History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.293

v7.c94.293

Dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi are said to be the direct auxiliaries of Yoga and are three successive stages, the preceding one leading to the next. Dhāraṇā is the holding of the mind to a certain spot or point²³⁷⁷ or object. The bhāṣya explains that the mind is to be held down to such spots (in one's body) as the navel, the heart-lotus, the head, the light (in the eye), the tip of the nose, the tip of the tongue and the like or on external objects (such as images of gods in various forms). In this stage attention has to be firmly held upon the chosen object for a period of time determined by the will of the yoga aspirant. In this stage there are three elements, the subject, the object and the act of concentration. The next stage is dhyāna, which will be described immediately below. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa speaks of ten dhāraṇās on the different parts of the yogin's own body²³⁷⁸ and is in accordance with the plural 'dhāraṇāsu ca yogyatā manasaḥ' (in Y. S. II. 53) employed by Patañjali himself. The Aśvamedhikaparva also employs the plural 'dhāraṇāsu'. Vide the Śāntiparva (cr. ed. 188. 8-12 = Ch. ed. 195.8). The Yājñavalkyasmṛti²³⁷⁹ in a succint manner brings in the aṅgas from āsana to dhāraṇā and dhyāna as follows: (The yogin) occupying a seat neither too high nor too low, having placed his upturned heels on his thighs and having placed on the left (palm placed on the upturned right heel) his other (right) palm (turned upwards), having slightly raised his face and having braced up his body with his (raised) chest, having closed the eyes, being free from *rajas* and *tamas*, not allowing the upper and lower rows of teeth to touch, holding his tongue firmly in the palate, and allowing no shaking of the body, covering the mouth, holding back the organs of sense from their objects, should perform prāṇāyāma of the twofold or threefold type (of 24 or 36 mātrās), should contemplate on the Lord that occupies his heart like a lamp, and fix his mind on that Lord by way of Dhāraṇā. Devala states ²³⁸⁰ that dhāraṇā is the holding in check of the body, senses, mind, intellect and ātman (egoism).