Abhyasa for Health

The mind of such a person stops running about, and becomes steady and still very easily. The process of steadying the mind is called abhyasa in yoga terminology. It is made of three stages respectively called dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. Dharana is a state of mental concentration in which the mind, which has stopped running after the objects of enjoyment (due to vairagya) gets associated with a restricted area of operation, which may be an idol or a picture. or any symbol like a cross, or dot, and so on. This is a state of absorption of the mind in an engrossing topic. All thoughts are here concerned about a single topic. For example, one may fix the mind on some areas in the body, such as any one of the six chakras, the tip of the tongue or nose, the midpoint between the eyebrows, the heart, and so on, or on, an attractive idol of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, or a picture of the rising sun. No thought other than those that are in some way or the other related to the object of concentration, is allow to arise in the mind. This is not an easy thing to do because of the habit of mind to move continuously from one thought to another. But an individual from whose mind vasana or trishna has completel retired, can easily apply his mind to any limited topic (desha), just as a trained horse can be made to follow any specified path, by carefully controlling his actions.

As an individual proceeds deeper in the process of concentration, the mind becomes steadier, and, out of the limited set of thoughts concerning the same topic only one single thought starts arising in the mind time and again. This is the state of dhyana in which the mind becomes very stable like the flame of a lamp in a very calm atmosphere, and its contact with the object of experience becomes intense and complete. There are two varieties of dhyana as explained in the Shandilyopanishad, namely, sagwwdhyana and nirgunadhyana. The former involves stillness of the mind associated with an object of experience that can be grasped through the sense organs, e.g. it may either be seen with eyes, or touched with the hands or at least it can be thought of as having certain qualities. The latter variety implies complete absorption of the mind into itself. This is a state in which the mind is not associating with any object, external or internal, or perceptible through the senses. The mind becomes completely still in this state. It is supposed that such a still and silent mind becomes so sensitive as to be able to understand any event, past, present or future, that might have happened anywhere in the universe. We may quote, for example, an incident mentioned by Kalidasa in his Raghuvamsha. King Dilipa, as the story goes, was not having a child. He went to his guru Vasishtha for a remedy, and told him the reason of his sadness. The rise, on this, stood till for a few moments and came to know, through concentration of the mind, why king Dilioa was not getting a son.

Whether such a thing is possible through dhyana, is a question on which opinions may differ. Science, it may be said, has not yet succeeded in gathering sufficient information which may confirm this belief. But we may still come across many people in India who would defend such possibilities heart and soul.

Let us now see how dhyana is turned into what is called samadhi. This is a state that can be achieved only by a mind which is purified like a gem or crystal. When all the impurities of the mind are completely washed away through dhyana, the mind shows a capacity to grasp any object very clearly and vividly.

When a crystal (which is colourless in itself) is placed adjacent to a flower, it shows in itself the colour of that flower very completely, so much so that one feels as if that is its own colour. Similarly, a mind that is purified by dhyana, when cast on any object of thought, can establish such an intimate contact with the object that it becomes completely identified or one with it. This is known as tadatmya of the mind with the object. It indicates complete stillness and steadiness which is accompanied by silencing of the breath. In that state, the consciousness of one's own existence vanishes. This is called "sabija samadhi", because it always involves some object of experience or some thought on which the mind is concentrated.

Nirbija samadhi (also called "sahajavastha") is a state very different from this. It is lot a state of concentration but the state of liberation in bodily existence (jivan mukti).