoughts.
These yamas, together with the niyamas about to be described, are called
kriyāyoga, by the performance of which men become fit to rise gradually
to the state of jñānayoga by samādhi and to attain kaivalya. This course
thus represents the first stage with which ordinary people should begin
their Yoga work.
Those more advanced, who naturally possess the virtues mentioned in
Yama, have no need of beginning here.
Thus it is said that some may begin with the niyamas, asceticism,
svādhyāya and devotion to God; it is for this reason that, though
mentioned under the niyamas, they are also specially selected and spoken
of as the kriyāyoga in the very first rule of the second Book.
Asceticism means the strength of remaining unchanged in changes like
that of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, standing and sitting, absence
of speech and absence of all indications by gesture, etc.
Svādhyāya means the study of philosophy and repetition of the syllable
“Aum.”
This Īśvarapraṇidhāna (devotion to God) is different from the
Īśvarapraṇidhāna mentioned in _Yoga-sūtra_, I. 23, where it meant love,
homage and adoration of God, by virtue of which God by His grace makes
samādhi easy for the Yogin.
Here it is a kind of kriyāyoga, and hence it means the bestowal of all
our actions upon the Great Teacher, God, i.e. to work, not for one’s own
self but for God, so that a man desists from all desires for fruit
therefrom.
When these are duly performed, the afflictions become gradually
attenuated and trance is brought about. The afflictions thus attenuated
become characterised by unproductiveness, and when their seed-power has,
as it were, been burnt up by the fire of high intellection and the mind
untouched by afflictions realises the distinct natures of purusha and
sattva, it naturally returns to its own primal cause prakṛti and
kaivalya is attained.
Those who are already far advanced do not require even this kriyāyoga,
as their afflictions are already in an attenuated state and their minds
in a fit condition to adapt themselves to samādhi; they can therefore
begin at once with jñānayoga. So in the first chapter it is with respect
to these advanced men that it is said that kaivalya can be attained by
abhyāsa and vairāgya, without adopting the kriyāyoga (_Yoga-vārttika_,
II. 2) kriyāyogas. Only śauca and santosha now remain to be spoken of.
Śauca means cleanliness of body and mind. Cleanliness of body is brought
about by water, cleanliness of mind by removal of the mental impurities
of pride, jealousy and vanity.
Santosha (contentment) is the absence of desire to possess more than is
necessary for the preservation of one’s life. It should be added that
this is the natural result of ceasing to desire to appropriate the
property of others.
At the close of this section on the yamas and niyamas, it is best to
note their difference, which lies principally in this that the former
are the negative virtues, whereas the latter are positive. The former
can, and therefore must, be practised at all stages of Yoga, whereas the
latter being positive are attainable only by distinct growth of mind
through Yoga. The virtues of non-injury, truthfulness, sex restraint,
etc., should be adhered to at all stages of the Yoga practice. They are
indispensable for steadying the mind.
It is said that in the presence of a person who has acquired steadiness
in ahiṃsā all animals give up their habits of enmity; when a person
becomes steady in truthfulness, whatever he says becomes fulfilled. When
a person becomes steady in asteya (absence of theft) all jewels from all
quarters approach him.
Continence being confirmed, vigour is obtained. Non-covetousness being
confirmed, knowledge of the causes of births is attained. By steadiness
of cleanliness, disinclination to this body and cessation of desire for
other bodies is obtained.
When the mind attains internal śauca, or cleanliness of mind, his sattva
becomes pure, and he acquires highmindedness, one-pointedness, control
of the senses and fitness for the knowledge of self. By the steadiness
of contentment comes the acquisition of extreme happiness. By steadiness
of asceticism the impurities of this body are removed, and from that
come miraculous powers of endurance of the body and also miraculous
powers of the sense, viz. clairaudience and thought-reading from a
distance. By steadiness of studies the gods, the ṛshis and the siddhas
become visible. When Īśvara is made the motive of all actions, trance is
attained. By this the Yogin knows all that he wants to know, just as it
is in reality, whether in another place, another body or another time.
His intellect knows everything as it is.
It should not, however, be said, says Vācaspati, that inasmuch as the
saṃprajñāta is attained by making Īśvara the motive of all actions, the
remaining seven yogāṅgas are useless. For the yogāṅgas are useful in the
attainment of that mental mood which devotes all actions to the purposes
of Īśvara. They are also useful in the attainment of saṃprajñāta samādhi
by separate kinds of collocations, and samādhi also leads to the
fruition of saṃprajñāta, but though this meditation on Īśvara is itself
a species of Īśvarapraṇidhāna, saṃprajñāta Yoga is a yet more direct
means. As to the relation of Īśvarapraṇidhāna with the other aṅgas of
Yoga, Bhikshu writes:—It cannot be asked what is the use of the other
disciplinary practices of the Yoga since Yoga can be attained by
meditation on Īśvara, for meditation on Īśvara only removes ignorance.
The other accessories bring about samādhi by their own specific modes of
operation. Moreover, it is by help of meditation on Īśvara that one
succeeds in bringing about samādhi, through the performance of all the
accessories of Yoga; so the accessories of Yoga cannot be regarded as
unnecessary; for it is the accessories which produce dhāraṇa, dhyāna and
samādhi, through meditation on God, and thereby salvation; devotion to
God brings in His grace and through it the yogāṅgas can be duly
performed. So though devotion to God may be considered as the direct
cause, it cannot be denied that the due performance of the yogāṅgas is
to be considered as the indirect cause.
Āsanas are secured when the natural involuntary movements cease, and
this may be effected by concentrating the mind on the mythological snake
which quietly bears the burden of the earth on its head. Thus posture
becomes perfect and effort to that end ceases, so that there is no
movement of the body; or the mind is transformed into the infinite,
which makes the idea of infinity its own and then brings about the
perfection of posture. When posture has once been mastered there is no
disturbance through the contraries of heat and cold, etc.
After having secured stability in the Āsanas the prāṇāyāmas should be
attempted. The pause that comes after a deep inhalation and that after a
deep exhalation are each called a prāṇāyāma; the first is external, the
second internal. There is, however, a third mode, by means of which,
since the lungs are neither too much dilated nor too much contracted,
total restraint is obtained; cessation of both these motions takes place
by a single effort, just as water thrown on a heated stone shrivels up
on all sides.
These can be regulated by calculating the strength of inhalation and
exhalation through space, time or number. Thus as the breathing becomes
slower, the space that it occupies also becomes smaller and smaller.
Space again is of two kinds, internal and external. At the time of
inhalation, the breath occupies internal space, which can be felt even
in the soles of hand and feet, like the slight touch of an ant. To try
to feel this touch along with deep inhalation serves to lengthen the
period of cessation of breathing. External space is the distance from
the tip of the nose to the remotest point at which breath when inhaled
can be felt, by the palm of the hand, or by the movement of any light
substance like cotton, etc., placed there. Just as the breathing becomes
slower and slower, the distances traversed by it also becomes smaller
and smaller. Regulations by time is seen when the attention is fixed
upon the time taken up in breathing by moments, a moment (_kshaṇa_) is
the fourth part of the twinkling of the eye. Regulation by time thus
means the fact of our calculating the strength of the prāṇāyāma the
moments or kshaṇas spent in the acts of inspiration, pause and
respiration. These prāṇāyāmas can also be measured by the number of
moments in the normal duration of breaths. The time taken by the
respiration and expiration of a healthy man is the same as that measured
by snapping the fingers after turning the hand thrice over the knee and
is the measure of duration of normal breath; the first attempt or
udghāta called mild is measured by thirty-six such mātrās or measures;
when doubled it is the second udghāta called middling; when trebled it
is the third udghāta called intense. Gradually the Yogin acquires the
practice of prāṇāyāma of long duration, by daily practice increasing in
succession from a day, a fortnight, a month, etc. Of course he proceeds
first by mastering the first udghāta, then the second, and so on until
the duration increases up to a day, a fortnight, a month as stated.
There is also a fourth kind of prāṇāyāma transcending all these stages
of unsteady practice, when the Yogin is steady in his cessation of
breath. It must be remembered, however, that while the prāṇāyāmas are
being practised, the mind must be fixed by dhyāna and dhāraṇā to some
object external or internal, without which these will be of no avail for
the true object of Yoga. By the practice of prāṇāyāma, mind becomes fit
for concentration as described in the _sūtra_ I. 34, where it is said
that steadiness is acquired by prāṇāyāma in the same way as
concentration, as we also find in the _sūtra_ II. 53.
When the senses are restrained from their external objects by pratyāhāra
we have what is called pratyāhāra, by which the mind remains as if in
its own nature, being altogether identified with the object of inner
concentration or contemplation; and thus when the citta is again
suppressed, the senses, which have already ceased coming into contact
with other objects and become submerged in the citta, also cease along
with it. Dharaṇa is the concentration of citta on a particular place,
which is so very necessary at the time of prāṇāyāmas mentioned before.
The mind may thus be held steadfast in such places as the sphere of the
navel, the lotus of the heart, the light in the brain, the forepart of
the nose, the forepart of the tongue, and such like parts of the body.
Dhyāna is the continuance or changing flow of the mental effort in the
object of dharaṇa unmediated by any other break of conscious states.
Samādhi, or trance contemplation, results when by deep concentration
mind becomes transformed into the shape of the object of contemplation.
By pratyāhāra or power of abstraction, mind desists from all other
objects, except the one on which it is intended that it should be
centred; the Yogin, as he thus abstracts his mind, should also try to
fix it upon some internal or external object, which is called dhāraṇā;
it must also be noticed that to acquire the habit of dhāraṇā and in
order to inhibit the abstraction arising from shakiness and unsteadiness
of the body, it is necessary to practise steadfast posture and to
cultivate the prāṇāyāma. So too for the purpose of inhibiting
distractions arising from breathing. Again, before a man can hope to
attain steadfastness in these, he must desist from any conduct opposed
to the yamas, and also acquire the mental virtues stated in the niyamas,
and thus secure himself against any intrusion of distractions arising
from his mental passions. These are the indirect and remote conditions
which qualify a person for attaining dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi. A man
who through his good deeds or by the grace of God is already so much
advanced that he is naturally above all such distractions, for the
removal of which it is necessary to practise the yamas, the niyamas, the
āsanas, the prāṇāyāma and pratyāhara, may at once begin with dhāraṇā;
dhāraṇā we have seen means concentration, with the advancement of which
the mind becomes steady in repeating the object of its concentration,
i.e. thinking of that thing alone and no other thing; thus we see that
with the practice of this state called dhyāna, or meditation, in which
the mind flows steadily in that one state without any interruption,
gradually even the conscious flow of this activity ceases and the mind,
transformed into the shape of the object under concentration, becomes
steady therein. We see therefore that samādhi is the consummation of
that process which begins in dhāraṇā or concentration. These three,
dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi, represent the three stages of the same
process of which the last one is the perfection; and these three are
together technically called saṃyama, which directly leads to and is
immediately followed by the samprajñāta state, whereas the other five
yogāṅgas are only its indirect or remote causes. These three are,
however, not essential for the asamprajñāta state, for a person who is
very far advanced, or one who is the special object of God’s grace, may
pass at once by intense vairāgya and abhyāsa into the nirodha state or
state of suppression.
As the knowledge of samādhi gradually dawns through the possession of
saṃyama, so is the saṃyama gradually strengthened. For this saṃyama also
rises higher and higher with the dawning of prajñāloka or light of
samādhi knowledge. This is the beginning, for here the mind can hold
saṃyama or concentrate and become one with a gross object together with
its name, etc., which is called the savitarka state; the next plane or
stage of saṃyama is that where the mind becomes one with the object of
its meditation, without any consciousness of its name, etc. Next come
the other two stages called savicāra and nirvicāra when the mind is
fixed on subtle substances, as we shall see later on.